Toilet Training in Less Than a Day

I've now used this method/book to potty train two of my children. It really works and it works fast! My pediatrician was the one who initially recommended it to me. This book is not a light read--it's real info based on research and trials so it may take a little while to get through it. I'd start at least a month before you wish to have the potty training day so you can read, review, gather supplies, and prepare yourself. It's pretty exhausting for mom (as other reviewers have said) but it's worth it. One of my boys was 3 when i potty trained him the other was 2.5. Both boys took about 3.5 hours of intense training and the rest of the day was just light reminders and help. Try this book. If you follow it closely--you will not look back. Say adios to those expensive diapers!

Toilet training with this method takes commitment and consistency, not to mention mental stamina. But it sure does work!
One of my college professors, a behavioral psychologist, recommended it after trying it successfully with HIS three kids. When I had a child of my own a decade later, I remembered the recommendation and tried it myself.
My son was two and a half when I trained him, and when I started, I felt like I was putting him through boot camp. All of a sudden he was thrown into an intensive program of training, drills and rules, with Mama Drill Sergeant prodding and coaxing him through each step.
Not every bit was a success for us. For example, I found that my son was terrified of the toilet-training doll (can't say I blame him; that "Potty Dotty" doll we used was one weird and scary artifact, in my opinion), so we scrapped that part after only a few demonstrations. Nor could I ever get him to complete 10 full training drills after an accident. We settled for two or three at most, usually with my son crying and unhappy already from shame at wetting his pants.
Nevertheless, the overall method worked miracles for us. My son, who was totally resistant to using the potty when we started, got the basic concept down in two hours, and needed only about a week of follow-up before staying reliably dry all the time. I would recommend this method to any parent who:
1)Is willing to take time to read the whole book and understand the logic behind it
2)Has the ability to be firm and consistent with a child, in a loving way
3)Can dedicate at least one entire uninterrupted day to training, and
4)Has friends and family willing to support and encourage the newly-trained child.

Great, innovative, original potty training resource. I love this method and have used it with all three of my older children (now 13, 11 & 8). I've never felt any desire to use anything else. The drawbacks are that it does take the time to read the book and kind of "study" the method the first time around, and at least skim through it again for any future use. It also takes a dedicated day spent one-on-one with your child. But I did it before as a single, working, college mom and am about to train my toddler now as a busy homeschooling mom of 4. So, it is possible if you decide it's what you want to do. The obvious benefit is a toilet trained child in basically one day! (Gotta love that part!) Also, it's a very positive experience that the child enjoys and that ends up being a memory maker for the parent. The method was originally created for mentally challenged adults who were said not to be trainable for using the bathroom. It was so successful, they tweaked the process for toddlers, ran studies, and gathered feedback. I'm so glad they did. I'll never use anything else. :)

I am buying this for my daughter who had a baby because I used this method 23 years ago with my third daughter (wish I would have had this for the first two!) I started the process as soon as she understood "go into your bedroom and get your dolly" she was 13 months old and only spoke a few words. One morning I blocked off the kitchen, sent the other 2 girls to the neighbors house at 8am, by noon she was completely potty trained! She never had one single accident! I made it fun and positive & she thought we were playing for 4 hours. She was so proud of herself, when her sisters and Dad came home she ran in and showed them how she could go potty. The 4 hours is intense but when I compare it to the 6 LONG months it took training the other two, it was SO WORTH IT! Just remember to read this BEFORE you even start training.

I had heard from a friend that this book worked with both her kids (at 2 yrs old and in a couple of hours...) so I tried it with my 2 1/2 yr old son - IT TOOK 1 1/2 HOURS AND HE WAS DONE! Pulling up his pants alone, no prompting from me...etc. Over the next two days he had two wet accidents and that's it - he's been 'trained' ever since. I think the key is following the directions - no distractions, no having the potty out and 'getting the kids used to it' before the big day, and making a BIG difference between what makes you happy and what makes you mad (ie: dry pants we are hopping happy and wet pants you should be scowling....) ONE THING I did do that the book doesn't ---- I told my son "you're going to learn how to potty all by yourself and then you'll have no more diapers!" for about a week before I tried this. He was SO motivated to have "no more diapers" (a phrase he could say) that he told his friends and grandma days before he tried. I like the book because I am a dog trainer that truly believes in motivating the animals with food - if you can get a whale to jump thru a hoop with a piece of fish then I think you should be able to get your dog to sit with a treat - and I KNOW that motivating people with what they want, works too. If my boss didn't pay me money I sure wouldn't work for him! So if candy/crackers is what kids want, then let's motivate them with it! It works! It works! It works! Just follow the directions and remember--kids pick up on your cues. If you think it'll work, it will! If you approach this half hearted, so will they! Good Luck and be diaper free!

This is a book explains a well-thought-out tested and true method for getting toddlers out of diapers. The authors, both psychologists, had been working on a method to for toilet training mentally retarded children and adults. After developing a toilet training method for mentally retarded people, they decided to test the method with normal children to see if the same method might work with them also. They were quite pleased to find that normal children did very well with their method. They made a few modifications to their original method to adapt it to the learning behaviors of normal children and tested their new method with some 300 children from the ages of 20 months and up. They found that most of the children could be trained within hours, with very few subsequent accidents; indeed, within a week the children were reliably taking care of their own toileting needs by themselves.
The book is organized into 4 sections. The first section is the introduction, in which the authors describe their motivations for creating this method. In this section, they also include letters from mothers who are desperate to train their children. There is also an analysis of the costs of delaying toilet training for a competent child- -from prolonged dependence, to monetary costs for diapers, to the time involved in changing diapers (9 hours a week for the average 2-year-old- -aren't there other things you would rather do with those 9 hours than fiddle around with messy diapers?). The main part of the book explains Azrin and Foxx's method in detail. The third section is an extended example, in which the method is described in terms of how it was used by one mother and her child. The last section covers questions and answers that parents may have about using the method.
Azrin and Foxx's method does not require any magical equipment or tricks. It relies on some very sound practices from learning theory. First of all, they counsel parents on how to determine when a child is ready to use this method. For one thing, the child must be able to understand and follow instructions, and must have enough dexterity to pull training pants up and down. On the chosen day, one parent should be alone with the child in the house so that there are no distractions. The parent gives the child lots to drink at breakfast. After breakfast, the parent and the child play dolls together. The crucial trick of the method is that the child trains the doll to use the potty, and then rewards the doll for having dry pants. By the time the doll is "trained", the child has probably consumed enough fluids to need a turn on the potty himself or herself. Between the play sessions, the practice, and the edible and psychological rewards, the child quickly develops the skills and motivation needed to use the potty by himself or herself. Accidents during the first few hours are inevitable, and Azrin and Foxx include additional training ideas to make them somewhat unpleasant for the child, without punishing the child, of course. The child soon learns that everyone is happy when he or she has dry pants, but wet pants entail a mess to clean up and additional practice running to the potty.
This method promotes independence and well being for young children. It is not coercive and it does not put undue stress on the child. When parents use this method, children do not have to sit for hours on the pot, and they are not criticized for failing to produce excrement on command. While not everyone who tries this method will be able to declare their child trained after just a day, the method described in this book certainly helps children develop the skills they need very quickly, with a minimum of stress and tension for the whole family. The financial, environmental, psychological, and health costs of diapering are enormous. There is absolutely no sense in keeping a child in diapers any longer than absolutely necessary, and this book will help you make diapers history.

I used the method describe in this book to potty train all 3 of my children. My daughter, now 19, was trained on her 2nd birthday, my son, now 15 was trained at 2 1/2 years, and my youngest son was train at 32 months. I have never suffered through weeks or months of potty training. I put all on my children in diapers at night until they woke with dry diapers.
I am ordering this book for friends who will be delivering soon. The hardest part about the technique is reading the whole book. You can't read part of it and then try to implement the method. I had an impatient friend who tried that and it didn't work. This is a no-brainer.

I saw this book as the Great White Hope. You see, my daughter is 38 months old and she is still not staying dry and still makes most of her messes in her pants. We were too complacent last spring when she did show an interest and now that she is older, she has no incentive to change her ways. We tried the reward system by using stickers and small pieces of candy. None of it worked. We then tried this system and it was a complete failure. My daughter wanted no part of it. She refused to toilet the dolly and refused to drink beyond a certain point or eat any snacks and she would not listen to any of my instructions. These authors make it sound like it's easy to get a child to pay attention to you when all they are doing is whining and squirming and not listening and refusing to meet your eyes. In other words, easier said than done.
My daughter is 3 and resides at the extreme end of the stubborn scale. She seems to understand the concept of wet vs dry and the consequences of accidents, but she goes ahead and has them anyway. We have not seen any dry periods with her and maybe she is not physically ready for this type of toileting.
There are good ideas in this book, which is why I gave it four stars. Some of the information is outdated and a bit draconian (such as those accident drills where you make them run back to the toilet ten times and do the whole routine), but the idea of making them responsible for their own messes and learning the consequences of having messes (like they miss out on play time or some other activity they enjoy) is an important one and may have far more to do with teaching them than using a doll to demonstrate.
Use this book as a guideline, but not the end all and the be all of potty training.

I used this book in the early eighties to toilet-train both my daughters, successfully.
Although the method is mega-labour-intensive, it worked both times.
The key was that both my girls were old enough to understand the process and took pride in their new skill. Both were two years old and had been dry in the morning for some time before we attempted to train.
The goal is for the child to be able to handle all stages themselves, from knowing that they have to use the potty, be able to handle pulling their new underwear down, then up, and empty the potty into the toilet, flush it and replace the potty in the potty-chair. At the end of the training NO diapers are ever put on the child. They sleep in regular underwear the first night, hence the need for them to be waking up dry.
I recommend this book absolutely and am continually amazed at all the parents who spend months and months toilet-training their children when ONE DAY was certainly effective for both my kids.
It was certainly an intense day though, feeding them salty snacks, lots of water and repeating the steps of the process, guiding them through and then...................success!!!

Unlike many other books on child rising, this one is short, to the subject and no-nonsense. I used the method on my daughter when she was 27 months old, and had full success. That was some 13 years ago... I have recommended the book ever since to anybody who brought up the subject, and I'm here at this site looking it up for yet another worried father. Other readers' comments are true: yes it's a little condescending, yes the advice on dealing with accidents is exaggerated (we didn't use it either), but why nit-pick when the method works so well and when the child comes out of this happy and in control, rather than traumatized?

I was (still am) a working mother, busy, hurried and worried about every issue. I was used with professional successes and was unprepared for the numerous uncertainties of child rising. This book brought some sense in a seemingly complicated issue. It was not complicated!

I took a Friday off, prepared to stick with it for three days if necessary, and wanting to have time to reinforce it before the return to daycare Monday. My daughter never had an accident after that Friday, and dry nights followed shortly. I wish everything would be so simple!

It is day 7 since we began potty training, starting primarily with the method outlined in this book. My son, age 33 months, has gone for two days (fingers crossed) without a single accident, and is already doing both you-know-whats in the potty on his own initiative. I still ask him here and there if he needs to go, but for the most part, he stops whatever he is doing and runs and tells me he has to go.

We didn't follow this method to the letter, but I think that the general guidelines given on how to explain it to him really helped. On the first day, though, he had almost all accidents and one success at the end of the day. We didn't do the ten practices after each accident, and I think more than anything, the first day was good for training him to just sit on the potty and get more familiar with his body's signals and learning how to relax his muscles. But I think the constant verbal talk about potty potty potty and nothing else for the first four hours is too hard for a toddler, at least for mine.

The thing I liked most about this book, though, was that it helped me to learn how to train my son in something. I really didn't know what to expect, and was surprised when he actually started getting it about day 3. I think it helped me feel more confident as a parent that I could teach him to do something that isn't always easy for people to learn, and helped him be more confident as well.

My advice to people who try this - relax, trust your gut on how to apply this method to your child (and don't feel like a failure if they don't seem to be getting it), and be patient. Patience helped the most - my mother-in-law told me to give it about a week, and I didn't believe it would actually happen even in a week, but it did.

I would also advise people to try setting aside the first week for mentally being available to your child and reminding them and focusing on potty training. You don't have to be as intense as the method suggests on the first day, but still just consider yourself in constant potty training mode.

The doll helped some as well, but was really not worth the money. But keeping him in training pants where he was really aware of his accidents really helped speed the process up, I think. Also, we didn't do the "friends who care" list, except to mention here and there that people he knew would be excited when he did succeed.

I have 3 yr old twin boys, I took the week after their 3rd birthday off of work to specifically stay home and work on potty training. I started on Wednesday and by Friday we were accident free at home, daycare was a different story. The only exception is that my one son is hesitant to poop on the pot and has been very constipated as a result, so he's had two accidents since we started, but it's more of a reluctancy, he knows what to do and urinates several times a day in the toilet on his own.
I can tell you a few modifications if you have twins...I only did 5 practices after an accident mainly because of time away from the other child and also the son who didn't need the "practice" would usually still join us in running from room to room as it was fun. Also my one son took the practices literally , they tell you not to sit very long just a few seconds during the practice sessions, and so he does this when trying to go...this is why I think he's also having difficulty with BM's, he's not waiting long enough on the toilet, so I have modified that for him. My other recommendation if you take your kids to daycare is to bring their toilet to the facility so they will be more comfortable and plan on spending a little time doing practices from each room at the daycare just like you would at home. This completely stopped accidents at daycare.
It's been a week and a 1/2 now and they're great about going in public restrooms, they don't wear diapers at night or while napping, and that happened almost immediately. I think the dry pants checks teaches them to really hold it, which then carries over into nap time and night time. Overall I thought this was a really positive way to teach them how to use to toilet and teach them what my expectations are. We never had any conflict and they were really excited about using the toilet. Oh and also, I just used their favorite stuffed animals with underwear on them, that part of the training goes very quickly.

This is a great book! It worked for my 2.5 year-old son, who before was not very interested in the potty! He was done in 2 hours and 55 minutes! He had only 2 accidents and actually enjoyed the "positive practice" trials. He stays dry overnight and during his naps too, which is a miracle to me. I still can't believe I don't have to change his diapers anymore.
Bowel movements were not a problem for my son. He was a bit apprehensive at first, but then he liked it. He realized how much cleaner it is to poop in the potty rather than get it all over his butt, as with a diaper.
It is a very positive experience and we had a blast! Daddy and little brother went out for the day, so he got 100% of my undivided attention, which he loved!
He was so proud of himself. We immediately called his daddy and grandma to tell them the good news.
For those who think the book is "politically incorrect", YOU NEED TO READ THE WHOLE BOOK, not just certain parts. Whatever "language" you have a problem with, just modify it to suit you and your child. You have to keep in mind that the book was written in the 1970's, so give the authors a break!
I have a friend who was trying in vain to potty-train her daughter before preschool (she only had 1 week left). But her daughter kept having accidents. Then she tried this method and her daughter was completely potty-trained in 2 hours!
WOULD RECOMMEND HIGHLY TO ALL PARENTS!!!!!

I only wish I'd have separated my 2yo twins to do this but that was not an option. If I had, I think I would have had even better results. Regardless, I have to give 5 stars because this is a very effective way to teach the kids what the deal is with the potty. We have had accidents (I only did this a few days ago) but they are active and distract each other. The biggest thing is that we are down to just diapers at bedtime, naptime, and as a back-up when we leave the house. The keys seem to be that when they teach their dolls to potty, it clicks instantly when it's time for them to go. And it gives a relationship with the big potty instantly as well and now they're not afraid of it because they have been dumping their pots into it since the beginning. Additionally, the tips for getting your stubborn child to listen and manually guiding them to complete task has helped me in other areas. Be forewarned, some terms and language are surprising because it was written in the 70s but otherwise this is timeless info.

I have used this book to train 4 children. In the first 3 it was a success, and yes they were trained in less than 1 day. It really helps if you have trained your child to be obedient to you. A child that runs the other way when you call them and generally ignores your commands will not be easily trained. The 4th child I trained went through the process and informed me that she didn't want to use the potty she wanted to wear diapers. She knew how and was capable of using the toliet but was just stubborn. Several months later on a visit to her grandmother's house we discovered that we had left the diaper bag at home. My mother told her that she was going to have to use the potty chair because there were no more diapers. She replied okay, and started using it right then and never went back to diapers. So attitude and personality can be major factors in toilet training. I highly recommend this book and plan to give it as a shower gift to new mothers.

My son is now nearly 7 years old. Back when he turned 2 we bought a potty chair, stuck it in our cramped bathroom and ... waited. As a first time mother I wasn't sure what approach to take, but I figured it wouldn't hurt to introduce him to the idea of abandoning his diapers. The potty sat there unused. My son sat on it, put his stuffed animals on it and then ignored it. I didn't want to push the issue, as I reasoned that the worst thing I could do was turn this into an unpleasant task.

In the meantime, I went to the library to look for much needed guidance. I picked up a few books and went home to study. 'Toilet Training In Less Than A Day' appealed to me the most. It was pretty straight forward, getting right into the how-to's without all the introductory mumbo jumbo. I bought a doll, training underwear and special regular underwear as his graduation present. Plus stickers and treats too.

A month after buying that potty chair I was finally ready to start the process and apparently so was my son. Days before I was set to kick-off he surprised me. I recall I was doing my hair in the bathroom that day. Suddenly I heard the pounding of his little feet down the hallway and a cry of "I have to go!!" He came tearing into the bathroom, diaper-less and proceeded to pee in his potty (standing). Shocked (but excited), I said to him, "Woah, are you ready to use your big boy potty?" He nodded his head with a big grin on his face, obviously please with his performance. We got started the next day.

The book has you use a doll that can "pee" and have your child train the doll before they get started themselves. My son had absolutely no interest in the doll, and it only frustrated me trying to get the thing to work the way I needed it to (going in the potty and then having an "accident"), the darn doll wouldn't cooperate. Meh, forget that. But (as described in the book) I did ask if he was dry nearly every minute (or so it felt), took him to the toilet every 15 minutes (if I'm remembering this all correctly), praised him (and gave him treats) for staying dry and praised him whenever he got his poop or pee in the potty. He drank A LOT and when he would have accidents we would practice, practice, practice.

It felt sort of like training a dog -- and I don't intend that to sound negative! But still, train-praise-treat and train-praise-treat again, dogs are taught in much the same way. And it WORKED. Did it work in LESS than a day? No. The initial training took about a week. At that point, he had few accidents and initiated using the potty on his own much of the time (I still reminded often though -- about every half hour to an hour). I also chose to use sticker charts to help keep him motivated. We taped one up right on the wall next to his potty and placed a sticker on it every time he went (even if no pee or poop came out). Ok, so maybe that's bribery, but hey, it WORKED. Does my son still expect a sticker for going to the bathroom? OF COURSE NOT! ;)

Slowly, the more adept he got at it, the less I used the rewards. Until finally, after a month or so (at around 2 1/2 years old), I considered him fully potty trained. That is, he did not have accidents (including when we were out and about) and initiated every trip to the potty on his own without needing any help from me. He continued to use the potty chair instead of the regular toilet for many months as it was more more convenient for him. At around 3 years old he transitioned to the regular toilet.

I'm sure there are many other methods out there that may work just as well as this one. And I do believe this will work even if you skip some of the steps (or at least it did for us). For instance, I wasn't comfortable telling my son that everyone he loved would be disappointed in him if he happened to pee his pants. Instead, I chose to respond with an, "Uh-oh! Pee-pee goes in the potty!" The practicing over and over drove the point home well enough (plus the lack of a treat made it pretty clear too).

Be patient, be consistent and soon enough you'll be racking your brains trying to remember EXACTLY what the whole experience was like (as I am!). And maybe, like me, you'll feel and little sad that your baby is officially not a baby anymore.

All children are different. None of them say their first words the same way, they don't take their first steps the same way, and potty training is no different. What works for one doesn't work for another.

I used this book with my son at age 3. We later found out he has Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, as part of his Asperger's Syndrome. So training him on anything he doesn't want to do is like banging your head against a wall. You don't get anywhere! The first time I tried at age 2 1/2, he absolutely refused. At age 3, I was pregnant, and convinced I did NOT want two kids in diapers. So we went back to the book, but with a little prep time first.

For two weeks beforehand, I read all kinds of books with him, played "potty" games with him (who could run to the bathroom fastest, etc) and let him watch a lot of potty videos. I personally love "I Gotta Go" and "Once Upon a Potty." The big day came, I followed the directions of the book, and viola, he was trained. About three months later, he was trained at night too. The best part of the book is having the child teach a doll to go potty....as they teach the doll, and see the rewards, they get excited and want to do it too. As for all of us, what they teach, they do.

If you've seen Dr. Phil's training guide, its almost identical. As for the yelling "no," well, that's common sense. Often kid's don't know what they're doing until they're doing it. Yelling no allows them to learn to recognize the sensation of going potty. My son would stop going and run to the potty.

My daughter is a little over 2 now, and tomorrow we start potty training. I'm using the book all over again, with the same prep. We've been watching videos and reading books. She's also strong willed but I know she's ready, and I know she's excited about the "big day." She know's its a "party day." Make it fun, they'll enjoy it. Be stressed out, they'll know it and push ALL your buttons. Relax, smile, encourage, praise. It works.

My child's pediatrician told me about this book at her two-year check-up when I told him I was planning on potty training. She had already expressed some interest - or at least no fear of - the potty and was showing other "readiness signs" like being able to follow simple instructions and things like that. I was afraid of stretching out the potty training process into weeks or months because we lead a very active lifestyle, and she's in different places every day. I didn't want to have to be switching back and forth to diapers to accommodate that over a course of time, and didn't want to use Pull-Ups since they're basically just a diaper.
I read this book and it sounded pretty solid - using many different teaching techniques to get through to your child quickly. It very much focused on postive reinforcement for being dry - not negative reinforcement for being wet. In fact, the process specifically sets the child's expectations as to what should happen when they have an accident during the training so there's no 'hard feelings' or embarassment. And it emphasizes that you should tell the child that you love them, but don't like wet pants. Over the course of the training we had 2 accidents, so only twice throughout the day did I have to present any negative reinforcement. Instead, most of the day was spent telling her how proud Daddy, Elmo, Grandpa, and Grandma... would be that she was such a big girl with dry pants! She ate far more than any child's fair share of cookies and soda throughout the day, sure, but by the end of the day, she was using the potty by herself.
So, here we are not yet 2 weeks past her 2nd birthday, and with the exception of a few wet accidents - not one "messy" accident! - in the past couple of days, (and of course at night since she's still just 24 months), we are diaper free!
The only reason I gave the book 4 stars instead of 5 is that it does read a little like stereo installation instructions - or worse - a dog training manual. It's quite antiquated, and spends a lot of time focusing on why you, as the parent, should hate diapers and be motivated to get your child out of them. Skip along to the good stuff: "How to train"

My mother in law used this book to potty train her 4 children. She passed it on to her daughter who has used it on her 5 children, passed it to me and I just finished my 4th child. Another sister in law has used it with one of her children so far. THIS BOOK IS AMAZING!!! I have recommended it to tons of friends who have also had great success. I always tell my friends as you read the book you will get overwhelmed, but it is doable and works. Tears will be shed by child and parent-but in the end IT IS SO WORTH IT!!! As I was training my 4th and last child after about 3 hours of training he had an accident and was absolutely devastated. Sobbing, crying-so disappointed with himself. This was the turning point. Part of me wanted to put his diaper back on and be done with it. I didn't. I stuck strong and this was his turning point, so far he hasn't had any more accidents. The "practicing" is what motivates them to not have accidents. Stick strong with the practicing and they will get it. This book works.

I just reviewed all the 1-2 star reviews and can see why they failed. Either their children were not completely ready for this method of toilet training or they, parents, were not totally familiar before commencing training. Unless you are reading it with a closed mind, the method outlined is in no way condescending nor cruel, it is loving, encouraging, and positive. If the majority of reviews are positive, that means this method works! And from my experience it did. Apart from having a toilet trained child, the experience strengthened our relationship and I like the positive reinforcement approach without the need for physical punishment.

One gripe. It said toilet training in less than a day. It doesn't guarantee your child will be accident-free in that time frame. As every child will have a different learning curve, it is best bot to have too high expectations before you begin. Title should read "Crash course in toilet training".

I also didn't like how poorly the book was written, disorganized, and unstructured. It is very long winded and you may need to read it cover to cover several times over and make notes before embarking on the program.

The keys to success are, that your child MUST fulfill all the readiness test requirements, around age 2.5yrs for a girl with average intellect and 3yrs for an average boy. Failure to meet these prerequisites can lead to training failure. Next you, the trainer, must have sufficient degree of perseverance to see through mistakes and persist until your child is able to use the potty without your prompting. It can take more than 2 days, 3 days, 1 week, although the instruction course is indeed less than a day. Good luck, I know you can do it.

I used this for my daughter, and it worked! She is very stubborn, but this was like a game. A lot of the terminology and dialogue is dorky and dated, but the basic ideas really work: Loose CLOTH training pants, A doll that wets, which the child teaches first, rewards that taper off after more and more steps are completed, time soley dedicated to pottying, and practicing after accidents (but not ten times, for heavens sake). One reviewer didn't like the idea of confining you and child to one room for hours, but you do really need to eliminate distractions. If the kid isn't thinking of pottys, but the toys, the tv, games, etc, why would they bother to stop and say "I have to pee."? I used the no-distraction time to read a bunch of library books to her about potties and our bodies. So, we read a potty book, checked pants, read anther, checked pants, etc..... That kept the idea in her brain without confining her. Remember, kids shouldn't be treatedlike mini-adults -- this simplifies it in their heads before moving to real-life experience, instead of the other way around. Another reviewer thought the practicing after accidents was mean, but you don't need to make it punishment, rather an encouragement "See, you can run to the potty when you have to pee! See! You can run from the kitchen, and the living room, and your bedroom! You know how! You're a big girl! See!"

This book has many great ideas you can and should use

I loved this book. Honestly I protested a bit becasue of how old it is and wish they would coem out with an updated edition. But this process was so successful with my daughter. We Potty trained when she was almost 2 1/2. She loved training the doll, and loved the "friends chart". We didn't wuite stick to the schedule, and did not stay i nthe kitchen but basically did eveyrthign else liek it recommended. We spent 1 week reading a ton of potty books and potty movies, and then 1 day doing the training. She had 1 accident the first day, 1 a week later (at church...she does not like pottying in public!) and 1 little "dribble" out at a store (also due to the anti public restroom thing) it has been 2 months and she is doing great.

I also like the readiness test. Interest is not the same as readiness. The day before our training she protested sitting on the potty, but I knew she was ready. She did great. Do not allow your emotions (or YOUR selfish desires) to get in the way. A potty trained child can at times be more invconvenient... becasue we have to think more about getting them ready to leave and potty before we go. But it is SO worth it!

I also wanted to note that she is wearing underwear at night now. We did pullups at night and they were consistantly dry for 2 weeks (the first week they were wet) and she was waking i nthe night to potty. She now wears undies at night and I take her potty at 11 before I go to bed.

Buy this MUST HAVE Book!

We tried this with our 36 month-old son and he was indeed urine-trained in less than a day (about 4 hours total). BM training took longer, about two weeks, but now we are there and done with it! This book provided a kick-start to our "he'll go when he's ready" method. I recommend it to anyone who things there child is physically ready but is just not interested in making the leap to using the potty. I'm also sure we could have done it much earlier. Note that Dr. Phil has kind of co-opted this method and has an abbreviated version of it on his website (go there and search for "potty"). The actual step by step part of the book is short and the rest is filled with examples and discussion of the scientific basis for the method. Some of that was tedious, but I think it gave me more confidence to not give up when the going got tough. Again, I highly recommend this book.

I was certain this book wouldn't be the answer, and just wanted some guidelines. But, after reading it, I decided to follow it it exactly. My daughter is 38 months old. (The book recommends about 24 months old and showing signs of potty readiness.) She started using the potty right away, with 4 accidents that day, 2 the next, 1 on each of the next two days, and on the fifth day, she was self-initiated (goes without being told) with no more accidents! I still remind her when we are leaving the house, and I'm sure she'll have an accident on occasion, but it's been 2 weeks and she hasn't had another accident yet. I would recommend reading the book completely before beginning and scheduling a day with just one parent and the child for training. This book is exacting in the mind-set of a toddler and motivating that child to potty on their own. It instills such pride in the child that once the child is going on their own, the treats can disappear because the child is so proud of their accomplishment!

I'm doing graduate studies and work with a professor whose specialty is behavior analysis. I was very impressed by Dr. Foxx's other work, and my professor recommended this book when he heard that I was going to potty train my daughter.
The book says the method will be an intensive day, and it was. I tried to keep in mind that Azrin and Foxx are professionals, so the promises they make in the book are perhaps a little lofty for the lay person. In the case of Dr. Foxx, he worked for years with the mentally retarded, so it's not surprising that he would be able to perform these methods with exactness and patience. It was a different story for me. For one, the methods require extensive study. I read through the book two times but still felt that there were so many details to remember that I would invariably screw something up (and I did). I even had cheat sheets, which I didn't want to have, but it's so interactive that it's difficult to constantly refer to notes.
The results that Azrin and Foxx quote of around 95% success on the day following the teaching of their method strikes me as high. Again, I can see that sort of success rate for two professional psychologists who have done it a gazillion times, but for the lay person, I think that statistic is simply misleading and creates frustration. At least I felt like a failure when there were repeated relapses on the day following the training with my daughter. My advice is that you throw out the high success rates quoted in the book and feel good about the successes that you are having. After three days of persistent reminding and rewarding, my daughter is now using her potty consistently and doing well. If I'd left it up to her after the first day, I feel confident that she would have regressed. So in summary, it may take you a day or two longer than is promised in the book, but stick with it, try to be as loving as possible, and you should see success. The authors promise that this can be a joyful experience, but it was very difficult to make this a joyful experience with the pressures of executing a fairly complex procedure for the first time.

So this thing was written back when I was a toddler. My mom died young, so I never got to ask her how she trained 5 kids when it was time to help out my own toddlers. Online mommy friends recommended this thing. Online mommy jerks shamed me for waiting so long. They were saints who had trained their perfect children in hours on their 2nd birthdays. I borrowed it from the library and followed it's directions. But here's the thing:

My son has autism. We didn't know it at the time. We thought it was just a speech delay and a temper. At 3 1/2, he still showed no interest in the potty. So the politically incorrect Azrin insists his book works on "retarded" children too. Awesome-sauce. It managed to traumatized my kid he screamed whenever he saw a potty, in way less than a day. Nice work.

I went searching for better advice, and I'll pass it onto you. I'd recommend looking through a handful of different books. Then ask lots of seasoned parents and grandparents what they did. Then look at your kid and find something that works that doesn't involve forcing them to walk back and forth to a potty-chair 10 times after every accident and making a kid tell you if his pants are wet or dry when he can barely talk. Or telling him other people will be thrilled he's dry when he could care less what those other people think.

My son's 8 now. He was potty-trained after his 4th birthday. It was summer and warm enough to go around naked. We have a nice big private backyard with trees. You see where I'm going with this. House trained turned into toilet-trained with pee within a week reliably. Poop took some serious bribery, but he finally got the hang of it. Am I gonna write my own book "Naked with a big back yard"? No. But I will tell you this book don't work for everyone, and it's downright awful for some.

My friend used this method with her son and told me she trained him in less than three hours! Her son is two months older than my son (they are best friends). My son is three and has been pooping in the potty and only the potty for over a year. But he is just too lazy to consistently pee in the potty. I have tried everything so I thought I would give this method a shot. The book isn't very well written and there is no outline of the steps to consult when you are training. I went out and spent 20 bucks on a baby doll that wets and bought snacks etc...My son loved putting the doll on the potty but when it came time for him to sit on the potty it was the same old "But i didn't pee! I don't want to sit!" Then my son, who is VERY verbal, began to contemplate the baby doll's full name, what poops and pees look like, what kind of snacks did I have etc...thinking of everything but sitting and peeing! My son refused to pee and then peed the floor (like a gallon from all those drinks I gave him) He exploded in frustration and I wanted to cry in defeat. Maybe this method does work for some people but I just don't get it. I followed the book exactly and I am still no closer to making my son pee only in the potty than when I started.

I 'liked it' because most of the methods seem to match the newer child psychology findings and (when tailored a bit for our son) worked very well (and we used a more spaced out, relaxed pace). I recommend running through it to grab the techniques that reinforce:

- focusing on helping the child understand that using the potty is good and makes you happy
- encouraging the child to do ALL steps by themselves... yes, even the big blobs of poo... barehanded

It helped.

I wanted to give it a bit of a lower rating because: the obvious sexist assumptions. But I guess the stereotypes displayed were more common-place in the era this book was first published. Take the useful information and forget the rest!

My husband and I were very skeptical about this whole process, but we had tried other ways to potty train our 2+year old daughter, w/no success. She was going here and there on the potty chair, and liked wearing pull-ups, but didn't initiate anything on her own. Diapers, and especially Pull-Ups, are too expensive and our daughter was old enough to be out of both.

The morning of our day, I had everything ready. The first three hours were extremely stressful, as there were 8 accidents. The key is to not show any frustration or to get angry/upset with your child. The book tells you that...and a way to deal with accidents. My daughter would sit on the chair and not go, but 2 minutes later, wet her underwear. She would get so upset. I just followed the book, and WOW! She finally went at 10:30a.m. and then...no more accidents.

It's been over two weeks, and only 2 accidents total since that first day. She even goes through her nap AND through the night with no problems. She initiates everything herself, and does everything on her own...from pulling her pants down to cleaning the potty chair.

IT'S GREAT!!!!!

I think the key is to follow the book strictly. People have said this book is out-dated (being written in the 70's), but I completely disagree!! Sure, Pull-ups weren't invented, but they absorb enough like a diaper, that my daughter would go to the bathroom in them and barely notice...so she had no reason to want to go on the potty. With training with actual underwear, she could REALLY feel the accidents and hated it! So, she had motivation to use the potty chair. It's important to follow the book on how to praise (LOTS of cheering) and how to deal w/accidents.

I'm not saying it will work for everyone, but it certainly did w/us and I'll definitely be using the same method with our 11 month old daughter in about a year!

I read this book twice and had taken several notes. I had an outline and was hoping for the best. After getting started, I realized I needed to modify the program to meet the needs of my 2 1/2 year old son. It's hard core training and it was not going to work for us. I ended up taking some ideas from the book and using them as a starting point. The book assumes that if your child can follow instructions, then potty training will not be a problem. My son can follow all instructions - when he wants to! It also assumes that forcing liquids is an easy thing to do. It is not.
I found this book a good starting point. We had a successful day. 8 pees, one BM, and 2 accidents.
Take what you want from the book - leave what you don't like. Like I mentioned it's a good starting point, but a bit hard core for us. We had a positive day and we're off to a good start.

This method did not help us a bit when I tried it on my boy around 22 months of age. I did give it a good go with him, trying it for a while but no success in getting cooperation. The child needs to have motivation to be clean and dry, or at least enough motivation to want to please their parents. This doesn't give enough tips on what to do if they're not completely obedient or motivated. Most kids at the age around 2 are not such an obedient lot! I tried a similar but gentler method (using a potty party at end of day) with my girl and it also didn't work. They refused to use the potty and preferred their pants, and our problems went on for years, with holding onto their poops. I'd recommend the Everything Potty book for looking at all the popular potty training techniques with their advantages and disadvantages before deciding what might work for your child. And never get in a power struggle over this issue!

Quick and to the point review:

After 4.5 focused hours on a Saturday my 3yr old son was potty trained. Afterward he had 3 pee accidents on the following 2 days. Since then no accidents. Done.

More details:

Before the book we tried various methods from multiple books and doctors. None worked, they were vauge on a process and some said just to wait until they are ready. (We tried these things on and off for over a year.)

We knew he was ready since he could hold it, but he never "knew when" to go to the potty when he needed to go. He was also starting to hide and poop or pee in his pullup. So we knew something had to be done.

I read the negative reviews here first before buying the book... But our son wasn't that sensitive so I figured the process had a good chance of working.

The only two things I changed was to tone down the verbal disappointment a bit when he had accidents and to train him to go on the normal toilet vs use a potty chair. Otherwise I followed the book to the letter.

In addition to the quick training a couple things that impressed me were:
- That he sleeps thru the night with no training pants.
- Can completely take care of the fully potty process himself.
- That after being trained to pee on the potty he was also trained to poop on his own. (He can wipe himself also, but we still double check. :o)

The best part was how proud he was of himself after figuring it out.

Highly recommended.

When my son was 2, I had to get him potty trained in order to enter preschool at 2-1/2. I tried other books and methods which were very vague. What I loved about this book are its step-by-step instructions that REALLY WORKED! Although it took more than one day, by day three, we were taking day trips and were having NO accidents in the car (though a few at home).

I recommended this book to my best friend and sister for their kids. They waited until their children were 3 and had even more success with no accidents at all. There's a lot of prep work and you have to be a shut-in for a couple of days, but it's well worth it. Fewer headaches and it's done quickly. No prolonging the toilet-training process over many weeks or even months!!

I LOVE it!

My son is 2-1/2. We had some struggles at first, largely because we didn't follow the book in it entirety. One of the main things you have to remember is to keep a fun and positive atmosphere, any kind of stress can make it take longer and evoke tears for both of you.

I didn't follow the advise and both my husband and I did the training together the first day (our 9 month old daughter was also home). It was too distracting for him and he wasn't able to focus. Once I (Mommy) left with the baby, he was able to focus on training with Daddy and did much better.

Note: If you are having obedience isues (your child doesn't follow instruction well, the book helps you correct this with manual guidance before training or the training will not work or be more difficult!) We thought our son followed instruction very well, until potty training day. That was the frustrating part.

Dr. Phil suggests on his website to throw a little party for your child and the doll when they go tinkle in the potty. Let your child call their favorite character or supper hero. It will make them feel so proud!

We found that having a few quiet toys ready was very helpful (cars, dolls, crayons, books, practicing recognizing wet and dry with washcloths, etc.) during the waiting times to help ward off bordom and keep focus.

I would also suggest watering down juices so you don't have a hyped up child - that really doesn't help!

Mentally prepare yourself for the process. Set reasonable expectations. Your child will have accidents during the training. We all learn from our mistakes and your child is no different. Some children do take longer than just a few hours so don't get frustrated if it doesn't happen as soon as you think it should.

Keep positive and have patience. Think about what your child can do - what your child has accomplished. Give your child the benefit of the doubt and trust that they can do it - with your support and love. Take notes when you read the book if you have to, mark pages, make sure you know exactly what to do when.

This is not a magic pill, but is a proven method that has worked for many families over 20 plus years. As I mentioned, Dr. Phil supports Potty Training in Less than One Day, you can go to DrPhil.com and search for potty training. Pottytrainingconcepts.com also uses this method and has dolls that wet on demand. I used their Potty Scotty system for my son.

Our son took two days to train and we very much considered giving up multiple times. We had to let go of our expectations and frustrations and trust that our child could do it. Once everyone lightened up, it just happened! Stress can have a very negative affect on training.

It was the hardest thing my husband and I have ever done as parents (and my husband did the training). But it was so worth the accomplishment and pride our son now has in being able to toilet himself. It took him three days later, but he now wakes up dry too!

And if you are a praying family, pray with and for your child before you begin. This can make all the diference!

Happy Potty Training!!

I purchased this book as I was having MAJOR problems potty training my son. He was 3 1/2 and just not getting it at all. I was at my wit's end. Then, I read some reviews on this book and thought well, for $6.99 what can it hurt to try? Well, the book is definitely and "old school" book (it tells you to keep treats in your APRON) but I just happen to have an apron with pockets, so I did it. The 1st few hours were really, really hard and I almost gave up, but after lunch, that was it! HE GOT IT! He has only had a few accidents since them (mostly #2, but hardly EVER #1). I can't believe this book actually worked - I would recommend it to anyone and recommend that you read it, cover to cover, before starting and, as ridiculous as some of the suggestions sound? DO IT! IT ALL WORKS!!

I used this book to train my daughter many years ago, and she still remembers it as a fun and positive experience. She was only 2 1/2 at the time, but she described it in detail to me when she was a teenager. Now my children are using this method for their children. I followed the directions in detail. It is important to read the book carefully before toilet training.  It did take more than one day, but in much less than a week my kids kids were trained for day and night. I knew many that worked on toilet training  with their kids for many frustrating months! I highly recommend this book! 

I used the advice in this book to train my almost-3-yr-old son (my second child). He was fully trained in 2.5 hours. I followed the advice almost to the letter and had great success. My son never wore a diaper (or even pull-ups) from then on, and had no accidents. I think the key is to not rush the decision to toilet train. There are certain criteria that must be followed in order to know that your child is really ready to make the transition. If s/he isn't ready, then *nothing* will work. But if your child is ready, this book is fantastic. I recommended the book to 3 friends whose kids were 2-1/2 to 3 years of age, and they'd tried in vain to train their kids, and the book worked for them. I got the props mentioned in the book ready at 9:00 a.m., sent everyone else in the house away, and by 11:30 my son was a "big boy"! :)

i was recommended this book by a friend who used it when she trained her two youngest children...two boys. she did let me know to read through it first and modify what i needed for my daughter and my situation (i'm a single dad and recently had to travel quite a bit for work). not having a lot of free time and yet still wanting to get her started, i decided to prep her over time and then spend one day doing the teaching. in the end, i just used a couple hours over 2-3 days (friday nite, saturday morning, sunday afternoon) to do the majority of the teaching and it still worked out...

i'm sure the book seems to some out-dated or that there are no big secrets in it but i think those people are missing the point. if you can figure out how to do it on your own, great...if you can't...for $7 here's a formula you can use or modify for your purposes. the book is informative and gives you a good process for teaching your child how to use the toilet but it's up to each parent to see how that process works for them.

good luck...if i, a single dad could find the time to do it...i'm sure you can too...

I have used this book and method for potty training 3 generations of our family. It works every time if followed accurately. If used before the child is mentally and physically ready you are doomed. Use the test in the beginning of the book, and if your child is ready, follow the instructions exactly.

As a parent educator, mom and grandma I have recommended this book to countless parents over the years. I also recommendOnce Upon a Potty -- Boy (or for Girl) to be used for approx. six months before you intend to start toilet training. Its great story and anatomically correct pictures make it a real favorite with kids and the perfect way to introduce the idea of using the potty.

Used the book for my almost 3 year old son. He would pee on the potty anytime I asked him to, but had trouble recognizing when to go on his own, and that is a sensation that is hard to describe to someone. After using the techniques in the book, he completely goes all on his own, without reminders and even undresses and dresses himself. He is even staying dry at naptime and nighttime. I have a 10 month old also, so I spent 2 days working with my son as the book describes, and he got it, and is doing perfectly!
ADAPT BOOK AS YOU NEED: Because my son knew what the toliet was used for I adapted the techniques for him. I didn't think we needed to be sitting in the kitchen talking about it for the entire time, so I gave him a few toys to play with in the bathroom and when he got really good at remembering I gave him more playspace, the bathroom and the adjoining room, then kept adding more playspace and toys as he got good at remembering to go. I didn't think to do this till the 2nd day of training, had I done this on the first day, I think he would have been trained in a day.
HAVE CHILD DRINK LOTS: Loading the child up on juice and drinks is a great idea so they have to go potty a lot and get lots of practice.
BABY DOLL: We used the doll a little in the beginning, and he liked her, but he already knew what to do in the potty, so we didn't spend a lot of time with it.
PRACTICE RUNS: At first he was okay with the practice runs, then hated them like crazy. We talked about it for a bit, then he would do them and started to have fun with it. I wish I would have thought to have started the training with practicing from different spots in the house when he was dry, to get the idea.
BM'S: As far as BM's, he does those too without a problem. The breakthrough for us with those came when one day he was having a BM and we picked him up and ran him to the toilet and sat him on it. He was awkward at first of course, very tense and stiff, but then he realized it wasn't so bad, and tons cleaner than doing it in your pants. Now he goes by himself and is completely relaxed.
INDEPENDENCE: My son used to say he didn't want to grow up. Now he goes potty all by himself and tells me to leave the bathroom! He's so excited to do it by himself.
Completely Recommend!

While searching on the store for a potty chair for my grandchildren, I stumbled across this book, which I had bought and used for my son way back in 1979. I cannot believe this travesty of an instruction manual is still being sold almost four decades later. The day I tried "Toilet Training in Less Than a Day" with my three-year-old boy was a blot on the history of our otherwise wonderful mother-child relationship. He was a bright, happy, cooperative child, fully ready to learn to use the toilet. I read all of this book's instructions and followed them. By the end of the day, my son and I were both desperate wrecks, furious and disappointed with each other and with ourselves. I threw the book in the garbage, and I vowed to let my son train at his own pace, which he did. Since that time I've advised oodles of people not to try training their kids in one day, because it's a ridiculous and cruel plan. I had no idea this book still exists, and I'm sorry it does.

I liked this book in that it educated me to the fact that it is possible and desirable for a child to empty his/her own potty seat and pull his/her own pants up. Otherwise I did not find it very useful
We followed the book directions with my 25 month old and it went fine for the first hour -- learning to raise and lower panties and empty the pot. She loved the juice and she understood what I was talking about when I said to use the potty. We had had a potty around before this and she'd routinely poop in it and on occasion pee in it when reminded.
But since she knew what I was talking about and knew what a toilet was for-- reminding her every 15 minutes that a potty was to go potty in and she had to check her pants was an insult to her intelligence and she got bored very quickly. After 3 hours we'd had enough -- and she had developed a horrible case of diarrhea from all the juice the book had her drink.
We have had much better luck just letting her run around the house naked. We haven't had a single accident.
Perhaps if we'd done this program before she knew anything about potties it wouldn't have been so difficult -- around 15 or 18 months -- but after they hit 2, an intelligent child won't sit placidly allowing you to say the same thing over and over again for hours on end without becoming bored out of his/her mind.

In the first day of training my daughter, who is 2 years, 8 months old, had five accidents and only once successfully used the potty. The "punishment" for accidents was not effective at all. She easily learned how to use the potty, but had three accidents before she first used the potty during a prompted potty trial. She sat there for several minutes and then began to urinate. As soon as she finished, she pulled up her pants, emptied her potty in the toilet, flushed it and put the potty back in the chair without a word from me. She then had two more accidents, even though I was constantly asking her if she needed to potty and constantly checking her pants with her. After the fourth accident, we did the ten practice runs again. But she had a fifth accident after dinner, even though she had been promted to go both before and after dinner. I chucked the book right after.
The punishment for accidents with this method is the reason it did not work. My daughter thought it was fun to run around teh house and then pull her pants down. I gues my parenting methods just don't jibe with this type of training. I will begin looking for another method.

One reviewer wrote: "The information is helpful- but certainly dated. I also have a hard time believing that any child can be trained in a few hours."

I'm not certain what's dated about a child, a doll, drinks and a toilet. Here we are 24 years down the road, and my son (age 26) really hates it when I tell others about how this book saved us weeks (if not months) of toilet-training fuss and bother.

The above skeptic says "a few hours," minimizing the effort that's actually involved and which the book admits. My son required 24 hours. I call that a success. Wouldn't anyone?

Get the book and give it a try. If it doesn't "take," then give it another 24 hours. The effort put into those few hours will be well worth the frustration you may save.

After trying pretty much anything and everything to get my son trained, over the course of years(!), I consulted a child psychologist, who recommended this book. My son was a normal kid, not overly or especially stubborn, but he just did not care if he was wet or dirty. At age 4 and him still untrained, I was desperate.

I got the book, read through it quickly. Read it again. And again. Tested my son with the readiness tests. He did great with physical readiness (duh...he was 4!), but cooperatively, he didn't pass. So we spent a few weeks using the techniques in the book to enhance cooperation until he consistently passed that readiness test.

I blocked off a weekend to do the training. It was going to work. It had to work. I won't say I was the best at following the instructions, but after a gruelling, longest-weekend-of-my-life weekend, he was trained. He had some accidents afterward, but they were few and far between. Other than at night, we never went back to diapers.

The book suggests that nighttime dryness often follows shortly after daytime dryness, but with my son, it took some years still. As he gained dexterity, we added doing laundry to the natural consequence of night time wetness, and that probably solve the problem better than anything. He got very tired of doing laundry at 6am. (I always helped and never scolded, but made it clear that since it was his body and his sheets, he was responsible for both. To me, this method is all about shifting responsibility for toileting from the parent to the child.)

Anyway, he's 14 now. It's been 10 years and I still hail this book as the only method that worked after trying pretty much everything else. When he was 9, his little sister was born, and I never got a chance to try this book out on her. She loved going potty and figured it out during the introduction stage, where we were just letting her get to know what pottying was about. She was daytime dry within weeks and is now night time dry (she's not quite 5 now).

I think my big tips with this book are:

* Take it with a grain of salt. Try to understand the concepts behind the instructions, and adapt them to your child. Yes, it's not "modern", but there is a lot of wisdom to be had. You will have to edit as you read. Just make sure you work at understanding the point of each suggestion. I used very wated down juice and straight water because that's what my son liked. I didn't like what soda did to his cooperation level, so I didn't include it. That sort of thing. I also reduced the practice repetition to two or three times instead of 10. I couldn't find a peeing doll, so I made do with a regular one and sprinkled the accident. I never yelled NO, but understood the point to be distraction, not shaming. He didn't like having to change out of his clothes himself, but did very well with positive reinforcement for the little victories -- putting his hands on his waistband, pulling down, stepping out. I also didn't use a potty chair. I used a stepstool with a regular toilet figuring that potty chairs would not be available anywhere but at home.

* Don't take the readiness tests lightly. Make sure your child can pass them consistently. Not just once, but multiple times over a period of time. You want to make sure the kid is really ready. I like what one of the other reviewers did -- she spent weeks preceding "priming" the child by talking about pottying, reading related books, and watching related videos.

* Remember that EASY is not part of the title. It may be fast, but it isn't easy.

* Remember that this too shall pass. I had a horrible time with my son, but when I was tempted to give in to frustration and scream, I reminded myself that he would not be in diapers when he was 18. I was certain he would figure it out before then. For some reason, this gave me more patience for the moment, I could smile and take a deep breath and have another go.

As this book pre-dates automatic-flush toilets, it has no solution for children who become afraid of them. My daughter was terrified of them after one flushed while she was still going. To fix this, I began putting my hand over the sensor of such toilets while she went. This keeps it from flushing and puts me close enough to her that she isn't scared. I'm petite, so I can still do this in regular stalls, but larger women may need to use the handicapped stall to make this work.

Overall, I recommend the book highly, but caution that if, after reading it, you're not comfortable with the method in theory, then definitely don't attempt it. Use something that better suits your family values.

Toilet training is so stressful. As a young mother of two toddlers, I have to say that toilet training has been my least favorite task as a parent. I finally decided that after Christmas I would work on potty training my daughter. She just turned 3 and everyone else in her class at church is potty trained. She has previously shown no interest in sitting on the potty.

We have affectionately called the method from this book "Potty Training Bootcamp." It is bootcamp because it is intensive, one day training for your toddler. The method involves sweetly encouraging your child to help a dolly pee pee on the potty, clean herself and toss the pee pee into the big potty, etc. We worked for about 2 hours doing this with my daughter and during the training, she sat on the potty but didn't actually do a pee pee.. Two days later, I told her she was a big girl now and she was going to go on the potty. I put underpants on her, and to my amazement, she sat on the potty and went through all of the same steps we had done with the dolly two days prior. She has been happier and more independent as a result of this training. I am still amazed that she took to it so well after mentally being so against it just a few days before that. It is now a month later and she is doing really well. She is making very few mistakes.
It is worth a try if you are a mother like me who is stressed by the prospect of training. I was surprised to see that this book was written back in the 70s.

I was given a remaindered copy of this book 25+ years ago and made the mistake of not reading it in time to train my first son. It was a long, painful process with him. I had 4 more boys and, with the second, dreaded toilet training when he got to that age. I dredged this book out and figured I had nothing to lose and I was right. This worked like a charm with my 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th sons.
Toilet training is not fun and you really do need to take some time out to read the book before hand and be prepared, but this gets the job done (no pun intended) efficiently, effectively, and left my sons trained for night time as well. I just didn't believe it would work, but it did. I have been recommending it to people for a quarter of a century and no one who has used it properly has anything but praise for it.

I used this book with all 3 of my children (twin boys, one girl) nearly 40 years ago. As a special education teacher, I was familiar with behavior modification techniques and totally committed. I waited til my children had passed their second birthday, so they would have the capacity to succeed. I followed the book practically to the letter. I used an inexpensive doll, one that could only drink and wet. I asked my husband to take the other child/children out for the day so I could work individually with the child being toilet trained. I put a gate across the door of the room we used, placed the potty chair in the room and began after breakfast. All 3 were daytime trained by mid-afternoon. (Diapers were still necessary at night for quite awhile, as they had small bladders and were deep sleepers.) I especially liked that it was "all-inclusive" so the child is toilet trained, rather than the parent. They learned the entire process rather than just sitting them on the potty.

I was all hyped up about the book and thought it was a very positive, loving method. According to the book my child was a candidate for the method. The two things going against us were my daughter's age (<2) and we had already introduced potty training concepts. But, the book advises to ignore your child's tantrums. My child was not prone to tantrums before this method! Maybe there is a reason your child is throwing themselves on the floor and crying. The book advises to get everyone out of the house and isolate yourself and the baby, in addition to getting rid of toys, the phone, books, and other distractions. Sensory deprivation? It also instructs parents to use "manual guidance" when your child does not obey. Force? It also describes "Positive Practice" when they have accidents. It was more like marching. I can really see this method working better on older children with no real introduction to the potty, but it really is not for everyone as it implies. The business with the doll confused my under two year old. And how independent do we want a less than two year old to be when it comes to complete toileting? The book is probably best used as a guide or for ideas unless your child is two and a half in my opinion. I may actually attempt this method again with her twin when he passes the readiness tests in the book, plus when he is much older. Parents, listen to your children's cues. These authors do not know your child like you do. Keep that in mind!

Potty training was my greatest fear as a mother. I have two sons that are 2 years apart. They are now 19 and 17 years old. When my youngest was born, the oldest was not potty trained. I purchased a potty that played music and this book was included. I read the book and thought the process was easy. I trained both my sons in one day. I have recommended this book to numersous people and that have all loved it. It's good to know that it is still being used. I wonder if the people who said the process did not work did not follow instructions. The one about the child being ready and mature is very important. Of course it will not work if your child is not ready.

We got this book in its original 1970's version from the library - it was falling apart but I read it and used nearly all the techniques and it totally worked in a day. We did not get the doll that wets, just used a teddy bear and pretended he went pee pee which worked fine. We just threw away the diapers, gave our daughter treats for "dry pants", and she has had only a few accidents since. Each accident we reminded her that she should practice which she did. It was a pleasure to potty train her, like a game, no one got angry or stressed out just learning and fun. She is dry through the night, too. Really a great book.

The authors of this outdated book advocate that children be "trained" to use the toilet in essentially the same way as a puppy will be paper-trained if the little creature has an insensitive owner. The authors have no background in child psychology, and originally developed their method as a way of dealing with incontinence in severely retarded institutionalized adults. Since then they have unscrupulously made millions of dollars--and caused a vast amount of serious, possibly permanent emotional harm to toddlers--peddling their harsh technique to parents as a way of dealing with normal children. I and my first son were victims of TOILET TRAINING IN LESS THAN A DAY. I followed its complicated instructions to the letter, and the only "instant" results were my child's tears and my own frustration. My pediatrician then recommended that I use TOILET LEARNING: THE PICTURE BOOK TECHNIQUE FOR CHILDREN AND PARENTS by Alison Mack, which worked like a charm (and delighted my little boy). I went on to use TOILET LEARNING with 2 more children. I found its method to be easy, gentle, effective, and fun. In fact, each of my children told me TOILET LEARNING was their favorite book, because it was about them! Please don't let other parents' claims of "instant success" lure you into buying TOILET TRAINING IN LESS THAN A DAY. Any such "success" was achieved at a possible cost to their children's lifelong mental health.

I purchased this book after reading the wonderful reviews. It wasn't that the book didn't work per se, it was that my daughter was unaffected by the disciplining methods. I did not have the bad reaction from my daughter as most did, as in she was NOT negatively affected by the methods in this book - it just simply didn't work. She woke up one day (around 22 months old) and said she had to go potty. So I put her on it and she went. She was doing great with telling me that she had to go, so the diapers went away and I bought this book and a pack of pull-ups. I think this book is rather dated in some of its references. Although my daughter was less than the recommended age for training in the book (it says 30-36 months), she was pysically ready according to the readiness test it offers. And since she was telling me that she had to use the potty, that was a tell-tale sign. This book says to keep offering your child fluids so they have to go so they can tell you. I never had a problem with that. It tells you to make the child become part of their accident by making them put their wet clothes/underwear in the laundry and wiping themselves clean. My daughter loves to do this anyway, so not a good tactic for us. She also loves changing her clothes (that's possibly a girl thing), so if she has to redress herself into new clothes after she wets, she thinks it's a game! This books says to tell your child you are disappointed in them when they have an accident, and my daughter doesn't care...and I don't think she even understands. And the times that she does understand, she just tells me, "No, mommy!" - haha! And I've tried having her walk around the house naked so I can catch her in the act, as the book suggests scoulding them "mid-stream" to spook them into stopping the stream. That didn't work either :(. I was never able to catch her - she's sneaky and quick - until it was all over the floor!
I have read excerpts in other books that say that potty training CAN be done in one day - if you find the right day. My daughter tells me, most of the time, that she has to go...but this book did nothing for us, and she's still in pull-ups 5 months later (although the book wards against the use of pull-ups). It is definately worth a read, though, since it's so cheap. What works for some does not work for all.

Here are my problems with this book.

1. It tells you that it might not work if you have already tried some of the other techniques out there. Well, if I had not failed in the other obvious techniques, would I actually take the time to buy a book on this? I wouldn't automatically assume that my child will have a hard time and buy a book right away.

2. It is unrealistic to think that I can clear away EVERYTHING else away for even a single day. Where is my other child suppose to go? I don't know too many Moms who can just clear everything away which they say is important.

3. I got stressed reading the book, thinking about doing all of this with my son. Now, I should mention that my son is autistic so perhaps other people would not feel the same way.

4. Go to [...] solutions.com if you are really interested in this method. That is where I went to buy the doll needed and in the meantime, found almost the exact same directions without having to read an entire book and pay $6.99.

So why did I give this 2 stars instead of just one. Well, I can't help but assume that for some people, this would work and be worth it. I however can not justify completely stressing out my son so that he is potty trained a little earlier. Since buying this book, he has started to use the potty and we are progressing slowly. Again, the fact that my son is autistic could account for some of this.

Good luck!

I bought this book mostly because of the title. After reading the book and assessing my son's skills I really believed he was ready physically even though he didn't show any direct interest in learning to use the potty (he never asked to use it or really talked about it). I first tried to train him on my own as the book suggests, unfortunately it was a terrible failure where we were both crying and frustrated. My son is incredibly stubborn and willfully disobedient in all areas and this was no exception. I waited a few weeks and got my husband to help. We worked together and encouraged each other when we got frustrated and that helped us to be more encouraging to my son as well. We had a very intense 2 days then by the 3rd day he had it down well (except for bowel movements, those took a bit longer). He immediately started sleeping through naps without wetting even though up until that point he always soaked his diaper at naps. After only a few weeks he no longer wet the bed at night either. I am proud to say that my 25 month old son was potty trained after only 2 intense days. I really didn't think it could go much better than that.....until my daughter came along. At 18 months I bought her a potty chair and showed it to her. The next day I got her up from her nap and she said "I do poopoo in potty like brother" I said ok, thinking it would just be a nice practice sitting on the potty time. I was wrong, she immediately had a bowel movement and told me she was a big girl now. That weekend I pottytrained her by myself in 3 hours with no tears or frustration at all. She took longer to be dry at night and has had alot more accidents than her brother did but I figure alot of that is because she was so much younger. Now I have a completely potty trained 4 year old and 2 year old all because of this book! They are both very happy and proud of their accomplishments as well.

This is the answer to every potty fight you've had with your child. I did it with my son (mostly because I was too lazy to spend three months running him to the potty) and he trained in 5 1/2 hours. My daughter who was only 21 months at the time trained in four hours. Both children had 4 or fewer accidents the following days and have never had a problem again. Both children were also staying dry all night after the training. Anyone who tells you this didn't work for their child didn't use it properly. I have found that these people only used some of the methods and not all. All the methods need to be used. Be very familiar with the whole program and it will save you a lot of heartache. The whole thing is so positive and rewarding that both my children (who are very very stubborn and prone to exploding over small things) were happy and excited about their new skill. I have friends that swear by it and now I do too!

I purchased this book, it's been over a month and a half and no book. I sent an e-mail complaining that I had not received the book and got no response. Very, very disappointed and upset. No book and no refund...what a deal!

I first used this book 15 years ago with my first child. I calmly and happily spent the morning with her and she was potty trained...in less than a day, as advertised. One accident the next day (when I was strolling her through my office!) and none after. Three years later I kind of remembered what I did with her and used the method with her sister. A few accidents later over the course of a week, she was fully potty trained. Five years after that, I told my new husband about the method. We couldn't obtain a copy anywhere so he applied my outline and our 3rd daughter was trained in about 2 days. Every friend with whom I have shared this concept has been successful whether they got the book or just followed my failing memory. It has been 15 years since i read the book so I thought I better get a copy to do it right with my son (and save it for my grandchildren). It is my experience that this method really, really works....even in diluted form. Follow the checklist and apply the concepts calmly and with positive expectations and you (and your child!) will be successful.

I used this book in the 70's and again in the 90's...for a total of 6 children, 5 of whom were boys (4 were my own children, 2 were daycare children). It worked well with each of them. After the initial day, you feel you are both working in the same direction. The practice of having them check to see if they are dry (which 9/10 times they will be) sets them up for success. It is a totally behaviorist method, but for potty training I feel that's okay. IF you follow this book to the letter, you will have success. Where I've seen people fail is when they decide to omit something or not follow-through. I continue to recommend this book, though I've heard good things about Potty Boot Camp as well which sounds like it uses many of the same methods.

I am the mother of a 2 year old daughter who seemed interested in toilet training. This book scared the pants off of me, and kept us on our path of interest and discovery. While the methods described are well researched and planned, they seem only appropriate for extreme cases and difficult children. The repeated practicing is belittling and demoralizing for children and unnecessary if your child is truely ready and given no indication of learning difficulties. Bribery and candy play as much a role in this method as the parents, encouragement and the child's self-esteem. Children aren't expected to learn to walk, talk, eat with siverware or anything else in one day, why toilet training?

This book has a lot of good ideas, however, it did not help with training my 3 year old. It requires you to load up your child on liquid so he/she has the urge to go, which is a good idea. However, checking to see if he/she has dry pants every 5 minutes isn't feasible. Your conversation with your child the whole time is supposed to be about going on the potty - however many hours it takes to get them trained. My son got bored with the conversation and didn't pay attention. And once the child gets the whole going on the potty thing, they aren't supposed to tell you when they have to go, they are just supposed to go. The book states that you should put the potty where ever they may be - outside, inside, in their room - so it is easily accessible to them. I would rather have my son come and get me when he has to go.

Needless to say, my son is still not potty trained and it's been 3 weeks since we've received this book.

All three of my boys have successfully toilet trained using the method described in this book. Yes, they were all trained at 2 1/2 years of age. Yes, they were all trained in less than a day. However, it was not easy. It took a lot of preparation and determination on my part. Many of my friends have successfully trained their children using this book, and many have tried and only succeeded in great frustration. Here are some of the things I have heard while troubleshooting this training method with frustrated parents:

"I used a few ideas from the book, but it seemed so involved that I skipped a lot. It didn't work."

"I did everything except to make her 'practice' when she had an accident. She hated that part, and it was just so time-consuming. It didn't work."

"Hey, I've been at this for 3 hours now, and it's not working. He just urinated all over the new carpet! What? Did I help him to practice? What's that? No, I haven't had time to read the book, I'm just looking at it as I go along. No, he didn't teach the doll to practice--we don't have a doll that wets. I'm improvising. What page is this practice thing on anyway? Oh, no, he just wet the floor again! And the new baby is screaming! I gotta go feed the little one now. This doesn't work!"

In this book, the authors clearly lay out a specific method designed to quickly toilet train young children. In addition, they discuss the importance of adhering to the method in order to achieve and maintain the desired results. Just owning the book will not help to train your child.
If you do read the book and don't agree with the method, or don't think you can carve out the time required, or are unable to find someone to care for your other children during the initial training period, just don't do it. If you read the book and decide that this is something that you can give adequate time and attention to, this works.

Read the book. Prepare well. Follow the training method. Be consistent in the days following. With preparation, patience, and determination, your child can be toilet trained in a day, too!

My son is autistic and non verbal. it was particularly hard to potty train him as he did nit get the concept. When he was 10 years old (he's now 23), I attended a workshop on potty training put on by Emory University. This book was recommended. We were advised to take 10 days instead of one and some adjustments were made. I didn't buy a potty doll but I did spend 10 days (took off from work - it was worth it) and I did ply my son with whatever he wanted (sweets included -that was worth it too). Long story short, he was potty trained in 10 days and has never reverted back. I highly recommend this book to parents of autistic or mentally challenged children.

Nearly 17 years ago when my now nearly 19 year old was a few days from 2, I found this book, read it and spent Friday morning teaching him how to use the toilet. Success; and he was dry through his afternoon nap and nights from then on.
The only wet accidents I remember were just not giving himself enough time to get to the toilet. No soiling accidents.
I was pregnant with our second and his daddy was to be brought home from a back surgery on Sunday.
We didn't have the doll and I don't remember doing 10 repetitions. He didn't eat any breakfast that morning so he would be hungry for his success treats. We used a child's toilet chair, but he quickly learned to place his 'toilet seat' with the pee guard on the larger one and climb up.
When he was tall enough he learned to stand to pee by watching Daddy. I wasn't too excited about him standing on something to make him tall enough and risking falling in headfirst.
I had loaned out my copy by the time our second was ready so he didn't learn in a day and later had problems with constipation from the delay and inconsistent training. I believe they have to learn as soon as ready as delay may make some children fear losing the feces...what they may consider 'a part of themselves'.
I am glad to see this book available and will be getting a copy and one of those new toilet seats that attach to the regular seat for the little boy I watch for when he is ready as well as future grandchildren.

I used this book with both my daughters and I never once made them put on wet pants, nor did I tell them anyone would be disappointed in them, as other reviewers have said. As in all things, take the good from it and leave the rest. It's not rocket science! It worked perfectly with them both, 7 years apart in 1983 and 1990. If you use your own common sense and mothering skills with the positive instructions in this book and you'll be fine.

We had a doll for demonstration that was made in the 1960's. I'm not sure if they even make that kind anymore -- it needs to be able to 'pee'. I would be sure they have a 'relationship' with the doll already and not introduce it on the first day of training.

Again, use common sense.

My son is now 29 and my daughter is 25 with a 1 year old of her own. When my son was not quite 2 1/2, I bought this book and followed it exactly. We were done in a day and he was a pretty proud little boy. It takes planning and patience on your part and a lot of attention to your child. When my daughter was 2 1/2, we planned an 1100 mile family trip to NY with 10 people in a large motorhome so I pulled out the book and had her trained in 2 days. That was 2 weeks before the trip and she only had one accident during the entire trip. There were never any adverse effects.

I am so thankful for this toilet training book! As a [once] working mom, a stay-at-home mom, and as a mother of a child with a disability, I recommend this book to everyone!! We all want to potty train our child as quickly as possible and this book tells you how. I don't think there is a quicker method available. Even if you don't get the child trained in "less than a day," your child will still be toilet trained quicker by using this method than other methods. I have trained 6 children, and it took my kids an average of 2-3 days to be potty trained. What other method can do that?

This book has all the components of an effective potty training program: a demonstration of what is expected, definition of terms, repetition of key words and desired behaviors, lots of practice, positive reinforcements for correct behavior and consequences for bad behavior (and the consequences reinforce the desired behavior without punishing the child), it skips pull-ups and goes right to underwear, and it teaches total independence.

Working moms will love this method because you can potty train your child yourself and not have to rely on the babysitter to do it. I was a full-time working mom when I potty trained my first 3 children. I didn't think it was fair to expect my day care provider to do it. Using the methods in this book I trained them all over three day weekends. My first son took about 3 days to be totally potty trained. He didn't seem to get it at all the first day--he didn't even go in the toilet once. I felt frustrated because I thought the book didn't work. But then, the next morning when he woke up, it was like it suddenly clicked and he did it all himself. It took him about another day to realize that B.M.s went in the toilet also, but after that he rarely had an accident. When I was going to potty train my third son, my day care provider said "I have been babysitting children for over 20 years and I know it takes many months to potty train a child. No one potty trains a kid in three days." Well, when I went back on Monday, he was totally potty trained. At the end of the day when I picked him up the babysitter was very amazed. She said in her 20+ years of babysitting she had never seen a child potty train so fast, and so completely. She thought she'd have to help remind him or help him with his pants, but he did it all himself (and he was only 2 ½ years old).

Another bonus was that within days of starting potty training my children no longer needed diapers at night. They were either getting up on their own in the night to go potty, or they were waking up dry.

Most recently I potty trained my sixth child, a little 4 year old with Down Syndrome. Since the method in this book stresses repetition and practice--things my daughter needs to learn anyway--I decided to stick with the same method for her. By five weeks from the start date, she was going to the potty on her own. Not only that, she was waking up dry in the morning (she even got up in the night a couple of times to go to the bathroom on her own). She did get sick about week six with walking pneumonia, which made it hard for her to have the desire to go on her own, so I kept taking her until she was well. Now, when she's feeling well, she goes potty on her own and wakes up dry. When she gets a cold, she'll sometimes wet at night, but she stays dry all day.

When I've recommended this book to others the biggest reason some didn't like it was because their child resisted too much. The book makes one believe every child will happily practice and it will be a totally positive experience for everyone. My experience has been that every child will resist it at some point--even the most easy-going ones. It takes time and commitment, but I promise you, if you stick with it, it won't last long and it will be well worth the effort. So don't give up! It really works!!

After several fellow moms highly recommended this approach to potty training, I recently day-trained my 26 month-old daughter using this book. She showed all signs of readiness for training, aside from having dry diapers for 2-4 hour stretches, and she still was trained following this approach. Preparation was key, as was support from other moms who have been through it. We started on a Wednesday with 8 accidents, and she stayed dry the next day. Over the next few days she went back and forth from no accidents to 1-2 per day. Then, since the first week, she's been accident free for the entire second week. And the time between having to make trips to the potty is growing longer and longer, so she's definitely developing bladder control. She even stayed dry through a nap once this week. We are using pull-ups for her nap and diapers at night only. Otherwise, she's been in underpants the entire time - even when out of the house (and has had no accidents at all away from home). This book was a huge help and I will continue to follow its suggestions as we go through the post-training period. I'm sure no method is perfect, but our daughter, who was in diapers two weeks ago (and is on the younger side of the training spectrum), has now been without any accidents for a week. And we trained her directly on the adult toilet (so we adjusted the information in the book accordingly). I recommend this book to anyone who likes an organized approach to training and who is good at preparation, diligence and follow-through. I gave it four out of five stars, only because the title can be misleading, and for some, frustrating. Fortunately, I was forwarned by friends about the actual length of training.

I used this when my son was about 2.5 years. I pretty much skimmed through the whole book in one day and started that day. The tips in the book really helped. I would go and read some bits and pieces that I was having trouble with. My son had some accidents but overall, he's doing really well. I plan to use the book over and over with my future children and adjust accordingly with each new personality.

I used this book when my daughter was a little over 2. It took all day because she is able to hold it very long and I couldn't get her to drink very much. She only went to the bathroom once that day but it was in the toilet. She had only 2 accidents the following week. The first one was because she didn't know she could use the bathroom at the babysitter's house! (If only we could anticipate those kinds of thoughts our children have.) The other was because she was playing and tried to hold it too long. She ran right past her dad's bathroom, again, not knowing it was ok to use it, and didn't make it all the way to our bathroom (the bathroom the girls use). I am now on line looking for a copy of it to order for this same daughter who is all grown up and has a child of her own. I highly recommend this book.

I purchased this book after struggling for months to potty train my first child. I wish I had taken up this method earlier because it really works. My son was potty trained essentially in a day and had the whole thing down by the weekend. The following are what I think are the keys to the plan.

- Taking a full day (or more) just dedicated to potty training. It was exhausting, but it made all the difference
- Loading your child up on juice to force them to have to urinate all day
- Positive reinforcement. The book recommends that you make a list of people that will be proud of your child, both real and make-believe. I had friends and family call that day pretending to be my son's favorite figures (Batman, Superman, etc.) to tell him how proud they were of him. It really made a difference
- Adapt the 'shaming' to your individual child. I didn't feel like it was necessary to be too high handed about how displeased I was with him wetting himself. Alittle may go a long way in this regard. It really depends on your child.

Try this book. You will be happy you did.

I have a stubborn, 3 year old son who has shown no interest in potty training, but meets all the requirements of "being ready." I thought this book sounded like the perfect solution. I went out and bought all the supplies like the book suggested. I began training. Within 1.5 hours, my son had fought me every step of the way. He is very intelligent and usually cooperative, but I just couldn't get all the requirements in to make this training a success. The book was written 26 years ago and times have changed. I would love to know if this training method has been modified or updated. The book suggests telling your child that pottying in your pants is "bad" and to call your child a "baby" if your orders aren't followed (I question this being good for self-esteem). There were a million things to remember and to say. Too much information to digest and remember for a layperson like myself. If my son was in a clinical environment with the doctors who wrote this heavily detailed, impossible-to-perform training book, maybe the training could have been successful. I think a person without clinical experience would have a hard time fulfilling all the must-do's in this book. Thank goodness I didn't spend any more than I did on this book.

Due to a divorce and the need to have me in daycare at 18 months, my mother potty trained me this way back in 1984, when this book was originally published (by a different publishing house). I was clearly younger than the suggested age, and when she's told people about this over the years, everyone has asked why she would want to emotionally 'scar' me this way - forcing me to learn so quickly. Now we're starting a family and I'm swearing up and down by this method - I *do* remember the day we trained. It was pretty awful. But by five p.m., several gallons of water, and several bouts of tears of exhaustion on my side, I had it down, and I only had ONE accident after that. Ever.

Meanwhile, my friends had multiple accidents over the years - including in my bed on sleepovers.

What I'll tell you is this. At thirty, I still remember how awful the day was. It was pretty awful. But I also remember what success I felt when it was over. And whatever trauma you're worried about imparting on your child - trust me, however bad this was? It was a hell of a lot less traumatic than wetting my bed or my slacks in front of my friends later on.

This is absolutely brilliant and the ONLY way to potty train.

This book freaking works. Just do Exactly what it says. Potty trained both my boys in 3 hours. Neither ever wore a diaper again, not even a pullup, no accidents! I swear by it. Mom had to babysit the newborn so she witnessed the whole thing.

I used this method with both of my children--my daughter when she was 2 years and 2 months, my son at 2 1/2. I took a day off (a Friday, so I would also be able to continue reinforcing training over the weekend) and just potty-trained intensely all day. I built up to that day by working up their enthusiasm for potty training, but otherwise did no actual preparatory training. I bought all kinds of candy, soda, etc. as the "rewards" that the method requires, although it was just for the one day. (Ordinarily they eat very healthily.) The method has worked wonderfully for both of them. They both were so proud and happy about their accomplishment, and my daughter (now 5) still remembers her potty training day very fondly, and was able to tell her little brother all about what he would be doing, etc. My son (just went through it) is also so proud of himself. It basically takes a day to train and a day to reinforce (a few accidents), and then there were no accidents from there on. I know there is some social disapproval of the "negative" reinforcement (making them "practice" running to the potty w/ wet pants after an accident), but this is combined w/ lots and lots of positive strokes, and as I say, the experience was obviously an extremely positive one for both of my kids. I've seen lots of parents who didn't believe in the negative reinforcement go through months or even years of massive struggles of will with their kids over potty training. Those fights can't be good. I've never had to do that at all with my kids, thanks to this book.

I read this book about 7 years ago when my first daughter was interested in the potty. (she was 18 months old} I was optimistic because my 2nd was due any day. So I followed the book TO A TEE!

You have to really commit to the day of potty training and plan ahead to make it go smoothly and fun. :)
{don't just decide to do it on a whim!}

I then used it for my youngest daughter when she was around the same age. Success!

Both daughters were successfully potty trained long before their 2nd birthday- whoot!

5 years later... I can safely say that I recommend this book!

I have recommended this book to my son and daughter-in-law for my grandson because it works! I used this technique 24 years ago to potty-train my son, and we were over and done with it in a day and a half. And for me, the control during the day extended to the night as well, and we had no more diaper changes in the morning either!

I strongly recommend that you do not take the readiness tests lightly. If this is attempted before they are ready, it will not work. The age of readiness varies widely between children. My son did this at 2; 3 or 4 may not be too old.

It WAS intensive! We did nothing but potty train that first day, and I was pretty tired of it by the end of that day! But by noon of the next day when he was going on his own, I was delighted and felt it was well worth it.

[...]

At any rate, with all due respect to others for which this technique has failed, I strongly recommend this method of potty-training. This has been used successfully with children who are developmentally delayed or have not been able to be potty-trained for years, according to the author. So I think it is likely that a child without these issues would do about as well as my son did. Even if it takes longer, the method is so positive and so encouraging to a child, it is worth continuing until it does work!

Ignore the outdated cultural comments and practice the techniques faithfully and you will probably find it to be as successful as I did. Best of luck in this often-dreaded task of child-rearing!

I am the mother of 7 children. Five of them are potty-trained, and I used this book for every single one. With different personalities, different stages of readiness, different genders, even different homes I needed a system that would be flexible as my family changed with each child. The time I had to dedicate to the first trainer was very different from the most recent trainer. This book addresses the concepts of training in a way that allows you to apply them to your child, and their needs. With a readiness "quiz" so you can start on the right foot, all the way to a systematic method of teaching independent toilet use the book trains parents in using specific tools for quick learning, and long-term success. Setting aside the time it takes to utilize the techniques for the short amount of time necessary is SO much better than being stuck to the house for weeks on end, waiting for little Johnny to figure it out on his own. I HIGHLY recommend this book, and will use it for the next 2 children moving up the ranks in my family.

I had attempted to potty train (PT) my 2 1/2 yo daughter 6 weeks prior, but I always had to remind her to go, and she started having such extreme tantrums that started to seep into all parts of her life. I put PT on hold. I came across this book, tried it, and it totally worked! After only 1 1/2 hours she was trained! It's day 5 and only 3 accidents. She goes without be reminding her to (a miracle!), and no tantrums!

My only complaint about the book is that there are so many steps and verbiage you are supposed to use that I had to read it at least 3 times to feel confident that I had it all down before starting. I wish they had a simple cheat sheet. Other than that, this book is worth its weight in gold if your child is ready to potty train!

I read this book long before my son was ready for potty training. Although some suggestions in this book seem useful, I decided not to train my son until he's ready. One day, he got out the changing table and jumped into bathtub and pee. I told my husband he's ready for potty. He's 3 and half then. My husband quite involved my son's toilet training. The first 2 months, there was not much progress besides when we took him to potty he would sit and pee. However, I had difficulties to get him poop in the potty. Then I read this book more. It said if the child could pee in the potty every time then he would poop there, too. One weekend, my husband took him to the potty every 20 minutes or less. Then he started poo in the potty. There is the thing, parents need to take time to train your kids for potty. It could only take one day. The key in the reinforcement. I remembered when we trained our dogs house break, we took them out every half hours or so. So remembering that, I believe your child can learn potty petty quick. You don't really need to follow the book. However, it did offer some useful information.

We had borrowed this book from the library for our first two and decided to buy it for out third! We had great success. I reccommend it to all our friends. For our first two children, we followed it TO THE LETTER and it worked just like they said. I think that it is important to follow every procedure that the book recommends because everything in it works together. I think if you want to pick and choose parts of it to use, you will be dissapointed, and potty training will take longer. If used correctly, I think it will bring pride and happiness to the parent and the child. At least it did for us. We especially liked practicing with the doll and the practicing after an accident.

That being said, one recommendation: you may want to skip the emptying the potty contents into the toilet part. When my first child did this, she had a hard time controlling how fast she poured and some splashed back onto her face (because she was so little, her face was close to the toilet edge). Yes, it was only a drop or two, but I didn't want to have to worry about urine drops on her face. We just skipped that part. It didn't seem to effect her being able to use the potty herself and keep her pants dry.

If you are willing to invest at least 3 very committed hours to this procedure, you will be happy you did!

UPDATE 2008: I just finished training #4!
I have an interesting twist to report. As the book describes, a critical part of this training is filling up his/her bladder with fluids in a short amount of time thereby creating the sensation to urinate. Well, it was close to 3 HOURS before my child FINALLY had to urinate! Under normal circumstances, the child should urinate long before this, and several times as well. Well, since it was close to 3 hours before she did, boredom was setting in (for her and me), and she didn't get a good number of successful urinating incidents on the potty for her to "get it" like my other 3 children had. (I was realizing that she either has a really big bladder or knows how to hold it really well.) By 4 hours we were ready to set the procedure aside for the day. We decided to pick it up again 2 days later. I still think this is the best program out there, but in light of my latest experience, my advice would be simply to start the drinks at least an hour before you actually start the training! You'll get quicker "action" and more chances for success!

Also, the more obedient the child, the better your results. Take the time to creatively work on obedience for a week or two before training if you think it might be a problem. It will really pay off when using this awesome method.

Additionally, remember to keep a happy atmosphere of positive encouragement, which might be very difficult depending on your temperament. I am typically a fairly tightly-wound person, but I knew I had to keep my cool for this very important and rewarding 3-4 hours. (The book suggests rewarding the child with a certificate at the end of the training. I suggest the person doing the training needs a reward, like a night out on the town!) It was actually a bonding time for me and my children. Strange, but true. Can't get much more personal than teaching such a foundationally important skill.

My family and I just returned from a short term work assignment overseas. When we were down to only two weeks left in our trip my wife was becoming very anxious. Our 3-year-old son was to enter preschool as soon as we returned and he was supposed to be potty trained. I had previously trained our daughter at 2-1/2 years using the book but wasn't sure my boy was ready. He showed no inclination for potty training and seemed perfectly happy to continue to wear diapers. Despite the reservations I went ahead and trained him according to the book. He seemed to enjoy it for the most part and thought it a bit of a game. He quickly grasped that the potty was were he was to do his job, but over the next few days he had random accidents during the day and wet his bed almost every night. With our daughter we had deviated from the book's recommendation and put pull-ups on her at night. This was a big mistake and prolonged her gaining control. With the boy we were determined to follow the book and a few middle-of-the-night ordeals ensued. These must have been as unpleasant for him as for us because after a few days he gained control. The BM's were another problem at first, for some reason he was afraid of these and would wait too long. We had to keep extra clothes and zip-lock bags with us wherever we went and were dreading the all-day/all-night airplane flight. We continued to do what the book recommended for accidents and by the time we left for home they were infrequent. We made it through the flight without incident, I think he actually got a kick out of using the airplane bathroom. Today, approximately a month since I trained him he has no accidents during the day or at night and it's been this way for some time.

I think the techniques of the book are effective because they are based on basic principles of human motivation, having fun, approval, mild disapproval (of actions not the child) and are also mindful of how we learn, i.e., precept upon precept based on verbal instructions, visual demonstrations, and the kinesthetics of practice and touch-based guidance. I also thought it was brilliant having the child potty train a doll-that-wets using the same procedure I was using on him! The book is not an easy read however, the technique evolves as the child learns each skill. I found the book somewhat tedious and had to take notes in order to keep the methods straight in my head. I'm giving it 4 stars instead of 5 because I thought they could have beefed up the section on BM's and nighttime accidents a bit more. Overall an excellent and effective book.

This book was a lifesaver for me! I had tried to toilet train my twin sons at about age, with disastrous results. They ended up hiding whenever they needed to go potty. Equally abysmal results occurred with several later attempts, and my frustration escalated. Later, I learned, statistically, twins are ready for potty training later than singletons, and boys later than girls. Of course, premies do everything later. My boys were born 3 months early. So, by trying to train them too early, I created a huge problem.
When my sons were three and a half, I became a single parent, and the desperation mounted. My private daycare cost was more than any other bills. I found a daycare that cost considerably less, but they only took potty-trained children. I was very worried and not confident about my abilities to potty train, since I had had so many failures. Then I found this book. I read it, took notes, and made an action plan. My ex-husband took one boy over a weekend so I could train the other; the next weekend, we switched. By the end of the day, both boys were successfully potty-trained, day and night. Neither had any accidents thereafter.
My suggestion is to follow the book to the letter. Granted, the preparations are rather tedious, but the results are worth the effort. Each day turned out to be one of the best I ever had with my sons, in part due to the rare opportunity to be with each alone. My sons both enjoyed a day filled with laughter and a sense of proud accomplishment. My sons are 25 now, and I still fondly remember this time with them.

I have 27 month old twin daughters. One daughter trained herself at 23 months, and we have been working with the other one since then. I got this book about a week ago, and used the method over the weekend with GREAT success!

The only thing that didn't work the way I thought it would was the repeated cycles after an accident. The book indicated that the child would not like this and it would deter further accidents. Well, my daughter thought it was downright hilarious to have to "hurry" from room to room and "practice" using the potty. But, beyond that, she did everything else very well. I was VERY surprised and VEry impressed.

I do, however, thing the book is VERY dated in the language and situations it uses. I remember something to that effect being mentioned when the book was featured on the Dr. Phil show, so I wasn't totally surpised. I was a bit put off by it, though, and found myself so caught up in the language that I had to reread some sections to get the point.

But, overall, I think this is an excellent book and would reccommend it to others.

I'm a 29 year old mother of one who started potty training with the methods used in this book. The process has taken a bit longer than one day, but my understanding is that the child will get the basic concept of using the potty in one day... naturally further reinforcement will be neccesary for a number of days. We are on day 5 with our 2 1/2 year old son and he has been almost accident free (even throughout the night and at naptime) for the past 3 days. The only exceptions being two times when we were outside, which the book mentions will be more of a challenge). The only complaint that I have with the book is the fact that so little attention is paid to "number two". Not all children are regular enough to be trained to do number two in the potty right away. One reviewer wrote that she used several dime store "presents" to give the child after successes...this is what my husband and I have begun with our son as well.
The book makes a very strong point of using only positive reinforcement, with the exception of giving an emphatic "NO", to the child when an accident has been detected. I'm not sure where one of the reviewers read that the book says to tell your child he or she is bad...that is definately not a part of the program!
One of the negative comments I keep seeing from other reviewers is that they feel this method is cruel and hurtful to the child. Well, not only am I a believer in this book, I'm also a graduate of the program myself! My own mother used this book to train me at age 2, and I can say I have suffered no ill-effects from the training methods brought forth in the book! I'm a higly functioning, productive member of society despite the "practice runs" after an accident and all the salty, sugary snacks and drinks I endured for that day back in 1976!
The process does work, and your child's confidence will soar!

I've used this book in potty training all my children with GREAT success!!! Some of the reviews I've read about this book on this site seem misleading to me, so I thought I might clarify a bit.

The book stresses that the process needs to be FUN for your toddler. You are not punishing your child by saying "No!" Rather, you are teaching him/her. (S)he does not know that we do not pee or poop in our pants. My children all knew how to clean up their accidents, so even though your child may not be completely "trained" in one day, (s)he will know everything there is to know about using the toilet in one day, and what to do when accidents occur. I thought the book was clear that all children may not be proficient at using the toilet in one day. (I have known a couple children who were - one of mine and also my friend's daughter) The teaching process takes place in one day, and then is reinforced thereafter.

If you really read this book and follow the method, toilet training will be a fun bonding experience. I've seen parents turn this milestone into a battle of wills. This book really emphasizes NOT to do that. I found it ironic that one person who rated this book so low pointed out something the author actually says in the book. Your child will potty train reguardless of how you choose to face this milestone. I think this book makes it a much more enjoyable process than every other method I have ever heard of using. It is actually a game you play with your child.

Enjoy potty training and remember to reward for DRY PANTS - not for going potty!!!

Those who give this a poor rating often complain about how difficult it is to train their child. One of the recommendations made by the book is that the training should not be done by the primary caregiver. Also, it is important that both parents read the book carefully, plan and prepare carefully for the chosen day. The house should be empty of all distractions (that meant taking any other family members to the zoo in our case). My husband did the training with our children and while it made for a very boring day, the process worked like a charm. Yes, he was frustrated along the way, and felt that he hadn't made any progress at times, but from that evening on, there were no accidents and no, my kids did not need therapy as one disgruntled parent suggested. Both are happy, well adjusted adults, one even used the book to train her own 2 year old.

When my wife and I decided it was time to toilet train our daughter, we did all the wrong things and after a month we and our daughter were all frustrated. Then we found this book. Since we had messed her up so badly with our ignorant attempts at toilet training, it took us TWO days to train her. Then when our son came along, we used the book and took only a single day to train him. This book is worth its weight in platinum. We bought a copy for our daughter when she needed to train her son. It still works wonderfully.

My cousin recommended this book because she (and other family members) used this very successfully with their children. I have to say that potty training my kiddos was such an enjoyable task because of the fun and positive way this books recommends for teaching. I have successfully trained 4 children without any headaches that I commonly hear of! Half were accident free by day #2, while the other half took nearly 2 weeks. Very thankful to have found out about this book!

When I first purchased this book I skimmed it thinking I could just do it without reading it word for word. WRONG. : I did it and it didn't work initially/ Frustrated I went back and read it word for word. It was successful. From the time my oldest son woke up from his afternoon nap until 6 p.m. I did the training. Drinks (like a lot of pop) that I didn't typically give my son I gave ... soda/pop, lots of juice, Fritos, salty items so he was thirsty for the liquids and M&Ms for rewards for the baby doll and him.

The first night I got him up just before my hubby and I went to bed and took him to the bathroom. That was my only night I did this ... all other nights I just took him to the bathroom before he went to bed. He stayed dry all night. I did not use pull-ups at night as it gives the child a false sense of security. I can count on one hand how many accidents he had. He was close to three when I did this.

Definitely this book is creative. Do get your spouse or family member to help with phones, meals, etc., during the training. You need NO distractions as this is your opportunity to 100% focus on the little one you are training. :)

This is how potty training should be done. You TEACH your child how to do it - in a POSITIVE way spending ALL your attention on the teaching of the child. If your child can complete all the preliminary tests in this book, then he/she is ready to be potty trained. It is an intense day of teaching and learning but your child will love it.

You will be SO proud and amazed at your child's ability to learn so quickly. It's incredible. My daughter is 2 years 8 months old. She had literally never ever sat on a potty or toilet before yesterday at 7:30am. By this morning at 11am, she walked past me in the kitchen, walked in the bathroom, pulled down her pants, pooped on the potty, wiped herself with toilet paper (albiet not well and in the front,notback) pulled up her pants, dumped her potty cup in the toilet, replaced the potty cup to the potty, flushed the toilet, washed and dried her hands, came over to me in the kitchen and said, "I did it!" and gave me a high five! I sware - all true. She is so very proud of herself, and I am proud of her. All she needed was the instruction on how to do it.

YOU have to be ready to take it on 100%. Spend the time getting ready. Buy training pants, a potty and snacks. Get the other kids out of the house for the day. Shut the computer, turn off the phone and give your kid 100% of your attention for the day. Your child can do it if you are willing to put the effort in.

When I first opened this book I shook my head at its behaviorist approach to potty training--"it's Pavlov's dog all over again. My kid is not a dog!" Then I put it in a "give away" bag in a closet and forgot about it.

Recently I dug it out again thinking that I would do anything to avoid a long, drawn out potty training scenerio. "Let's see how true to the title this approach is," I thought. "How bad could behaviorism be for four hours out of my kid's life?" So, I went for it.

My son, (almost three)jumped right in to training the doll--loved it and remained focused on it for a solid hour. The treats I set out for both him and the doll included: choc. rice cake pieces, carmel rice cake pieces, dried apricots (with a hidden agenda to prompt pooping in the potty), fruit leathers, choc soy milk and water--all healthy. He got real chocolate if he acutally did poop (going poop in the potty had been an issue for the entire preceeding year when we intermittently tried to train him). We also told him for the next two days that after a full day of keeping his pants dry he would get a gift (finger crayons, a book) and he was successful--even at night. So, it worked. It has been two weeks now, including many long car trips and shopping trips and there has only been one bed wetting and one minor accident during the day. We stopped the treats after the first day and the rewards after the third day and he never asked for them again.

I whole heartedly recommend this book. And I can't believe I am actually saying that.

To start, this is a wonderful book for parents ready, willing, and able to have their child potty trained and for the child who thinks he or she is not ready, willing, and able. I also waited for my son to give me a "sign" that he was ready to be potty trained. But finally I said enough is enough and started reading this book. I asked my son if he wanted to wear underpants the day after I finished reading this book and he said "YES". I started implementing the rules and sure enough he had the idea in less than a idea. In a week's time he had not had an accident (no urine, bowel movements was another story). Be the second week he would run to the potty when he needed to have a bowel movement and by week three no accidents at all. I believe that he was to old for the doll thing, however, I will keep the doll handy when number 2 comes along for potty training.

I am a psychologist and mother of a 20 month old. As a psychologist I can tell you that the foundation for this book is excellent and the research is very accurate and easy to digest. As a mom I love it. My daughter is on the young side for this (I am due with our second soon so am eager to get her started) so we are not using the book exactly but it is still working really well. The ideas like reinforcement and using praise from others (grandpa will be so proud) are very effective and i have been using them to get her to do lots of other things like nap by herself and walk independently down the stairs (she liked to be carried but I'm getting too big). I think this book is fantastic.

Now I am getting a copy for a friend with a resistant three year old girl and one for my daughter for soon, maybe! Great book, BTW, my husband read the book and trained our daughter while I drove around in the car with the baby. This was in the early '90's and all we had were pagers. Not surprisingly, our daughter ended up training her little brother later. Get the book.

The reason for my review is because I am recommending this book to a friend today.

I heard about this book on the Phil Donaghue show back in the 70's and used this method for toilet training my 2 1/2 yr old son. Using their method and following the steps, by noon my son was accident free.

I highly recommend this book to everyone. If you follow the steps as outlined, and your child is 'ready', you cannot fail.

This is a straight forward instruction book on how to potty train your child. I've used it to train my two boys and trained about 10 other children as well. It definitely works, but you must be willing to be consistent and firm in your training and decide to never go back to diapers or pull ups.

This method is great: loving, supportive, clear. However I have a few comments: because our 26-month-old daughter was already well on her way to being trained, I had to wing it, and there was no clear-cut way to do that. The book has no concise list of steps, so you are expected to remember the contents of a whole section (not easy if you're reading it little by little as I did) so I highly recommend you write a step-by step list for yourself. If not, you may find yourself flipping through the book in an attempt to figure out where you are in the process. Parents who have no time to read can skip the first part which is nothing more than quotes from parents frustrated with other methods and/or their non-trained kids. Lastly (and this comment comes from a graphic designer) the illustrations are outdated, looking like the 70s, the moms appear to be about 16 years old and are wearing aprons, if you can believe it. But all in all the method works and yes, takes less than a day. I've recommended this book to many other parents. You may also want to check out web sites on this method (Dr. Phil etc) but just know that the web site info on potty training are not nearly as well-rounded as this method.

This is the sort of book people either love or hate. They will love it because it is well-researched and very specific when describing the strategies. They may hate it because some of the suggestions sound sort of odd: like practicing with your child as they run from one corner of the house to the potty. But if the reader really thinks about it, that is certainly a skill you would have to learn in order to be potty trained.

At the beginning of the book, there is an assessment to find out if your child is even ready to be potty trained. Take this assessment very seriously. If you potty train too soon, you could hinder the entire process.

The main requirement is that the adult who is potty training the child must be a very patient and positive person. If you think you're going to lose your temper or be rude / condescending to your child during your 1-2 day potty training session, don't buy this book or attempt the strategies. It will end up being a very tramautic day for your child.

But if you are postive, calm, supportive, and focused, this will definitely work. By focused, I mean, don't try to do this when guests are visting, the phone is ringing, and you're balancing your checkbook. You truly need to put your life on hold for 1-2 days. It's worth it in the end because you empower your child and you never have to change another diaper (until the next baby arrives).

We used this for our daughter when she was 26 months and she did great. We will use the same methods with our son when he is ready. Good luck!

I potty trained all 3 of my children (2 boys, 1 girl) using this method. If you really follow the process, keep it positive and follow-through as needed, this will work. If it doesn't, the failure is on the parent and not the child. All children can learn. Consistency, positive reinforcement and consequences ("practicing" in this case) all combine to teach appropriate potty behavior.

I loved this book! My son was 2 when we trained. Every child is different, but the methods in this book are very effective. It's important to remain positive, happy, enthusiastic, accepting and confident throughout the training day, no matter what. Btw, ours didn't go exactly according to plan. First off--my child was afraid of the doll. Would NOT go near it. So we had to skip that whole section & move right to direct instruction. Then at the end of the day, he refused to use the potty. So I shrugged and said "ok" & put him back in diapers. A few weeks later, he developed a mild diaper rash. I told him that's it, "you have to quit diapers." From then on, he used the potty, exactly as we'd practiced.
I consider the method a complete success. We did potty "train" in less than a day. We just took longer to implement the practice.

As an educator, I found this book very compelling. It is complete in that it addresses all the learning styles of children. Toileting oneself is a skill and the book teaches you how to be a skills trainer for your child.
My own 2 1/2 year old son was successful in being completely trained over a weekend. He had no urination accidents at all after the first 3 hours of training, and was successful with the rest over the course of the next few days. I will begin training my daughter when she is ready, based on the readiness assessment check list in the book.
It seems to me that the negative reviews of this book have not come from people who have read the entire book, nor from people who have employed this method. To use the book you MUST follow the instructions carefully, adjusting to your child's personality, of course, and you MUST have some persistence yourself. The first hour or two can be challenging but when your child is successful the first time, you'll know it was worth it.
The book recommends potty training in the kitchen, using a potty-training doll, providing many opportunities for practice with the use of salty snacks to promote fluid consumption, positive and negative reinforcement, recognition and reward, and more. Again, from an educator's standpoint, it is a terrific book in terms of addressing basic learning cycle models.
As an added benefit, there is basic parenting information about disciplining a small child to obey his/her parents, as part of the readiness assessment. My own observation as I see other children misbehaving everywhere I go is that that information is sorely needed.
I have bought and given this book away to friends 7 times. I am about to buy it one more time to prepare to train my 21-month old daughter.

I found this book originally at my public library when my first born was just born. I read the book and when he was ready I followed the instructions to the letter. I have 4 children and all were trained in less than a day. One of my daughters even had it down in 4 hours. My friends were so amazed by the fact that all of my children were trained in under a day they used the same method. I am now a grandfather and I am buying the book for my daughter to train my grand-daughter. I highly recommend this book. Read it, try it, it works!

I trained my daughter using this book and I highly recommend it. It does what it claims, and I was surprised how quickly this system works. My daughter was trained at 25 months, and within a few days she was having very few accidents. Within a couple months she no longer wore diapers for naps and we stopped bringing a change of clothes out with us. Now after just turning 3, she doesn't wear diapers at night. This book made my life much easier, and to my surprise, made my daughter much more confident and mature.
This book works best if you have not already tried toilet training with another method, but it will work either way. I did not find it hard to get all the supplies, the only one that I had to find was a doll that wets. It's best if you borrow one or buy a cheap hollow plastic doll and put two small holes. It works just as well, and we put the same training pants on the doll as we had on my daughter. The doll is only used for a few minutes anyway.
As a caution, if you are the kind of parent who had trouble teaching your child to sleep through the night, and are not consistent with disipline and rules, do not buy this book! The approach requires one very long and intense day for both parent and child. It requires constant reminders every few minutes and very repetive lessons throughout the day and it can be frustrating. If you are not able to follow this approach 100 percent, then it will not work.
On the other hand, by the end of the day, or atleast by the second, your child will have the confidence that they do not need diapers and a child two and up can undress themselves,use the potty, empty it, flush the toilet, put the potty away, and dress themselves with confidence.
If you are tired of changing diapers, this book can have you out of them in a couple days. I know of several people who have tried other approaches and now have 4 year olds in school who are not fully trained.

This is an outstanding book. My mother used it with me & my sister in the 70's! She gave it to me with the doll for my sons 2nd birthday. I read it & did it a couple of days later. He had severe autism & still did it by 4pm that day. I potty trained my next child & she was 22months. Just recently I potty trained my 3rd child, 20months old & she did it without a hitch. Nothing cuter than seeing a baby running for the potty, pulling down her pants, going, emptying it herself & flushing. My only obligation after the first day of potty bootcamp is to jump up & down & give her a treat for her hard work.
The first day is hard work, but well worth it & no negative standing around or shame involved.

Richard Foxx is a behavioral psychologist who has done ground-breaking work with autistic children. In this simple book, he explains how to teach your child to use a potty using behavioral psychological techniques. I trained our daughter in 1980 using this book in one 6-hour session. She was less than a year old and has grown up with no ill psychological effects! We made a game out of it, and there was no stress applied and no crying. It does take patience on the part of the parent. Over the years I have recommended this book to friends and co-workers, and they, too, have reported success! While it may not work for everyone for a variety of reasons, it should work for the majority if they do it right. Highly recommended.

I am the mom of 7 children, 6 boys and a girl. I purchased this book when my now 27 year old son was two and never looked back. All of my children responded well. It does take concentrated effort by the parent for the first day, and within a week we were always 95% accident free. It is important to not skip steps and to maintain a positive but determined attitude. I saw other mom's who spent hours waiting in the bathroom for the big event to happen only to have an accident happen as soon as the child was off the potty. My daughter-in-law is ready to potty train my 2 year old granddaughter and I am buying her a copy since mine is worn out from my own use and lending to many friends over time.

The book was recommended by a person whose advice I cherish. I used the methods that seemed outdated (like only talking about the training, and having my daughter look at me when I was talking - sometimes by holding her face in my hand) and she was trained in 6 (!) hours. Mind you - those were very intensive six hours, at the end we were both exhausted. I never lost my temper but it was no fun. After 6 hours my daughter said "mommy go potty in toilet, I go potty in diaper" and I thought we both went through the exercise for nothing. But she has been great about using the toilet ever since. She is a third child, and the first to be toilet trained so easily. She is very much aware of what she needs to do and how to do it. The accidents are few and far apart with several days passing by with NO ACCIDENTS AT ALL. Its been less then 2 weeks since we trained.

To the mom who compared this potty training method to dog training... I can see your point, but at the same time IT WORKED! It was only for 6 hours, and the child was treated with much respect. So yes, the repetition is an essential part of this program (just like in dog training) but I think it is also the reason for its success.

My mother recommended this book to me based on 2 positive experiences with it, training my younger brothers. Now I have 2 children of my own. I used this method to train my ds when he was 3. I was going to start earlier but a friend warned me against using this method when the child is too young because her very intelligent, seemingly ready child couldn't handle it at 24 months. So I waited until 36 months. By then he was more than ready. The first day was very frustrating. I think he only went once voluntarily in the potty after the initial training session. The rest were all accidents. I thought at the end of the day that I had wasted my time. But by the end of the week he had no more accidents. And during that week I believe he had less than 10 accidents.

The running is tiring, especially when he doesn't want to do it. But it reinforces the proper behavior in a much more positive way than yelling or conversely doing nothing. I learn a lot from the negative stimuli when I am practicing a new behavior. I have learned not to touch a hot stove because of the negative effect not because someone praised me for not touching it. Of course, this book is not for everyone and my experience has been that it works best with older children.

I also received a lot of general help regarding how to get my children to obey from this book. They specify speaking an instruction and then immediately guiding your child manually to carry out the instruction so that they learn to listen to you. Just telling them to do something and then having no consequences if they ignore you has not been that effective for me. But paying attention to my child and helping them to do what I ask them to do causes them to take more heed to what I say.

My dd is just under 3 years old and I will use this method to train her tomorrow. I do expect problems, I don't expect it to be relaxing. But she will soon be out of diapers and I am looking forward to that.

Overall, I believe this book can be very helpful if followed consistently and with proper preparation, i.e. reading it through and following all the recommendations. Just keep perspective. By the time your child is 20 he or she will be potty trained. :)

I used the method described in the book to train my 21 month-old son and it worked. He loves using the potty like a 'big boy' now and loves to tell people when he goes pee-pee in the potty. He still needs help pulling his underwear & shorts up and down, but he will tell you when he needs to go potty. It did take 3 focused days (longer than the book's title) - day 1 was about 1/3 success and 2/3 accidents, day 2 was about 2/3 success and 1/3 accidents, and day 3 was all success with only 1 accident late in the evening. He still does have the occasional accident during the day but rarely has an accident during his nap and is dry about 50% of the time at night. I did not find the practice drills and clean-up that you have the child do to be mean or traumatizing in any way. Instead I found that the practice drills helped my son master the process and that having to clean-up his accidents discouraged him from having them. My son loved all of the positive attention he gets for keeping his pants dry. I am very happy with the results achieved by using this book.

We have been trying (unsuccessfully) to potty train our son for about 8 months now. He just turned 3 and I am pregnant and due in 1 week. We really didn't want 2 in diapers, so I bought this book and we gave it a try. My husband and I actually trained together, but did what the book said. We started at 9 am and by noon, we were done. He still hadn't used the potty, but he knew what to do and could answer any questions. At 12:30, he said he had to go and ran in and peed! This was 6 days ago and he has only had 1 accident (that occured the very next day), he is completely out of diapers, day and night. He is dry every morning and after every nap and all this includes BM's. He is just done! I can not recommend this book enough! I will keep it for our next little one and will share with all my friends. Buy this book. Do what it says. It works!

I read hundreds of reviews before buying a potty training guide. This book was a major letdown. My daughter was 27 months when we started and now at 37 months we see to have a handle on the toilet-- kind of. I started training at 8 am and my daughter had a total breakdown by lunchtime. We continued on until the afternoon but suffice to say, some children just won't learn in one day.

My daughter didn't understand the instant switch from diapers to underwear. By noon she was crying for a diaper and hiding in the corner when she peed on the floor, even though this book didn't promote negative reinforcement. By the end of the "one day of training" she had found a forgotten stash of diapers and took off her clothes and velcroed herself into one. I think having a toddler bed also is important because my daughter was still in a crib when we started and couldn't get up to urinate during the middle of the night. The book tells you to use diapers at bedtime if need be, but come 8 o'clock my daughter would be ecstatic to have her diaper on and the next morning she wouldn't want to take it off. I think the switch from diapers was too hard to grasp for her.

I disagree with the rewards system of candy and junk food that this books recommends you use. Before toilet training, my daughter only had candy at Grandma's house now we still give it to her every time she potties because if we don't she'll pee her pants. I can't figure out how to break the candy cycle.

Traumatic would be the word I would use to describe my daughter's reaction to this aggressive training. If I could do again, I would wait until she was older (about the age she is now, 37 months) and I would introduce her gradually to life without diapers.

I looked at the reviews here on the store and decided to give this book a try. I am so glad I did because my 3 year old son was completely potty trained in 3 days and has not had an accident since. (and it has been over 2 1\2 weeks). I really appreciated the part about having them drink and snack the whole time because it enabled my son to have more opprotunities to practice going to the bathroom.

I read this book, chose a day to do, sent my other son off to his aunt's house and began "potty school". I kept telling my 3 year old that we were going to do "potty school" and he really liked that. We stayed in the kitchen for the training, unless we went to go to the potty in the bathroom. For most of the morning, I was so discouraged and almost quit because he kept having accidents but with a call to my husband and after getting a little pep talk from him, I realized that my son had to have those accidents to realize what it felt like to have to go to the bathroom. When evening time came around it was as if a light bulb lit up in his brain and he began to go to the bathroom and the accidents began to decrease and then stop all together. It was amazing.

This book recommends using a doll to help them learn what they need to do when they go to the bathroom and I didn't do that because my son already had the general concept.

This book is a definitely worth reading if you are looking to potty train your child soon. It takes a lot of effort and focus on your part but it is definitely worth it!

Of course, I was skeptical, but had heard good things about the book. I got all the stuff I needed to get. The first day was tough, but we had some success. Day 2 and the morning of day 3 there were accidents and successes. By the morning of day 3, though, I felt like a failure and thought I should start the therapy bank account for my 30 mo. old daughter. I decided that when Nathin Azrin wrote this book, pullups weren't invented. We disparingly went to pullups. However, to my surprise, occasionally, my daughter still initiated pottying on her own. However, after one week, we are no where near wearing panties 100% of the time. I can't decide why it didn't work for us. But we did get the idea going, which is why I rated it three stars. Good luck to anyone starting! Have a mimosa for breakfast!

This is the same book my mother used to train me in 1983, and it works. I am the more patient parent so it was always known I would train our little girl. The book reads like an instruction manual, which is what I need, and so I sent my wife away for the whole day and went for it full steam. All kids are different, and my mom reported that I was trained and had no accidents from day one. My little girl took a couple days to REALLY get it. I thought I had failed by the end of that training day but here we are 3 weeks later and only a few accidents. Don't give up!

I have used this book for 4 out of my 5 children. It was recomended to me by a mother who used it to train all 4 of her boys, including a set of twins! It is a life saving technique! My first child was miserable with our "training" period which lasted months! This book breaks down every step of toileting into a sequence of learning expereinces. This book is a compilation of methods developed for use with mentally disabled adults.

I am the Toddler Parenting Instructor at a local Pregancy Resource Center and I teach this method to our clients in a three hour workshop. I have recieved wonderful feedback. The only ones who encounter struggles are those parents who have failed in establishing solid bounderies in their homes. So, we do some "Nanny" triage to help them first establish order in the home then proceed with the traing after a second readiness test is applied.

The readiness test at the beginning of the book is to be taken very seriously. If your child fails just one step of the test, you will not be successful with this method until he/she is able to master those skills in the test. The best age to start: 2 1/2. So relax until then. My 5th child, Jenna trained in 2 hours (I have the chart documentation to prove it). All my other children "helped" her that day as her cheerleaders!

This book needs to read a couple of times before you start, so you are very familiar with the sequence. This will be the longest day of that year, but it is worth every minute for the rest of your parenting career!

If you are serious about trainnig your toddler in all areas of life skills, than this is one of those instruction books that should have been delivered by the stork the day they were born!

I bought this book with quite a bit of hesitation and skepticism. I had tried to potty train our three year old in the past, but he had no problem wearing his diapers. But, preschool starts next month and all students have to be potty trained. I bought this book without much hope of it working, actually, but several of my friends knew people who had been successful with it. IT WORKED IN FOUR HOURS! If you follow the steps in the book exactly, you will be amazed. After four hours, my son was going to the potty on his own, without even telling us first. I can't believe it was this easy after all the times we tried. I'm sending the authors a big fat kiss . . .

I used Toilet Training in Less Than a Day on both of my kids, when each of them was 2.25 years old, and actually trained each one (except for nighttime bedwetting) in less than a day. In addition, the methods used left them feeling really proud of their accomplishment.
A few warnings, though: (1) book has something of a condescending tone, (2) amount of practicing required after an accident was WAY too much for my kids (I reduced it considerably), and (3) book is unrealistic about how early to potty train. You can potty train at 20 months (as the book suggests) only if you are content never to leave the house. There is no way to get a kid that age to go BEFORE s/he feels the need--like, when you're leaving the house and are going to be away from a toilet for a long time. 27 months is more realistic.
For me, though, the book was a lifesaver. I didn't mind diapers, but I was REALLY not looking forward to the stage of having the kids in panties, and yet not being able to rely on them being dry. (How much upholstered furniture does the average family lose during this period, anyway?) The day that I taught them was exhausting, but it really was all over in one day

I used the techniques advised in this book with all 4 of my children, including my 4th with developmental disabilities. My oldest son, at 23 months, was 90% trained in 3 hours, night time dry within a week. My second and third, both girls, were trained within 6-8 hrs, although 1 needed night diapers for several months. With my 4th child, with developmental delays, I waited until be was 30 months old and all went beautifully - took a few days until about 90% dry, totally trained within a week.
I would stress that it works best if you start fresh - haven't already tried other methods and failed. Also - would really stress that you must follow the book as closely as possible. Plan NOTHING else for that day - do not even pick up the cell phone. It is exhausting, but you will find it well worth the concentrated effort. And they did not expect the treat rewards after the first couple days - just forgot about them. DO IT!!

This book made toilet training a breeze for my two-year-old. She really responded to having a fun day where just she and mommy learned about going potty and staying dry. She felt so proud of herself with all the praise and encouragement the book offers. She really did learn most of toilet training in just 3 hours--including nap and night dryness. Because of the positive spin, toilet training was a happy experience for our little family.
Like every parenting manual, you have to decide which techniques will and won't work for your child. The recommended correction if the child does have an accident is to have the child "practice" going potty ten times quickly. That didn't work at all for us. It turned out that for the first few months all she needed was the positive encouragement when she did it right.
One technique in the book that really worked for my daughter was calling grandparents to tell them she was keeping her panties dry. She had two thrilled grandmothers who were both so proud they sent her care packages--further reinforcing the positive experience. And she loved hearing me tell my friends how well she did at training.
All in all, I think this is a great book to have. I will use it with all of my future children.

I began toilet training my almost two year old, two weeks ago because he began showing alot of interest. After, a few days of success he began having alot of accidents and a friend recommended this book. I am happy I did not actually buy the book but checked it out of the library. Although, I could see this technique working with some very cooperative children I definately couldn't see it working with my "I do it my way" boy. I did try using a doll to demonstrate, however you have to hold the doll just right to keep it from "peeing" while it is drinking and then when I did get my son to see, he just looked, looked at me and picked up the bottle and squirted the water directly in the potty. If he could speak I am sure he would have made a comment about knowing a faster way Mom. I am continuing to train because everyday that he does poorly and I descide to back off for a few months he gets up the next day and goes with out a word. I really think he just rebells when he senses I am getting too involved and nagging. Back off Mom and let me do this.

This is a truly wonderful, wonderful method of potty training. I began training my 3 year old son the old way (making him sit on the potty every hour or so), and by the end of the first day him and I were both practically in tears. He did not go in the toilet once. So I gave it a couple of days of rest, and then started all over again using the method in this book.

I was blown away! Within an hour he was willingly going to the bathroom on the toilet (instead of a potty chair, I used a potty seat on the regular toilet). Within 3 hours he was going all by himself. And we both enjoyed the experience very much.

I would recommend this method to anyone! The only thing I wish is that it gave more help with bowel movements...in the book it says that it should follow naturally after the child has learned to pee in the toilet, however I have found that this is not always the case. It has taken a lot more coaxing for my son to get that down, but I still used the same basic methods in the book.

I was surprised, but I trained my 22-month-old daughter in a day and a half with this method. We went right into 'big girl pants' - and NO accidents - day or night. I remember carrying a potty chair as an airline carry-on a few weeks later, and switching to sitting 'backwards' - facing the tank - soon after. But it worked.

I wouldn't expect this with just any kid -my daughter had been dry all night a couple of times, and she wasn't a particularly stubborn type - though she was in certain respects 'opinionated'.

But she was eager to wear 'big girl pants', and this eagerness to be 'big' may be important.

This method is NOT based on 'shame'. If you make a mistake, you clean up. (happens to me in the kitchen sometimes.) No big deal. And the idea that 'only babies have wet pants' is not 'shaming' - it's just true. Again - not a big deal: make a mistake - try again. But TRY.

If the kid is 'bored' during training, do something fun - read a story, play a game ... You can't just do 'potty' for hours at a time.

Of course - my kid was special... :-)

I used the method described in this book and my son (2 years, 2 months) was potty trained four hours after we started. FOUR HOURS and we were done. :) Before we began he was afraid to even sit on his potty. He loved the experience and is so proud of himself! He did have a few accidents the next day when he was figuring out that he had to leave his toys, go potty, and then he could come back. After we worked on that he has had no accidents since then and I don't even have to remind him to use the potty~ he just goes on his own when he needs to. If I had know how easy this would be we would have done it months ago! I HIGHLY recommend this book to anyone even considering toilet training their child. If you follow the method as it is outlined, you will have success. I particularly like the last chapter that goes through a narrative of "potty training day." That and the question/answer section at the end were very helpful to me.

My mother SWORE by this book when she trained me and my siblings 25+ years ago, so I decided to give it a shot. Although there are parts of this method that make me cringe inside a bit, I know MANY MANY people who have had great success with it. I am tweaking it some to make it work for me and for our son, but for the most part I'm following Azrin at his word.

Be warned, the book was originally published back in the early 70's, and it is a VERY dated read. However, the training principles are sound, so if you can get past that (and I will admit, it wasn't easy to do so!), you should find success.

I used the method in this book to train my 27 month old daughter. I followed it pretty much to the letter the first day. According to the book's idea of being "trained", it took about 4 hours. But we we're about 50/50 on pottying and accidents for a few days. Within 1 week she was only having accidents at night. Right now it has been 2-1/2 weeks since the training day and she no longer tells me when she has to go potty, she just does it on her own (pee & poop), and she goes to the potty by herself during the night. We have now made it a whole week w/o 1 accident! Getting your child fully trained like this in 1 day is a little ambitious so don't get discouraged and give up on the method. I also never went back to diapers after the first day. I used pull-ups at night for the first 2 days until she called them "baby diapers" even though I told her they were panties too. So that was the end of pull-ups.
In 2 weeks I'm going to try the training method on her twin brother who is very stubborn and hyper. We'll see!

I am sure this book worked mircles for other parents, but for me

not a all.My daugther for the record was 2 years old and does listen to simple instructions from me when give. But when I tried to teach her to use the potty with the methods in the book. She wasn't having it. She played with the potty doll they recommend you buy ,so the child can teach the doll then learn themselves. She told the doll to go potty, but wouldn't go herself, even after drinking all kinds of liquids and with hours of encouragement. So if you have a stubborn child who is dtermined to do what they want when they want DON'T WASTE YOUR MONEY. DO IT THE OLD FASHION WAY PATIENCE AND ALOT OF PRAYING.

After hearing stories from my mother (and others of her generation) about how in the 'olden days' children were *routinely* toilet-trained before their 2nd birthday, I decided to ignore today's "experts" and go ahead and give it a shot. I did it when my daughter was about 22 months old. I read this book, and it (1) sounded a lot like the method my mother told me she used, and (2) sounded like it was just plain common sense. I followed the basic approach of the book and my daughter successfully used the potty chair the first day we tried it. After her success, she understood the concept and following the first week of training she had fewer than 5 daytime accidents in the years following!
Don't let the 'experts' convince you to wait until your child is 'ready'! There is a reason that the twos are called 'terrible' while the ones are not ... the average 1.5-year-old is very cooperative and eager to learn, while the average 2.5-year-old is busy showing you how independent they can be so they will not be as willing to do what you ask them to.

I read this book after a recommendation from a co-worker and then later used it to train my son who is 2 1/2. The training itself was a lot of fun for us. The only real problem we ran into was that my son can hold it for up to 5 hrs, so we would have one practice and then he would be tired and ready for a nap before we could try again. Drinking all of the liquids didn't seem to help. I had to go more often than he did. As far as it being cruel, no way. He wasn't trained in a day, but he will go potty by himself and that includes taking off his own pants. Like I said, please at least read the book and give the method an honest try before bashing it. You might be surprised what your child responds best to. As for mine, he responded best by just having his pants off and running around the backyard naked with the potty close by :)

I actually found this book at a resale shop in Grayslake, IL with my friend Krystie...she pointed it out and something in me said "I gotta have it"! It was an old book printed in 1976 and yellowing already and I paid a quarter for it but I was willing to pay much more. The new ones are still very low in price. My son Kyle learned the method in 1/2 a day!!! My husband, family and friends were shocked at the positive results! All these 90's new age ways were driving me crazy and Kyle gave up so many times so I said to myself that I needed to go back 20-30 years and do it the way our parents did. The 2 authors, both Ph.D's are fabulous! They actually wrote the book to train mentally retarded adults and children learn how to toilet themselves and those people did it in about 3 days! I belong to a Mom's group and the leader actually asked me to do a talk on the book because all I ever do is rant and rave about it! All Mom's with young ones want my book and I don't ever want to let it go!!!!!

I tried this method several years ago -- now I am back here reviewing its contents simply because I am taking a class on "shame" and am going to write up an analysis of this technique and how it employs shaming tactics to work. If the child is basically ready, that is not a big deal, but if the child is not ready, I think it can be quite traumatic and really cause problems down the road -- especially if that is the method that parents use to obtain compliance from their kids on other matters. In my case, my daughter really didn't get it the first day, and on the second day I had a strong feeling that to continue would really undermine the trust and love completely. So I stopped and dropped entire matter completely. After about six months I started in again gradually. She was completely potty trained by age 3, without the trauma, so I think that was the right call.

Fabulous! I was at wit's end with my 4 year and 8 month old boy. He had no interest. I was very skeptical that this technique would work. But it does! In 36 hours, I had him peeing in the toilet every day. However, he held his poop for 3 days, and then had 1 poop "dirty pants" incident on Day 5 and then he was trained. We popped the champagne on the 6th day while the child had "potty party cake"
My own added techniques: Talked it up in advance that we would be learning on Saturday. Gathered up all diapers and had child give them to "Baby Daniel" (friend). Unplugged all TVs ("we're concentrating on learning to keep our pants clean & dry"). Used stickers on chart to celebrate successful pants checks. Took child outside on the sidewalk and hosed down when each "dirty pants" incident occurred. (to convey my displeasure with dirty pants)...hey, was that "punitive"? I don't know, but it worked. Celebrated "the end" on Day 6 with potty party (character cake). Parents had champagne. Total # of "dirty pants" incidents: Only 3 (2 on day 2, 1 on day 5...zero since and we're on Day 19. He even stays "clean & dry" overnight! Yeah!

Did you ever seek knowledge of a book and wish that it would just get to the point?!!?!?!? That's how I found this book. As small as it is, it went on and on for what seemed like forever about why traditional toilet training doesn't work. Okay, well...DUH! That's why I bought this book! To try to learn a new method! The part that actually talks about this "less than a day" method took less than 2 minutes to read and in scant detail. I just think that if this is the method you want to advertise (and also want to advertise how easy it is the way they do) than you should probably clearly outline the steps in a specific chapter. It's up to you, but I wouldn't waste the money!

I read this book and applied it's methods on my 3-year-old son. He was already going pee and having BM's in the potty on command before I even tried the book's methods. My biggest hurdle was to get him to go the the bathroom on his own-without reminders. I think the book is excellent for a first-time training tool. But my child was so advanced already, that some of the instructions seemed redundant and he bored with them quickly. The potty doll method also backfired because the doll was not quite designed to do exactly like the book explained. My son grew bored quickly and this caused him frustration and seemed like it only made him more reluctant to work with me. So I chose to deviate from the plan a little and allowed some distraction (toys and T.V.) because I felt that was the environment he would be most used to and would be expected to still follow through with going to the bathroom and ignoring all distractions. He was much more willing to cooperate with the rest of the methods the book teaches.

Think long and hard about why you want this book. For teaching the mechanics to a younger (20 month or so) child, it might work. For my 3 1/2 yr old, it was a dismal failure. The mechanics were not the problem - he just didn't want to go. Still doesn't. This probably made it worse. We hadn't pressured him before but we tried to do the 10 "positive practices" after each accident. It was NOT positive. It was horrible and took 2 HRS to do the 10 practices because he was dragging his feet. I wish I'd never heard of this book. I don't think he had negative associations with the potty before but he sure does now.

I used this book with both of my boys (who, I might mention, were very stubborn with regard to toilet training). It is the nicest way of toilet training that I have ever heard of. At the end of the four hour period(which is quite enjoyable) my child was happy and very proud of himself. He was actually strutting around he was so proud of himself -- too cute! The only comment I have heard is that people cut off the treats too soon. You should continue with some treats for a week after you finish the toilet training -- by that time it is ingrained in their bodies what to do.

I would highly recommend this book. Make sure you read it yourself and get all the little things they tell you to get ahead of time. It's not a 'read as you go' book. But it's worth every cent!

My daughter turned 3 a few months ago and I was starting to feel like she would never potty train... We would try underpants some days, but she always had accidents. I was frustrated and the title of this book intrigued me - as well as the reviews people gave it. We did everything the book said and she was trained by the end of Day 1. It's been a month and a half and I think she's had 3 accidents since. I think it was a good method for her because it was a straight-forward, no-nonsense approach that fit well with her personality. It's possible that any book I would have chosen would have worked because she was old enough.. but I was impressed with the fast results we got from this method.

My son had just turned two and would poop in the potty, but not urinate. I decided to try it (my husband was in charge of my daughter for the whole weekend) and adapted the book to my son's personality and what would work for him. It was a very long Saturday with 3 accidents. Then Sunday morning after one accident it finally clicked (practicing going to the potty after the accident was what made it click). This may not work for all children, but it worked for my son!

My daughter was 19 months old when I began potty training. I was given this book and after researching it a bit, was won over by the fact that there actually was scientific evidence that it worked. The problem was I had started potty training at a slower and more child centered way, before I introduced this process. I can say the day I began teaching her "dry" and "wet" and stepped up the pressure, my daughter immediately cried, reacted negatively toward the potty and wanted to return to cloth diapers, which she previously had rejected. I am comfortable with my daughter's crying most of the time and realize it is communication that could have many meanings, but this time her crying really upset me. Before, when I followed her lead and interest in the potty, my daughter was happy and engaged in toilet learning. When I tried, as this book urged me to, to make her sit and bring her attention to the idea of only wetting in the toilet and that wetting in her pants was bad - she rejected the potty. The only part of this book that I feel is a good idea is modeling the steps of going to the potty with the doll and then asking your child to teach the doll. For that I give it two stars. For my daughter and I the rest just didn't work. I've decided to go back to my roots and use Mr. Roger's "Going to the Potty." I like the real photographs and the understanding that going to the potty is a learning process (that can take more than a day!) I've been patient with my daughter as she learned to eat, to walk, and to talk. Why did I try to rush it with toilet learning? Teaching in a day is for parent's convenience. I'm sorry I fell pray to that and hope I can regain my daughter's trust to let her accomplish this in her own time.

My daughter is gifted intellectually but has an incredible stubborn streak to go along with it. I tried and tried and tried with potty training but my husband and I were getting no where fast. I got this book, I read it cover to cover, made the recommended lists, got the recommended potty chair, doll, etc. and was on my way. I worked with my daughter for 4 hours (it is brutal but 4 hours of concentrated effort is so much better than months of failure). I was ready to give up because she wasn't going (but she hadn't had an accident either). I let her take a time out to have lunch and watch a video. Within 15 minutes of that break she told me she had to potty- she went to the potty chair, sat down, passed her water, took the bowl out of the potty chair and emptied it herself!! My husband and I were in shock. We were so proud- she was so proud- it was great. She quickly transitioned to the "big potty". Although this book can seem somewhat behind the times in the verbiage (I believe it was written in the 70's), I quickly got beyond that and could not be happier with the results. GET THIS BOOK.

I used this book to train 3 children. Twin boys and a girl who was younger. All were handicapped in some way or other, some physical, some cognitive and another learning disabled. What some people are failing to understand, with how this book aproaches training, is that most people are doing it way too soon. The checklist idea is extremely important, especially if you have developmentally delayed children. They must be able to do the items listed on the checklist to become successful at this. Using this book as a positive approach to toilet training was very successful. One child I had to do it a few times as he was very delayed, however, he too became as successful at this as his siblings were. The book teaches you WHEN they are ready through the checklist, not when you, as parents are ready. The book is teaching and training the parent as well. I recommend this book as a really good aide to a difficult task, and one that I intend on getting for my daughter when she has a child. This book is good for ANYONE feeling their child MIGHT be ready, then using the checklist to determine if they really are.

did you really think you could buy a "help" anything book and not have to change it a little to work for you(in this case your children). Anyway after making some adjustments to the all day approch to potty training I found that we had a great time. in between the "panty checks" and puting dolly on the potty we played as normal. I did have to trade the treats the book suggest for baby carrots,grapes,goldfish and book reading( usually the same book lol)and the juice for water but the whole experiance was a blast, though I did dread the thought of it the whole day before. I was very pleased with the outcome though I must agree "training in less than a day" might be a bit of an exaggeration. its been just a few days and we're down to two or three accidents a day usually before or after nap time and bed time. I would suggest it to any parent with the common sence to adjust it a little to fit there household lol good luck trainers!!

My 3yo son would only occassionally tell me he had to go to the potty. After trying every technique and "trick" (everything from putting Cheerios in the toilet to putting on fun underwear and of course praise)and being left extremely frustrated, I bought this book. First I used it cutting corners and not following it completely...and it didn't work. Then I got serious and followed the techniques to the T. Worked like a charm!

I decided to use this book to potty train my 25 month old boy. I read the book a couple of times and made extensive notes the night before the "party." I felt like I was studying for my final exam. One warning though, if you think the training will go exactly as the book says, you'll be in for some disappointment. My son, who is not normally prone to tantrums, decided to have one about an hour into the training. If I even mentioned the word potty, he freaked! But I stuck with it and tried to be as patient as possible.

After a while, he came around and did use the potty. I have not put a diaper on him since. He didn't even want to wear one at night time. However, he did have some accidents for a couple of weeks afterward but now two months later, he is completely trained and it was fairly easy to do. Good Luck!

Our pediatrician recommended this for our 2.5 year old boy. After reading it I thought "no way," because the outdated 70s researcher tone and focus on reward motivation were very offputting. But guess what? The technique works. The important point about it is not the snacks or the doll or following the technique exactly. The important point is showing parents how they have to teach their child how to take responsibility. Things you take for granted like turning around and pulling your pants down before you sit on the toilet have to be taught to the child for them to be successful every time. I recommend reading the book, writing down the steps, then putting the book aside. Also, it took a weekend, not "less than day." But our 2.5 year old has been dry for over a year and we sure saved on diapers!

I was very confident that this would work on our 29 month old daughter. I did everything the way the book said to except I only did about 5 practices after accidents because I would have had to carry my daughter to get her to do anymore than that (especially after the 3rd, 4th and 5th accidents). It has been 2 days and she still isn't to the point of self initiated toileting. We have not gone back to diapers at all so I think it did help as far as getting a good start. We are still just reminding her to sit on the toilet every couple of hours and right before and after sleeping and have had only a couple of accidents. Just don't assume it will work instantly and be ready for a very long day. It is also a little confusing to read so make sure you read over it a few times before you try it. It's definately an old method and it would be wonderful if someone would do an updated version of it. good luck!

I have a 38 mo old "stubborn" daughter. We had been potty training for over a year with little to no success. The potty training method was very intense, exhausting and I've almost lost my voice... but it was successful. It was very intense, no TV, toys, books, husband or sibilings. Only a potty training doll, lots of Capri Sun and me continuously talking about the potty and giving her praise. I was almost ready to give up by 11am when I didn't see any results, but then I saw her "getting it" and trying to hold it in. By 1:00 she was peeing on the potty. We still had a few accidents the next day but she is showing signs of improvement. I think the key to success is following the book to to a T. It gives step by step instructions for a reason. All the reptition and focus are needed for "rapid" results.

I bought the book with hopes of finding a technique that would finally get my 3.5 year old interested in potty training. I wish I knew it was written in the 70's before I bought it. After reading it, I decided there was no way I would use it to train my child. I am a stay at home Mom who has time to encourage toilet training and do not need to rush my child. I also feel that there is no reason to scold a child for wetting his/her pants while they are learning to use the toilet....that doesn't seem to be a great self-esteem builder. Learning to use the toilet should be a positive experience and accidents should be looked upon as such....accidents. I also was disappointed that nowhere in the training did the author stress the importance of washing the childs' hands after using the potty. That is just as important for a child to practice and perform as the act of going itself. I do not recommend this book to any one.

I used this book for my oldest. I basically just used some of the technics, it took more than a day and thats fine, children shouldn't be pressured into using to potty. I didn't like that they said to put the potty in the kitchen...who wants to go potty in a kitchen?? It belongs in a bathroom if possible. I did put her in training underpants, not those pull ups that are really just diapers. My daughter did learn that if she wet herself she had to change her clothes, I didn't make her think I was disappointed in her for this, that's just mean.

The book is old fashion and I don't think it's right to make the entire day about having to use the potty. They are still babies and this is all new to them. It shouldn't be forced on them, eventually they will all learn to use the toilet. Some will take longer than others, one day is silly!

My little one is 19 mo. I just bought her a potty, I plan to let her just examine it and be curious about it for a while. Like I said it is wrong to pressure your child into something that is so new and different to them.

I know a lot of people including my parents and SIL swear by the book Toilet Training in a Day but I believe the methods have given my child low self esteem in regards to wearing underpants. I tried training this summer using the instructions outlined in that book, one of which is making the child feel bad about having wet pants by saying things such as "I don't like wet pants." After a full day of this I realized this wasn't the method for us and backed off until now, 5 months later, but the result is I have a fully potty-trained child who is nervous about wearing underpants.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who is serious about training. If your attitude is your children will train themselves then this is not the plan for you. If your child is ready and you are truly dedicated to training then this book is a great plan. You do have to be dedicated to the training for it to work. I trained my triplets using this method and they were all wearing underwear during the day with no accidents after 5-6 days. I think the most important thing for parents who are serious about training is for "them" to be ready not only the child. I see so many parents who start to train and have no real plan and then get lazy about it because it's an inconvenience to them. Do your child a favor and dedicate 1 week to training and you will see results.

I used this book for my two sons over 24 years ago and now that I have a grandson I was so happy to find it again. I adapted some of the book to my convience, but, I followed mostly every other part. My first son was trained by noon time, but, my second (and very stubborn) son didn't give in until almost 5pm. I never had to put a diaper on them again! Yes, it is a long and time consuming day but it is so well worth it! My boys were so proud of themselves too.

We tried everything with total failure. This took just one day and worked. The morning we started, my independent child said emphatically,"I love my diapers. I won't use a potty." By dinner she didn't want to see her diapers again and hasn't gone back to them since. Add to that that we had a brand new baby. Our pediatrician said we picked the absolute worst time to potty train. If we did it, so can you!

I have tried this book's methods for two days now (my son has all the readiness signs), and we have not made much progress. He knows all the steps of the process but will not initiate using the potty on his own. This book seems to advocate the opposite of what everyone else advocates (I have researched it a lot). It seems to me that it advocates shaming your child over accidents. Leaving them in wet pants to practice the potty process ten times, then asking them ten more times after that if their pants are wet or dry, and only then letting them finish and change their soiled pants is a very bad idea. It's too much for a child to handle. I was tempted by this book because it seems to promise that your child will be all set after a few hours. Now I have to back off and try some other methods after wasting two days in the house going crazy. Be very careful not to get your hopes up. I think it does more harm than good, and if your hopes are up and your child isn't learning as quickly as the book promises, you will lose your patience. I only give it two stars because it at least outlines the potty process very well and my son has that down pat.

And another thing: telling your child that only babies wet their pants and only babies wear diapers when half his friends are still in diapers is a bad idea. We are trying to teach our son to be sensitive and supportive of the millions of other ways people live and do things - this does not help at all! We don't want him calling his friends babies and shaming them into being just like him...UGH!

This method worked for us with our 3 1/2 year old girl who just wasn't getting it. She followed the toilet training of the doll with great interest, and liked the drill of the dry pants check followed by practice. She was pottying independently in 3 hours and showed great pride. I liked the emphasis on dry pants rather than whether the child is "good" or "bad". The book gave me the exact (non angry)language I needed to communicate with her too. I did find the amount of practice the author requires after an accident to be too much, but of course my daughter is 3 1/2, so she understood without much drill. I HIGHLY recommend this book for the late potty trainer!

This is a truly terrible book and an even worse experience for the entire family. The real kicker is that it was recommended to my psychologist husband by psychologist friends, but wow, did this method set our son back significantly! (Not to mention the money I wasted on a "Potty Scotty" that made little to no difference to him.) The repetitious "practice" runs totally overwhelmed and confused him and he hasn't wanted to try again for 6 months or more. Now he's approaching 3.5 and we're worse off than we were a year ago. Maybe if your child is severely handicapped or slow, this might work for you as that was the basis for the original research. But our son went from interested and "self-lead" to resistant, obstinant, and scared of the potty. Complete BS of a book.

Was amazed that my son really was toilet trained in just a few hours. My mom used this for me in the late 70's and I decided to give it a try. It was a hassle to get the supplies ready and find a sitter for my other kids, but I followed everything as recommended (with the exception of using a regular toilet rather than a potty seat) and it really worked. I will definitely do this for my other children as they get older. My son even had a BM on the potty within the first few hours of training. He gets so excited and proud of himself and goes without even telling me most of the time. I didn't really feel like it was harsh as other readers commented-it actually seemed to build his self-esteem since everyone was praising him and telling him how proud they were of him. There is verbal disapproval for accidents, but that seemed to help him to learn since he wanted to please us. We did use this as our first attempt at training, which the book recommends.

I used this book with both of my children at about 24 months old. Although it took more than a day to train my kids, I took one day out to use the method as closely as the book describes. (This is very important.) Within one week they were going to the toilet on their own! Neither of them have ever had any nighttime accidents! I have never had to use those disposable training pants either. One thing I had a hard time with in the book, was finding a potty chair like the one they recommended, but the one I used worked just fine. Also, it gives very good advice on how to tell if your child is ready to be potty trained or not. I recommend this book to everyone with potty training in their future!

The Azrin-Foxx toilet-training method really works. For a third of the price of a case of Huggies from Costco, you can get rid of diapers forever.

I used this book's method to potty-train my son three months ago. We spent from 9am to 2pm following the procedures outlined in the book, but he really had it down by noon. He had four accidents in the first week and a half, and none since. If I had been mindful of how long it had been since he last went to the bathroom, a couple of those accidents could have been avoided, but making the switch from changing diapers after the fact to a more proactive approach can take parents a little while too. I was concerned about putting him in Pull-Ups at bedtime, thinking they might feel enough like diapers that he'd revert to pre-training days, but it hasn't been a problem.

This book was written in the 1970's - those troubling times when moms were homemakers instead of fighter-pilots - and the text reflects the sensibilities of the era. The book also makes the suggestion that if bread-winning dad isn't on board with the process that *he* take over the diaper-changing responsibilities and see how quickly he changes his mind. The gender stratification of the day is obvious, but as a dad who trained his son (and *not* as a penalty for not being with the program) I didn't find the cultural anachronisms too off-putting or annoying. The book was written with a very academic tone - not surprising, considering the university research backgrounds of the authors - so it's not a quick and easy read. Because it is primarily a research document, rewriting it to reflect modern sensibilities really wouldn't enhance it.

One caveat: The book is written for training children with well-developed cognitive abilities and motor skills (the book recommends about 2-1/2 for girls, 3 for boys). If you need to train your child at a younger age, this book may not work for you - because children develop at different rates, the book gives has a readiness test to help you evaluate if your child has the skills necessary to successfully complete the training.

When your child is ready for potty-training, start with this book's method. If you provide the recommended followthrough this will likely be the last book on the subject you'll ever need.

When I first saw this book at the store, I laughed at it. Then a friend with 5 children swore by the method, so I figured I would give it a try.
It worked flawlessly on both of my sons - one in two hours and one in a day.
I teach classes in parenting and child development at a major university and use this as an example of a truly EXCELLENT example of a proper application of social learning theory. I warn my students, however, and all readers of this review, that you have to believe the method is going to work and follow through with the directions carefully. They are carefully formulated and the success of the method depends on your follow-through, even more than your toddler's.

This book was recomended to me by my two sisters, who trained 3 children each with success - in one day! I tried it on my two sons (one was 2-1/2 the other 3 yrs. old at the time) and it worked in less than a half a day - including night wetting. In addition to toilet training, I have learnt some great methods for teaching them other things. The "manual guidance" works great also for teaching shoe-tying and dressing alone. I've recommended this book to all my friends. Most are scared to try it! Do try - belive me, it's worth it! - no smelly puddles, no wet pants, no being angry at your child, no changing wet sheets in the middle of the night - pure luxury, at the "cost" of one day's intensive work!

This book gave my extremely stubborn child a great start to toilet training. Although our results did not occur in less than a day, it did give him the basic understanding. It has been almost a week and a half since we started the method described in this book and my son is doing very well. He has been wearing underwear through out the day and night with only 1 -2 accidents in the day. He is staying dry through the night. His entire personality has changed since he has gained his own independence. Even though we are still working on potty training and he isn't completely trained yet, I will be using this method with my younger daughter in a few months. Thanks so much!

I loved the book, even though there were a LOT of out-dated things in it (aprons, etc. ha ha). Our son didn't like the traditional potty so we ordered a urinal and he DID train in one day. We couldn't use this method because we couldn't order the doll that goes with it because it was out of stock. So, we took the basic principles and trained our son that way. I was really looking forward to using this method, but the doll was unavailable.

I must say, I really was not expecting this technique to work. There are so many gimmics out there. My daughter is 23 months. We have been working with her since she was 18 months. I bought videos and books about pottying as well as taking her on a regular schedule. Nothing worked! I got this book, read it as fast as I could and took the next day to train my daughter. After four hours of training, my daughter went to the potty by herself. No help from me!! The best thing is that I never got upset during the process. We have not had any accidents since the training. I am a believer and will refer this book to all mothers wanting to potty train their children.

Great idea but really rigid and didn't work. I felt horrible and my daughter was miserable after trying this technique. We quit for a few months after this experience and then I used a sticker reward system which made us both feel good about the experience and she was trained in 3 days. I like learning to be fun and did not feel this was right for us.

What a great method! My three-year-old felt empowered because she was 'teaching' the dolly how to use the toilet. We also had a lot of fun during the process. I used it again with my second child. Expect a few more accidents after the day of the lesson, but it really works!

This book reallly works! I had doubts about it but I was desperate. My son is almost 4 and refused to do number 2 in potty. Although he has no problem peeing in it. This book was written in the 1970's so I modified it to today's time. Instead of using a doll, I used a stuffed animal. Plus we went to library and got many children's books on potty training plus watched potty training videos. Sure enough he went on the potty by himself by 11 am and said he never wants to wear diapers ever again. Wow I was really impressed by this book. This book goes into detail on what to do and how to do it. Plus it was easy & fun for him!

I tried this method with my daughter when she was 25 months old. One hour into it, both of us were in tears. Frustrated and disappointed, I bought three other toilet training books and read each front to back. It certainly helped me to get other perspectives on the issue versus the "hard core" approach taken in this book. In our second attempt, I took bits and pieces from each book and, pretty much "winging it", had my daughter trained in less than one day. Being a busy girl, it was EXTREMELY difficult for her to focus on just the activity of toilet training for the time period called for in this book. I certainly used some of the ideas presented but, in hindsight, it was too harsh a method to have worked for my child. You CAN train your child in a day or less without using this method. My second daughter is now ready for toilet training and we will not be using this method.

I'm so glad this book is still in print. I used this book in about 1977 to potty train my daughter. She was almost 2 and by about 1:00 PM she had it! No more diapers at all! She was dry at night too. I thought it was absolutely amazing!

My husband and I were concerned because our now five-year-old son was three and a half and not toilet trained. We used the method outlined in this book and in one day our son caught the concept. In the following days, we stressed what he learned that initial day. He had a few "accidents" those first few days but we were amazed at the steady progress our son made. The whole process took about a week so the "Less Than A Day" part may be misleading. Overall, we reccommend this book for families that can stay at home during the training process since "accidents" are likely to happen. We will be using this book's toilet training method again when our second son is ready to start.

This book is a great book to get some good I deas to begin potty training. However if you child doesn't meet all the requirements listed in this book, you won't potty train in less than a day. Mine was too stubborn but it took her about 2 weeks and she one day used the potty all by herself without even telling anyone. I just happened to find out because I caught her running around the house naked. Like I said if you child is stubborn like mine it won't work in a day but this book does give some very helpful tips on starting the process.

I refer to this book/program as potty boot camp. It feels a bit like brainwashing but creates such happiness & pride in both child & parent. I wish I had used this book with my firstborn BEFORE I gave birth to the second. Everyone said "they all regress after the birth of a sibling". So I didn't even bother trying. Ugh! In hindsight I can see that I missed the easier time to train. As it was, she trained at 2 1/2 years old in 1/2 day and was through with accidents within a week. But I warn you... if you start this, don't look back (no more diapers or pullups).

I'm buying it for the second time, for my granddaughter. I used it on my son and he learned in 4 hours, only had two or three "wet" accidents after that.

My daughter came two years later and she did not want to play with that doll. It's possible I was sold on the idea from my son's experience and tried with her before she was ready. She learned the more traditional way. Nonetheless, I'm giving this copy to my daughter so she can try it on her daughter. If it doesn't work, I still think it's worth the effort.

I accidentally tumbled upon this book online and ordered it right away due to its attractive title. I really wanted to potty train my 28 month old daughter for good.

Her history: I started placing her on the pot ever since she was 4 months... and she would poop in the pot! I never used to have soiled (just wet) diapers unless i was out somewhere. I watched her face scrunch up and used to tun to the toilet and voila she would poop..By the time she was 8 months she would tell me she needed to go by squirt sounds. This all ended when we went on a trip and she got scared of the toilet at 18 motnhs.. then she started screaming whenever she neared a toilet. Ever since all my effort was wasted down the drain. She would never make a BM on the seat.. just occasionally urinate.

THis book helped me get her off diapers for good.

some tips:

1) train your child to obey you (not throw tantrums) before you attempt this method (otherwise u'll be frustrated)

2) I didnt use a potty chair, I bought a stool so she would step to the toilet directly

3) better to train in the summer when its not cold and kids dont pee due to chilliness

4) We are Muslim and we wash with water after using the toilet so that step I added (I skipped the kid cleaning up his mess and running around doing practice trails wearing his dirty pants - dont want urine all over myu house)

5) Its easier to train in a smaller house (apartment) with preferably no carpeting cuz accidents can get messy! We live in a 3 story house so a lot of her accidents took place just trying to locate a bathroom in time!

6) Make sure u know the method like the back of your hand beofre starting - dont plan on readin "notes" while training.. This book doesnt have a numerical step guide so it takes a while to swallow the concept.

7) We live in a home occupied by 11 people so I had to wait for a day when everyone left for a trip so my daughter wont be distracted

8) you and your child should get a good nigthts sleep and a good breakfast cuz it can be exhausting!

9) for nighttime/naps just make the child feel the wet bed and say "big girls dont wet beds" and have her help take off the sheets - it worked for me (i selpt next to her for two nights in case she woke up at night to tell me she had to go

10) sometimes kids get constipated when potty training - they refuse to do a BM and it hurts..day 3 she wouldnt poop until i put her in a bathtub full of warm water.

a spoonful of oil helped her empty her stomach.

11) I would replace the candy with healthier snacks (she got sick of the salty sugary treats and wouldnt take them as a reward!)

12) I would train at a time when the child is the happiest.. so if shes not a morning persoon , dont force this routine on her early in the morning!

She had 6 accidnets Day 1, 3 Day 2, 5 Day 3 (that's because I lost my temper)

Overall I am extremely pleased, esp when I feel her dry pants!! Your attitude really counts.. (if youre not the type to follow detailed protocol, skip it or you'll end up being too frustrated)

YES, IT WOULD BE WONDERFUL IF EVERYONE COULD DO THIS. THE PREMISE IS WONDERFUL, HOW MANY OF US THAT ARE DREADING TOILET TRAINING WOULD LOVE TO DO IT IN LESS THAN ONE DAY? BUT REALISTICALLY, NOT EVERY CHILD CAN DO THIS. MY DAUGHTER TRAINED FAST, THE BOOK WAS HEPFUL, BUT DON'T GET YOUR HOPES UP. HOW MANY PARENTS OF A TWO YEAR OLD CAN SIT IN ONE ROO, ALL DAY WITH NO DISTRACTIONS, NO TV, NO BARNEY, NO PLAYHOUSE DISNEY, ALL DAY? MY DAUGHTER WOULD HAVE HAD A FIT!

This book is great(my wife did all the work)My 2 1/2 year old boy love teaching the doll how to go potty. The sticker book we bought along with has helped too! We tried everything and he just did'nt get it now he's going to the potty by himself!
I'm not saying we don't have any wet pants ,but they are few and far between!!!! The only reason I gave the book 4 stars was I though it could stand to be bigger and it would be great if the pages would fold over. Any how it does work!

This book probably does work for many children; however, I would not recommend this book to anyone due to the chance that their child will respond as mine did. My two year old daughter met all of the milestones outlined in the book. For a couple months, she would occasionally use the potty. Since she seemed ready and I had heard that this book worked, I decided to give it a try. I followed the instructions exactly. While the idea of using a doll was helpful and fun, the rest of the book was downright destructive. The book tells to reward a child for staying dry. As instructed, I gave her salty foods and several drinks. She stayed dry but "held it" for 5 or 6 hours -- until she was running around the house in pain. Months later, my daughter is still so focused on staying dry that she will hold it until it hurts. Staying dry is not worth it!

Simply put: it works. I set aside a Sunday, and trained my 2 1/2 yr old daughter with this book. By Wed, no accidents. She tells me when she needs to go, goes in the bathroom, and does it herself. There is NOTHING abusive about this book. The book says to show disapproval at wet pants. It does not say to berate your child. If your child cannot handle any disapproval whatsoever than you have a bigger problem than potty training on your hands. If you use common sense, and go by the instructions in the book, your child will be trained, and it will be a POSITIVE experience! My daughter is so proud of herself, and is excited to tell everyone she knows that she uses the potty.

I purchased this book and studied it carefully. I decided to follow the steps exactly as specified. The day turned out to be horrible and upsetting. The book indicates you should have your child sit on the pot for 10 minutes without them speaking and you in turn cannot speak to him/her. My daughter was very upset when I wouldn't sing or read books to her. She would not return to the potty after a couple times, however, when I gave in and read to her she was much happier and sat longer. Secondly, you are checking to see if the child is dry every 5 minutes and providing treats for a dry panties. I think this behavioral approach does not work. Kids should be rewarded for going in the potty and rewarded with stickers or praise. Due to so many treats, she crashed hard at around 4ish and was a weeping mess- as was I! Finally, my daughter never learned to go potty and now will not go near it!! We actually have gone backwards. The book indicated you may start potty training your child as young as 20 months. My daughter is 2 and half years old, I can't imagine what it would have been like to start when she was younger. For those parents searching for the answer to your potty training woes...this is not it! It may actually create woes!

In 1976 I used the method of the book to teach our daughter. It worked in less than a day! Two years later, I used the same method for our son and although it took alittle longer, it was great. Some may view the technique has harsh or too rigid, but I felt it gives the parents an opportunity to be with the children and be a part of a great victory in their lives. Make the time enjoyable, and something wonderful. I was so excited today as I found the book once more, I have been searching for it for the past few years. Now that my grandson is getting near the age, it will be his turn. I am happy to know that the tradition lives on.....

We used this book for each of our three children and we concluded it is nothing short of fabulous. We followed the instructions carefully and the technique worked like a charm. For one child it took closer to two days, but the system is obviously tried and true. So many friends fret for months and months about toilet training their children, but for us it was as simple as reading this straight-forward book and following the directions. It was so simple, so easy, and so successful. We cabnot recommend this book strongly enough.

We used this method with our 22 month old daughter (in 1985) who was to enter a preschool that did not allow diapers. We worked all day Saturday and part of Sunday (probably took longer than a day because of her young age), and she attended preschool on Monday with no accidents. It's important to work through the pre-skills to make sure the child is "ready" to train, but if the child demonstrates the requisite skills, the program is highly successful with typically functioning young children. The process is intensive, but effective. I highly recommend it!

I used this book over 20 years ago and the system worked beautifully for me. However, I had to learn that you cannot teach anything to a child who will not obey or cooperate. It is important to get that foundation down first. Once the child is willing to do what you ask, the system works perfectly.

My wife has used this book with great results on both our boys. It does require that you read and follow the entire process- including buying a "Sally Wets" doll, and kid potty, underwear, and lots of treats. It requires 100% of your time and concentration for several hours. Anything less and it won't work. If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes (twice) I wouldn't believe you could potty train a child in less than a day.

I began in 1977 using this wonderful approach with my first child and within 4 hours he got it! Subsequently I have used it on all 4 of my kids (three of them boys) and only one took more than 2 days. I would highly reccommend this to all parents of tots ready for this big step. It is positive and fun! Patti Nilssen

This really works! But you have to follow the instructions. There are 3 readiness tests, and if they pass these, they can do this in less than a day. Mine did in 4 hours. I give it to all my friends and those that tried this have all had success with this method. (3 tests are: (1) ability to follow simple instructions - e.g., "hand me the ball"; (2) able to physically do simple physical motions like pulling up their pants by themselves; and (3) knowing when they have a onesie or twosie coming up (they usually show some physical or verbal sign).

I used this method on all three of my kids years ago. It was a busy day but all of them were successful after starting in the morning by no later than mid afternoon. I have recommended this book to everyone I know who has kids of this age. Now my son wants me to train my grandson. We'll see about that!
Be sure you read the entire book and don't try to take any shortcuts. It does involve some preparation and you really have to be isolated for the day.

I found this book easy to read, and even had fun preparing for our "potty party." My son met the criteria and I followed the rules to the letter, but we had absolutely zero success. Months later, my otherwise advanced son is still in diapers.

Although the book is easy to read, it is terribly outdated. Giving toddlers candy and soda as treats is no longer acceptable (we don't even do juice unless it's diluted!) and the social structures described barely exist anymore. (Homemaker mothers with nothing better to do, detached fathers, close-knit neighbors and the like.) Further, the idea that children are not to be spanked or yelled at is presented as novel, and the main reward for proper toileting is lots of physcial attention. At least in my household, this is already the norm (as it was in my parents' home). Finally, it addresses pooping as an afterthought, and that didn't work well for us. A lovely method in theory, though.

I followed this book's advice to the T and my 34-month-old son, previously uninterested in pottying, was initiating pottying on his own within two hours and sleeping in undies that same night without wetting the bed. We experienced three accidents on day one, two accidents on day two, and by day three there were no accidents and reminders to potty were unnecessary. He said he had "fun" learning to potty, and it's clear he's extremely proud of his new skill. It's a miracle!

My husband and I are impressed! This truly is an amazing book, for the first time, step by step actions on what *exactly* to do. My 2 yr 10 month old son was accident free in the day-time by the 3rd day (counting day 1 as the day we started training)

The only add I have is on helping new pee-ers, to also poo in the potty - use fake poo (tootsie roll works) and follow exact directions on how dolly takes a pee (just this time, she has a poo). Son now also poos in grown up potty - we are 100% happy parents!

After trying inconsistently to train my 2 1/2 yr. old daughter to use the potty for 6 months, I got this book. I tried it today and after not wearing diapers for almost 12 hours, she has had one accident when daddy first came home.

I highly recommend two things: all the adults in the home support the toilet training method before it is tried and that diapers not be an option after the 3-4 hour training is completed. This method uses praise and treats as well as reminders to encourage the child to use the potty and give up diapers cold turkey. I am very pleased so far.

I finally did it! I was able to potty train my two in a half year old. what a relief. I owe it all to this book. I followed the easy steps and by the end of the day she was potty trained. But ofcourse kids are going to have acciendts so be prepared. I have already loaned my book out to my other friends because they cant believe it. Now whenever I hear people commplaining that they cant get their kids potty trained I'm going to tell them to buy this book. when my 8 month old is 20 months i will follow this book and have her trained too. I can't wait.

I found this book in 1998 when my son was two and a half. My husband and I read it, discussed it, and decided to try it when we felt our son was ready. We weren't sure if it would actually work, because friends and relatives had been telling us about their horrendous efforts to potty train their own children. We gave it try, making it a positive experience for our son, and he did, indeed, train in about four hours! It was amazing, and we were all proud of the accomplishment. I whole heartedly recommend this book.

AMERICA IS THE ONLY COUNTRY THAT TOILET TRAINS AS LATE AS 3 AND 4 YEARS OLD. Children in other countries are trained to urinate in the proper areas of their villages or communities AS YOUNG AS 12 MONTHS OLD.
Is 20 months old too young to toilet train an American child? After all, disposable diapers are so easy and convenient. WHY toilet train this early? HERE'S WHY:
#1 Children will be much MORE RECEPTIVE AT THIS AGE than an older age. By age 2 or 3, they are content in their routine of deficating in their diapers.
#2 CUT DOWN ON THE COST OF DIAPERS!
#3 Children feel COMPETANT AND INDEPENDENT each time they are able to master their own body functions and each time we praise them for it.
#4 One child who toilet trains at an earlier age will REDUCE LAND-FILL CONTENT by hundreds of diapers! What power we have as parents to make this kind of choice!

THE TECHNIQUES IN THIS BOOK ARE WORKING FOR MY 20 MONTH OLD SON.
I strongly urge any parent, whether the child is a boy or girl, to give it a try. IF YOU DON'T FEEL EVERY SUGGESTION IN THE BOOK WOULD BE BEST FOR YOUR CHILD, MODIFY IT, THAT'S YOUR RIGHT AS A PARENT!
I wasn't expecting a miracle with my son, and certainly it did not happen in less than a day, but we have already significantly cut down on the cost of diapers and we are avoiding the power strugle of toilet training at a later age!
It took about 4 weeks before my son was consistently using the potty chair, but this is far less time than if we had attempted at a later age.
Our family uses the toilet in front of my son to set the example. This was not an idea from the book and may not be for everyone, however children learn best by what they see their parents and siblings doing.
The book recommends candy as incentive. I give my son gold fish crackers instead. Those are a big treat in our house. They work really well and I can reward him often. We have made this a very positive experience for my son with plenty of praise and gold fish crackers.
The book recommends scolding, but we did without that part of it. When my son had accidents, I made sour faces and spoke of how it felt to have the mess in his pants. That was plenty. He didn't need to be scolded.
This book is well worth the money, but can also be found at your LIBRARY. Most of it IS very useful, and whatever parts you may disagreed with, simply modify.

This method worked for us perfectly - Done potty training in 2 hours! (she was about 2 and 10 mo.) My daughter would do anything to get her chocolate treats. Really what works is finding a reward that your child really likes. If they get candy or sweets a lot, then rewarding them with chocolate won't seem like a great incentive. Also, if they are one of those kids who won't care if they pee all over themselves in big kid underwear, they will be a harder subject to train.

I decided if I was going to tackle potty training I might as well tackle it in a day. It seemed to work for my 3 year old boy. I didn't do the potty doll though. I just worked with him. The first day was the loooongest day of my life. However the second day went smooth and I was amazed that he had actually gotten it! This book it great and I really think the methods worked...at least for my child.

I found lots of good advice in this book, such as how to treat your child with respect and dignity while training, and how to handle stubbornness. The fact that the book was written in the 70s, though, is painfully obvious by the attitude toward gender roles, and that's continually distracting. It's not too terribly bad, just the continual assumption that Mommy is the only one who will be doing the potty training, and that Mommy changes all the dirty diapers.

Also, I can't help but wonder what new advice for potty training has come about in the 30 years since this book came out. I think it's time for a new edition.

This is an amazing book. I keep hearing people say they're struggling with potty training and it's been months. With this book my son was completely potty trained within a day. His last daytime accident was 4 days post training day..with a total of maybe 4 daytime accidents that weekend. It's been a month since I've done this training and he's had 4 overnight accidents.

I recommend this book to anyone that is coming up to toilet training their little one.

I had heard this book raved about, and when potty training time came about, I figured I had to have it. What I found I really needed to have was a good understanding of my daughter - not this book, which seems to assume that all children are the same and that all children learn the same. I found it condescending and pushy at times, and sometimes its instructions made me downright uncomfortable. If you are preparing to potty train, I would recommend a few potty training books for kids featuring your child's favorite characters - they will have much more impact on your child (along with your nurturing and understanding) than the instructions in this book.

I have used this book for all of my children....... They are ages 17,15,12,8, & 2. It has worked for all of them.... My last one which is the 2 year old, has done the best... She was totally trained in one day... It was a little ruff at first, but after her nap it was like a light bulb went on....She has not had one accident. I would highly recommend this book! I have a friend who has 10 children, she has used this book for all her children too... Good Luck!