As you know toilet training a child can be a time of testing the patience of parents. It can be a time of upsets, disappointments, one step forward and two steps backwards. And sometimes toilet training can be a very long and drawn out experience and something that we as mums can dread. Wet and messy underwear, surprises left on floors, the thought of “will my child ever learn how to take him/herself to the toilet?”

My daughters are now nearly 16 and nearly 12 years old. They were toilet trained when they were about 2-1/2 years old. And they were toilet trained in just one day!!! Everyone laughed at me when I told them this. Mums at dinner parties looked blank and thought I was deranged when I wanted to share my enthusiasm, until weeks later they were ringing me up asking me how did I do it?

Well, it came about something like this. When Alicia, my oldest, was about ready to be toilet trained I didn’t really know what to do, apart from sit her on a potty and hope for the best. Then one day I was shopping with a friend whose children were teenagers, but, she had used a system for toilet training her children in just one day. And she told me, “it really worked!” Well the next week I invited her for coffee and sat her down and I asked her for all the specific details of what she had done.


How I Toilet Trained My Children In Just One Day


I wrote down her instructions, added and modified them, got myself ready and away I went … then toilet trained Alicia in just one day the following week. There were some things I had to get to prepare for this day. I needed a doll that would wee itself. A very sturdy potty chair with a pot that could be emptied and reinserted back into the chair was purchased. A lot of drinks, salty food and treats such as lollies, chocolates, mueslie bars and fruit. I also needed knickers for Alicia that were about two sizes too big, wipe cloths and an apron with pockets.

On the morning of Alicia’s training day I arranged for no one to be home, I put a note on the door explaining that I wanted No Interruptions and turned on my answering machine and turned off my mobile phone. For the rest of the day I gave Alicia all my attention and followed the instructions of the toilet training plan.



First I had Alicia learn how to teach the doll that wees to go to the potty chair. This gave her the idea of why and how to go to the toilet. She learnt how to get the doll to the potty in time, take down its pants, wait for the doll to urinate, pull up its pants, then have the doll empty the pot (with the fake urine) into the toilet then reinsert the pot into the potty chair. I also taught Alicia that the doll would be praised and enthusiasm and rewards given when the doll went to the potty-chair and weed. We also practiced what would happen if the doll wet itself.

I then taught Alicia to go to the potty chair for herself. One of the things that I did here was to give her a lot of drinks so that she had plenty of opportunities to have to go to the toilet. I taught her one step at a time, how to get her pants up and down easily (having two sizes too big really helped here), how to sit on the toilet (potty chair) and relax until she either urinated or had a bowel action. How to wipe her self, pull up her knickers and empty the pot into the toilet and then reinsert it her self into the potty chair.


Rewards And Praise


She received rewards as she was learning for correct behavior. She learnt what to do when she had an accident, how to go to the toilet when she was playing and how to get to the toilet when she was playing outside.

Rewards and praise were given to her for having Dry Pants, particularly after she had got the hang of going to the toilet for herself.

That night she did not wear nappies in bed. We left a night light on for her and the potty chair was near to her bed. The next day we celebrated with her and she was given a Certificate Of Accomplishment for being Toilet Trained.

Yes it did happen and yes Alicia and her sister Katrina-Lee were both toilet trained in just one day!!!

All this was achieved with so much ease and fun that I know you can do it too.


Step By Step


1. Prepare your child by reading to him/her books such as "I Want My Potty" by Tony Ross and "Max's Potty" by Harriet Ziefert or "All By Myself" by Dr Bill Gillman.

2. Have your child watch members of his/her family go to the toilet, so they can see for themselves what happens.

3. Prepare the items you will need, such as large knickers, wipe cloths, a doll that wets itself and a sturdy type potty chair, or make your house toilet suitable
with an insert seat and steps or a box for your child to stand on.

3. Allow one day uninterrupted to teach your child to teach the doll to go to the toilet and then teach him/her the steps involved to go to the toilet. (As per this article.)

4. Praise your child enthusiastically whenever he/she does anything and clap and cheer when he/she actually urinates or does a bowel motion in the toilet and/or potty-chair.

5. At the end of the day when your child is successfully toilet trained or the next day have a celebration and give your child a Certificate of Accomplishment.


This article has been brought to you with the permission of Margaret Saunders at Bedtime and Toilet Training Solutions.

Forever Treasures thoroughly recommend Margaret Saunders and her bedtime and toilet training solutions. She is very approachable and has helped many many mums and dads. Margaret specialises in getting toddlers and babies to sleep easily and quickly and how to toilet train in just one day and other toilet training and parenting issues. To find out more about Margaret and her valuable bedtime and toilet training solutions click here..

As you know, it is not always easy getting your child to go to bed, let alone staying there and then falling asleep. Your child may be the “stay-up late, no matter what” type. You know, its ten o’clock and you’re bleary eyed but he is wide awake and bushy tailed. Or its 3 a.m. and it’s the fifth time your angel has woken up and called for you from her bed. Perhaps it seven-thirty, bedtime and your “adored one” won’t budge from the television set and lounge room. Or, all of these scenarios apply to your household or its something else and you too are drop dead tired. Sound familiar?

It was like this too in our house, and on top of all this one of my daughters liked to wake up at 4.30 a.m. and that was the time she expected us to start our day, and for a while we did. However, the time came when all this stopped and I invented a foolproof never-fail-go-to-bed-routine, which also included both my daughters falling asleep fast! Yes, a dream come true – for us all!

It did take a while, but not forever, and it did happen and now daughter number 2 when she was 7 went to bed happily at 6.00 p.m. and was asleep by 7.00 p.m. without a fuss and when her older sister was nearly 11 went to bed at 7.30 pm. and was asleep by 8.30 p.m. Night after night after night!!

I have the philosophy that there is no guarantee that I will have my daughters tomorrow. Things can happen. Just as life is given to us it can be taken away. I use the attitude that this day may be the last I have with them, and that this night may be the last one that I put them to bed. And that if this is the last night I have with them, well I want them to have bedtime bliss and fun at bedtime. When I wake up I want to remember that the last moment I had with them was a happy one.

So with this in mind, I make going to bed fun. Sometimes there is a treat for my child by her bed. Sometimes I may do something amusing, like dress her favorite teddy in her pajamas and tucked into my daughter’s bed. I use a lot of humor. We all laugh a lot at bedtime, and my routines and activities are strictly adhered to over and over again and they are now embedded into my children’s subconscious minds.

So if your child won’t leave the television set at 7.30 p.m. why not try horse backing him/her all through the house with outrageous horse noises and jokes until you eventually get him/her to the bedroom.

If it’s the fifth time your angel has woken up calling out for you why not sing in your sleepiest voice a go-to-sleep song that you have made up just for her as you tuck her in one more time.

And if it is ten o’clock and your child is still wide awake and bushy tailed this is the time to get serious about considering a bedtime routine to get him into bed at say 9.00 p.m. for a week, 8.30 p.m. for the next week, 8.00 p.m. for the next week and then 7.30 p.m. for the rest of the year.

This takes planning and tenacity and courage, which is definitely worth while which eventually leads to the “in bed by 7.30 p.m. and asleep by 8.00 p.m.” stage and you all become wide awake and bushy tailed at 7.30 a.m. and ready for your day.

When I did all this for my eldest daughter the routine fell into place so well that there is one memorable night that she actually asked to go to bed early and it was a Saturday night. It was 6.30 p.m. Who were we to refuse such a request? It sounded too good to be true. And to top it all off she was fast asleep before 7.00 p.m. We had the rest of the night all to ourselves. Heaven and bliss! Until … we remembered that this was the night daylight savings was changing over and the clocks were to go back an hour. She had sort of gone to bed at 5.30 p.m! Oops!

By now it was too late to change things, and we braced ourselves, and yes, she woke at 5.30 a.m. bright eyed and wanting to start her day. So we did!

There were other times when she wanted to go to bed early, and that was OK with us, but, when it came to daylight savings change over we always took note of what time she went to bed.

Both my daughters really adore a “go to sleep song”. I made one up and with individual words just for them. I am not musical, I do not sing well, but when I sing their song, especially at night I sing it very, very sleepily and the words are very, very sleep orientated. I cannot recommend this enough especially if your child is a baby or very young. After you have sung your own song a few times, your child will recognize that this is a go-to-sleep time and it is especially handy, if your child has woken in the middle of the night, had a bad dream, is restless or is sick. It can also be used to relax your children as you are driving in stress inducing traffic.

These are just a few ideas and suggestions for getting your child to beg to go to bed.

Here’s a summary


Step by Step


1. Use the attitude as if this is the last night you may have with your child.

2. Make going to bed fun, use humor, jokes, horseback rides or something unusual or funny on or in their bed.

3. If your child stays up really late, start a go to bed routine, and put him/her to bed half an hour earlier each time on a weekly basis until he/she is in bed at a designated time of say 7.30 p.m. (More details of how to do this are in my manuals and packages.)

4. Make up your own tune and add your own words and sing it to your child or children in a really, really sleepy voice when they are in bed.

Please do not under value the simplicity of these suggestion and ideas which really work and work best by implementing them over and over again.

This article has been brought to you with the permission of Margaret Saunders at Bedtime and Toilet Training Solutions.

Forever Treasures thoroughly recommend Margaret Saunders and her bedtime and toilet training solutions. She is very approachable and has helped many many mums and dads. Margaret specialises in getting toddlers and babies to sleep easily and quickly and how to toilet train in just one day and other toilet training and parenting issues. To find out more about Margaret and her valuable bedtime and toilet training solutions click here..

When my daughters, Alicia and Katrina-Lee, were young and babies I did not like shopping. In particular I did not enjoy shopping with them as much as I would have liked. I did not experience the Joy of Retail Therapy – I did not get a high from shopping. In fact I often felt I needed therapy after I went shopping to get over it. However, as time went by I learnt a number of ways to handle shopping with my young children, and eventually shopping became a manageable and enjoyable event that I looked forward to – and with my daughters!

Whenever I went shopping with my children, or one of them I always treated the event as if it was an outing for them. (Which it was in their minds.) I did not just expect them to be little quiet tagalong vegemite. I talked to them all the time. In the car getting to the shops, all the time in the shops and in between shops we chatted.

I had the attitude I was shopping with and for them. They were my shopping buddies. I did not act as if they were invisible and that they were a nuisance if they got in the way. Nor did I act as if there was nothing in it for them. I always bought them at least one small thing.

When we go shopping it is to buy. From a child’s point of view this would mean something for them. Sometimes I would buy them a punnet of strawberries, which they would eat whilst sitting in the supermarket trolley. Other times it would be a bag of chips, an apple and/or something else that preferably took a while to eat. Strawberries were the favorite both for them and me as I felt they were eating something that was extra good for them. As much as possible I would purchase their “treat” first, as it was usually anticipated for a while, and then kept them occupied as we shopped.

When my second child – Katrina-Lee – was born, my mother-in-law helped me out quite a lot. Our local supermarket knew both of us well and when she was shopping for nappies they told her that they could deliver to my home. Not only would they do this at an amazingly minimal fee (which they rarely charged me for) but I could also phone in my weekly order, they would pack it up for me and then deliver it. I did not have to leave the house, travel in the car with a toddler and a baby and negotiate trolleys, aisles and everything else that goes with supermarket shopping! This sounded too good to be true. I took them up on their offer and liked it so much I kept using their home order, home delivery service for three years.

There were other benefits of the home order, home delivery system too. By keeping to my list of what I needed only and not buying the tempting items had I been in the supermarket, I saved a fortune. We managed to time Sam’s delivery to when Katrina-Lee was having her daytime nap and Alicia got a lot of excitement out of having boxes of groceries seemingly appear from nowhere.

“Look, we got chips!” she would say, or “he’s bought chocolate cake!” and “pumpkin – my favorite!” (Which it was and still is). She never married together the fact that we took a shopping list to the supermarket and the next day boxes of groceries were delivered by Sam. For her it was as if Sam just knew what we ate and there it was!!!

Three years later I went back for a visit into the Supermarket. We called it “Sam’s Supermarket” – after Sam – to find out what I had been missing out on – and I found out!

Now I’ve moved to the country, the seaside to be exact, I travel an extra ten minutes to my supermarket where the staff are really friendly, bend over backwards to help me. The aisles are wide and all the goodies are very well set out, I know where everything is and I zoom in and zoom out and it is a relatively easy, quick, stress less and enjoyable shopping experience.

I’m working from home now, and doing everything else that us mums do. Just yesterday I whilst I was doing the shopping … I wondered if my supermarket does email orders, home delivery too!!!

This article has been brought to you with the permission of Margaret Saunders at Bedtime and Toilet Training Solutions.

Forever Treasures thoroughly recommend Margaret Saunders and her bedtime and toilet training solutions. She is very approachable and has helped many many mums and dads. Margaret specialises in getting toddlers and babies to sleep easily and quickly and how to toilet train in just one day and other toilet training and parenting issues. To find out more about Margaret and her valuable bedtime and toilet training solutions click here..

Step by Step



1. When your child is young, one or two invited guests plus parents can be enough for a party, plus a beloved relative or two.

2. Building up the anticipation and reliving the event can be enjoyed over many days and weeks.

3. A Cake and Candle Ceremony may be all that’s needed.

4. Having the party in the morning can relieve the tension of waiting and waiting.

5. Opening the presents. Have the party guests and birthday child sit in a circle. Have the guests one at a time hand the present they have brought to the birthday child who opens the present and then passes it around the circle. This can be a great way to start the party.

6. Even when your child is older, smaller and little effort can still work, for example, a walk on the beach, a trip to a special playground or watching a movie.

7. Tell your child the story of the day or night they were born.

This article has been brought to you with the permission of Margaret Saunders at Bedtime and Toilet Training Solutions.

Forever Treasures thoroughly recommend Margaret Saunders and her bedtime and toilet training solutions. She is very approachable and has helped many many mums and dads. Margaret specialises in getting toddlers and babies to sleep easily and quickly and how to toilet train in just one day and other toilet training and parenting issues. To find out more about Margaret and her valuable bedtime and toilet training solutions click here..

Many years ago now, when I lived in inner city Melbourne, my friend Rob visited from New Zealand. Rob also had traveled around the world and had, had a very eventful life. So after a few days when he commented that I had a country lifestyle whilst living in the city.

I began to wonder what it was that I did. He also commented along the lines that we didn’t rush about, that everything hummed around our home life and that I wasn’t motoring my girls here and there.

He was right. We had plenty of time to do everything and everything we did, we did with plenty of time.

My day followed a routine, which included rituals, and everyone knew what was done, when it was done, and what would happen next. I had rituals with the way I would say the same phrase to my daughters first thing in the morning. “It is now time to get up and bless your day!” I had a ritual question that was asked at every meal. “What was the best part of your day, today?” I followed a sequence of events that were the same, every night an hour before bedtime, and our bedtime routine was adhered to night after night after night.

To cap it all off I even had a routine of how we all got in the car the same way, every time. This was done in age order. The youngest first, and when she had outgrown her baby seat she sat in the front and her older sister spread herself out in the back of
the car. Even though they are much older my daughters still do this.

Going places was made simpler and easier by shopping at the same shops that were in a walking distance from our home. We made friends with our local greengrocer, butcher, deli and newsagent. Every time we shopped we made out we were having a social visit and always chatted to the shop owners. I hardly ever took my daughters into my local supermarket.

On Sundays I would drop off my weekly shopping list to the nearest check out person and on Mondays about noon, Sam the Supermarket Man would deliver my order and have my change ready. If ever he didn’t have what I had asked for he brought a replacement and never charged me. When it was time for us to leave the city he told us that he always looked forwards to Mondays and doing my orders.

When we needed some fresh air I would take my daughters to the corner playground or a walk in the nearby reserve, or to a bigger playground that was down the road and around the corner. We lived our city life as if we were in a country village.

My daughters did not expect to have outings and be taken places every day in the car. On occasions I would take them to the local library and for them this was considered a special event. They did not even know what a McDonalds was until they were much older.

We always had time to hang about at home. We played, cooked, did the chores and generally hung out. I had the philosophy that if I hadn’t done all the chores by the time my eldest daughter had gone to bed … was that left over didn’t get done. There was always tomorrow.

We also had an ultimate experience of a do nothing day in our home. Every now and again we would have a pajama day. We spent the whole day in our pajamas. How relaxing!

The fact that our home was in the city on these days never occurred to us, it felt more and more that we lived in the country. After these days we all woke bright eyed and bushy tailed able to take on the world, no matter what!

More than once people commented on our ease of living and how I only did one thing at a time and how I always had time for whatever my girls wanted me to do with them and how smoothly our lives seemed to be and how extraordinary my daughters were. But more often the comments were that whenever people visited it never felt as if they were visiting us in the city … it always felt to them that we were living in the country.


Step By Step And Tips For You



1. Have routines and rituals and an order of events for your day.

2. Have routines and rituals for bedtimes.

3. Do only one thing at a time and if something isn’t finished or done by the time your eldest child goes to bed, do it tomorrow.

4. Shop at the same shops and incorporate shopping into a social event.

5. To save even more time have your supermarket take your shopping order either by telephone, fax, email or hand delivered and then have them deliver this to your home. You don’t even have to take your children into the supermarket.

6. Outings can be to the local playground/s, parks, ovals and libraries.

7. Have a smaller radius of shops, etc. around where you live that you frequent, you may even find you get in and out of the car less and less.

8. For the ultimate experience of a do nothing day have a pajama day. Spend all day doing less of everything in your pajamas.

9. Act as if you live in the country and that life around you is like living in a country village, no matter where you live.

This article has been brought to you with the permission of Margaret Saunders at Bedtime and Toilet Training Solutions.

Forever Treasures thoroughly recommend Margaret Saunders and her bedtime and toilet training solutions. She is very approachable and has helped many many mums and dads. Margaret specialises in getting toddlers and babies to sleep easily and quickly and how to toilet train in just one day and other toilet training and parenting issues. To find out more about Margaret and her valuable bedtime and toilet training solutions click here..

We all have our theories about how our children are delivered to us. You will certainly have heard about the stork and the cabbage patch, however my favorite theory is that our children are delivered via the Rainbow and are escorted to us by Angels.

Spiritual midwives will tell you that they see and feel a presence around newborn babies, especially just at birth time. You too may have felt and witnessed this. Even before your child was delivered to you via the rainbow you may well have felt its presence around you and you may even have spent many hours talking and singing to your child when it was in your womb. I experienced talking to both my daughters even before conception. They were both eager to come into this world and vigorously knocked at my door … I was very, very clucky before I became pregnant with my two Angels.

Whilst my daughters were babies and toddlers there were many things that I did to enhance them staying the Angel they were when they were first born. I sang to them and talked to them all the time. If I was not carrying them in a sling they were always nearby to me. If ever they were in their pram I covered it with a layer of pink and a layer of purple to create a mauve cocoon to create a peaceful cozy place for them to sleep and for them to remember their Heaven and this new one that they have come into, being with you.

Just as you know there are fairies at the bottom of our gardens there are also Angels guiding and surrounding your children … this is no secret to most of us. But we sometimes forget this and in times of stress and difficulties these

Angels can be very useful, not only for protecting your child but also for protecting you. To start each day maybe you would like to have a quiet time either just before you get up or just afterwards where you meditate on your own personal Angels and that of your child/children and ask that the day is safe and blessed for both you and your child/children.

As you know our children don't always stay the Angel we would like them to be, but there are ways to encourage and enhance their Angelhood. Singing and reading and holding your Angel as much as possible are some ways of doing this.

Other ways are talking softly and quietly, and giving your child time alone and taking into account how your moods can affect your child and how and when you are feeling happy so are your children.

This article has been brought to you with the permission of Margaret Saunders at Bedtime and Toilet Training Solutions.

Forever Treasures thoroughly recommend Margaret Saunders and her bedtime and toilet training solutions. She is very approachable and has helped many many mums and dads. Margaret specialises in getting toddlers and babies to sleep easily and quickly and how to toilet train in just one day and other toilet training and parenting issues. To find out more about Margaret and her valuable bedtime and toilet training solutions click here..