What I didn't know I wasn't doing

What could possibly be more challenging to a parent than potty training?  While some people get very lucky I think for most parents it takes an unbelievable amount of patience, consistency and in our case bribery.  While I don't have any teenagers yet, I did have a pretty sassy 4 year old and I would take the sharpest thing she ever said to me over washing poop out of training underwear any time!  You can't get angry when potty training.  If you do that, you'll just scare them out using the toilet.  And once you start, you can't stop.

So what I didn't realize was how much our daughter's daycare helped out with the potty training.  Obviously, I knew they helped, but we are the parents.  Her success must have been due to us, right?.... WRONG!  Those fantastic ladies were on the front lines 8-10 hours a day.  True we had her for a couple hours every night, but nothing compares to the daily grind of making sure your kid gets on the toilet and learns to do everything they need to do on their own.  It totally sucks to realize how little we influenced our child's decision to pee on the potty.  It took a good 6 months for her to be what we considered fully potty trained and yes, we bought stuffed animals and bribed her like no child has ever been bribed before.  But we didn't have to do the work.

We've been working on our son for a little over a month and I'm worn out.  It seems like every time we take one step forward, we move two steps back.  I hate cleaning up poop.  I'm tired of smelling like pee.  The worst part is that I know our son can do it, he just does not want to.  Some how I need to channel the patience and stamina of those fabulous daycare teachers!