This weekend, we said goodbye to what felt like a member of the family. No, not an actual person or a pet, but a tiny porta, realistic-looking potty. In pink, obviously. And before you start doing the math from my bio, my youngest child is six. My sweet little beauty was born early and has selective mutism. Between those two interesting parts of her, it led to many challenges related to potty training.
My younger daughter potty trained later than most, but by the time she turned five and entered kindergarten, we were pretty much set. She had accidents here and there, but I would consider her potty trained for the most part.
We did, however, have a minor issue. Our girl uses the bathroom everywhere. Everywhere, except in her own home.
Yes, they were bigger than the ones at her school. And yes, they had the weird button flushers instead of what she was used to elsewhere. Those didn’t seem like a big deal to us, but they were deal breakers to her. And so, we have dealt with this little pink potty in our back spare bathroom for years, which we all lovingly refer to as Little Pink. But after many years, it’s time.
And so, in the last month or so, we started talking about when it would be time to say goodbye to Little Pink. But our girl never felt like it was the right time. And I began to wonder if she ever would.
I try to parent her as gently as possible, knowing I never want to be the source of her anxiety. But sometimes, a little tough love is necessary. And tough love was the right move when it came to Little Pink.
First, we talked about all the places my daughter uses the regular bathroom; at school, friends’ houses, family houses, stores, and restaurants. And recently, she even started using our house’s “big girl toilets”! But still, she needed the comfort of Little Pink.
But it was time. And so we decorated the door to the back bathroom with a “Goodbye Little Pink” sign, adorned with tiny pictures of toilets, courtesy of my snarky older daughter, and hearts, courtesy of my younger daughter. And then, we put Little Pink outside with the recycling.
