That was easy

After 10 years, 10 months, and 17 days of changing diapers, I changed my last diaper on Thursday night.

Friday morning, I put underwear on baby S and that was the end of it. No accidents all day. He used the big toilet successfully with no issues at all.
Just for the info, S is 3 years and 4 months old.

We don't really potty train around here.
But I have tried.
I bought into the whole hype.
Cute little potty chairs. (We've had half a dozen.)
All styles and colors of training pants.
Charts, stickers, books, videos.
We did it all with the first boy.
There were tears and tantrums. (On my part) There was weeks of bribing and cajoling. Starting at age 2 and continuing every couple of months for a year.
No success.
Then at age 3 years and 3 months. The oldest child used the potty and within 4 days, he had mastered it with little fanfare.

Because I am stubborn, I repeated the whole process with the second child. Bought new chairs. Bought new underwear. Bought new stickers.
Failed miserably.
Left him alone until he was 3 years and 3 months old, then he used the potty.

For the third one, I changed tactics. After all he was the one who was developmentally delayed. He might not be toilet trained until he was 5, we were advised.
So I left him alone.
At three years and 7 months he figured it out. At day three, he was using the full size toilet away from home.
No potty chairs.
No stickers.
No videos.
No tears.
Just a happy little boy who felt quite empowered.
So when the 4th one reached 3 years and 3 months, I brought it up. He wasn't ready. I waited a month and then just put a pair of rubber covered underwear on him.
And I told him that it was time to use the toilet.
So he did.

I should write a book. It will be a very short one. More like a pamphlet really.

Don't buy the potty chairs with lights and music. Don't buy the pull-ups and bags of candy. Don't buy the videos, books, and dolls.
All you need is: a small bag of the child's favorite candy for the first day, a seat for the big toilet so they don't "fall in," rubber training pants, cool underwear, and your best cheerleader voice.
And then you need to wait.
You wait until they are dry when they wake up in the morning.
You wait until they only need to be changed three times a day.
You wait until they know what the toilet is for and have studied your toileting habits.
You wait until they can dress and undress themselves.
Then you put them in underwear.
Then there is nothing left but the cheer leading.

Be prepared to cheer.