If “Potty Train Your Child By NOON” is a post-it note then “Oh Crap! Potty Training: Everything Modern Parents Need to Know to Do It Once and Do It Right” is your phone book, if you remember what those used to look like. Not only is the titles of the book ridiculously long, the book itself is HUGE. At almost 300 pages, you will have some reading to do.
Not only will you find everything you could think of about potty training, but also long and deep going explanations, motivations and the authors own view on things. Going through the whole book will require a lot of time which can be difficult to accomplish when you have one or more children to take care of. However, if you enjoy reading about potty training this book will keep you spellbound for a while.
Who is Jamie Glowacki?
Jamie Glowacki, the author of Oh Crap! Potty Training, calls herself a life liver and kid lover. She is quite famous in potty training circles and have been working with potty training professionally. Jamie Glowacki is a mother to a son and she works as a social worker. As part of her work as a social worker, she was teaching potty training to other parents. This is how she gained experience.
Her big breakthrough came she got her own child, Pascal. At 22 months she potty trained him in a week. People were very impressed and started asking questions how she did it. Jamie started having classes on the subject and wrote a book, which after some updated revisions is the book I’m reviewing here.
What does the book cover?
You can find pretty much everything you need to know about potty training in “Oh Crap! Potty Training: Everything Modern Parents Need to Know to Do It Once and Do It Right”, but also everything you maybe don’t need to know about potty training. This book is built up a bit differently from other books. The book has several chapters but the potty training itself is made up of blocks. Jamie wants you to think of potty training as building a tower out of blocks. If not all blocks are learned properly the tower will be unstable.
“Oh Crap! Potty Training” has an introduction which also covers some basic pedagogies and common excuses from parents when not to start potty training. Then you have the usual “When to start”-chapter . There’s a chapter about “Myths and misconceptions” which in my opinion is very similar to the introduction but with some more topics. Then there’s a long preparation-chapter which even covers how to handle your Facebook status while potty training. 🙂
After that is the actual potty training chapter. Jamie has dedicated nighttime potty training its own chapter. The following chapters covers what to do if you encounter any problems during any potty training block. Since the potty training is divided into blocks it’s easier to address issues since they will belong to a certain block.
The rest of the book covers special cases, how to handle bad behavior, how to do a reset if everything fails and what to do with daycare and other caregivers. Oh Crap! Potty Training also has a chapter about Elimination Communication and a dedicated chapter for poop! There are 3 chapters covering questions, answers and tips. There’s a lot more, but this is the essential. You also get a cheat sheet for each block which can be handy to have around when potty training. Jamie also got a special cheat sheet which she calls “Dad’s cheat sheet”, it’s intended for a partner who’s not doing potty training and who doesn’t want or can read this book.
What do I like about the book?
This book is meant to cover every possible child out there. Jamie has written down all her experiences and everything she knows about potty training in this book. You get the feeling that she really is into potty training and that she likes it. I like that we have a similar view on things and similar values. I also like that she explains and motivates her ideas and thoughts.
She often writes several different ways to see things and explains it in depth, she then gives her standpoint and motivates it. This is what makes the book long but it’s also what I think makes it so interesting.
Jamie feel honest and from time to time you really get the feeling that it’s words straight from her brain on a piece of paper (or screen). When it’s a subject that really turns her on, she can easily get carried away and often get quite emotional. This is what gives you a feeling that this is something she’s really dedicated to.
Oh Crap! Potty Training covers a lot of troubleshooting and all kinds of problems that could happen during potty training. In fact, I think most of the book covers different situations that might occur. There are 3 chapters dedicated to troubleshooting each block and then there are 3 blocks with questions, answers and tips. Then there’s troubleshooting on the other chapters as well.
This means Oh Crap! Potty Training is a great book to have when things go wrong. You don’t have to read everything in it if you don’t want but it’s good to have just in case. When I did potty training, things when very smooth so as far as I can remember, I never had to consult Oh Crap! Potty Training. I did find it very interesting though and I did have use of it when making my own potty training method.
What could be better?
There are a few things I don’t like about this book. First of all, it’s a very big book! This isn’t really a bad thing, it depends on what you’re looking for. This book really covers every special case Jamie has experienced which is great. Though, for the average parent this might be a bit too time consuming to get through.
The other thing I don’t like about this book is Jamies language. She seem like a hot tempered person and when she gets frustrated or a bit too emotional she shows that by using rough language. I don’t like this in a potty training book, but I guess that’s part of who she is and she actually talks about her choice of language in the book.
The biggest problem with the book is the structure. I find it being disorganized. I understand that it must be hard to get it all together when you have so much in your head you want to write about. This is exactly the feeling I’m getting when rading. Things are popping up as she’s writing and then they might end up in the “wrong” place. When I wanted to go back and read about something I’ve already read about, it was sometimes difficult to find it because it wasn’t were I expected it to be. It’s not a disaster but the structure can be improved.
The last thing I don’t like about this book is the nighttime potty training. I have read about this method before but I don’t like it and I don’t see any point in practicing it. I believe your child will be ready when she is physically ready. The best way to shorten that process is to do daytime potty training. You can read more about nighttime potty training here.
Does “Oh Crap! Potty Training: Everything Modern Parents Need to Know to Do It Once and Do It Right” work?
Because of the way “Oh Crap! Potty Training” is written, it is very likely to work for almost every child. “Oh Crap! Potty Training” isn’t just a method, it’s more like a potty training bible! The book contains several ways to potty train and how to decide which way will work best with your child. More exactly, the foundation is built on Jamies experience and values, but there’s a solutions to almost every thinkable problem that can occur.
I’m confident this potty training method works. It’s very similar to my method which did work very well for me. If you decide not to buy this book, it shouldn’t be because you don’t think it will work.
Is it worth buying?
In potty training circles, Jamie Glowacki is very famous for her potty training book and her courses. She calls herself a potty training guru, with all right, this book is massive and covers so much about potty training it’s hard to imagine! If you don’t mind spending some time reading, this book is for you! If you want something more spot on or something more well organized then there are better options.
On the opposite side you have “Potty Train Your Child By NOON” which only covers the very essential in potty training. Please check out my review of this book here. Somewhere in the middle but closer to this book is the “Potty Training in 3 Days by Carol Cline“. I have made a review of this book as well here.
Oh Crap! Potty Training is well worth the money! Even at $20 or as high as $40 you still get very good value for your money. If you want a potty training book that works I recommend buying “Oh Crap! Potty Training Everything Modern Parents Need to Know to Do It Once and Do It Right”.
Avoid scams and buying the wrong book
There are many potty training books out there. Some cheaper and some more expensive. If you decide to purchase “Oh Crap! Potty Training: Everything Modern Parents Need to Know to Do It Once and Do It Right”, be sure to use an official source to avoid being scammed.
Amazon is from where I purchased this book. Amazon is a big online retailer which is safe to buy from, you have probably already heard about them before. There are many positive reviews there as well.
If there’s any ongoing promotion or discount you can be sure to always get the best price by using the link below.
Thank you for reading my review, I hope you found it useful! You can leave a comment if you want. Please like us on Facebook if you enjoyed reading my articles.