How I turned potty training from dreadful to fun (and effective!)

“Enjoy them while they’re young, it goes by so fast.”

I hear this so often, maybe even once a day. Some stranger sees my cute kiddos and then feels compelled to remind me about how I will miss them at this age one day. I always smile agreeably and nod, but in the back of my head I’m thinking easy for you to say.

I know it’s true of course, but it's similar to telling someone to "just forgive and forget," or "just go with the flow." Easier said then done. Not to mention that literally zero people have ever followed it up with any solutions on how to actually make this time period more enjoyable.

Quick background on me, over the past 15 years, I’ve had a successful career leading a graphic design staff at one of the largest commercial real estate services firms in the world. I spend my time teaching, helping people reframe problems into opportunities and as a creative director I am great at coming up with creative solutions.

And yet, when my son turned three he was no where near using a toilet. Honestly, I had let some fixed ideas creep into my head about how challenging it was to potty train boys. (It's also something people will freely tell you.) Therefore, I decided to just not do it. Well, ok, I did try to put him on the toilet every now and then and he fought me every step of the way. And I was hellbent on not bribing him with candy because it took two years to get him to sleep through the night so there was no way I willing to risk sugar highs near bedtime. Plus, I did use sweets with my daughter and it caused behavioral issues that did not exist before the sugar.

Truthfully, I thought surely the daycare will be able to get the ball rolling...ugh, nope. Dread filled me. How was I able to become so success in my career, positively impacting and helping so many people, creative solutions left and right, and I can't even get my kid to sit on a tiny plastic potty?!

And then, it hit me. I needed to reset my brain. I needed to stop believing that it's impossible to potty train boys (it's just not true) and start thinking about how I could just make it FUN! This is how Wizzy Fizzies was born. I wrote a cute little saying and created a poorly designed DIY fizzing color thingy that dyed my fingers blue. I read him the saying and told him that the magical goo I was holding in my hand only works with his pee or poo. And then I asked him if he thinks his pee is magical, and he said "YES!" And just like that, with his big sister by his side, he sat down and took his first pee in the potty.

I threw in the Wizzy Fizzy when he was done and he screamed for his Dad to come look and as we jumped up and down in our tiny bathroom together the toilet water began to fizz a bright blue. From there it snowballed, I had created multiple colors so he would keep coming back for more and when that first poo finally came we tossed in two different colors to make new colors (red & blue made purple). There was also a lot of black and brown water, from throwing in to many fizzies, it was super grouss, but more than that, it was fun and that's what we were going for.

One day, when I start telling Mom's of young kids that they should “enjoy them while they’re young, it goes by so fast.” I know I will mean it, but I will also share how to do it. Because all parents (especially Moms) deserve to be able to find joy in rising their kids at every milestone.