Going to the Potty (Mr. Rogers)

This is a really good potty book. My boys love Mr. Rogers and are so excited that his face is in a tiny picture on the front cover, so that’s a plus right off the bat! My 3.5 boy has been potty trained for a long time, and even he likes to read this book and talk about it and how he learned. My 2 boy is not remotely ready (amazing how different they can be!) but this is his go-to book every time we sit down to read and he loves to talk about the pictures. I trust that when he’s ready, this book will help lay a good foundation. It is outdated as far as the pictures go. I changed the language from “urinate” and “make bowel movements” to “pee” and “poop” because that’s what we call them in our house (in the forward, Mr. Rogers suggests changing the language to fit your home, so I just pencilled them in so that anyone who is reading the book to the boys reads it the same way.) I also changed just two other things: (1) I am teaching the boys to sit while they pee first, and then stand as they develop the motor skills, so I changed the page about boys standing when they pee to “boys and men can sit or stand when they pee” and (2) the page about how this is a way you can please your mom and dad. I don’t want potty training to be about pleasing us, so I snagged a common phrase from Mr. Rogers’s TV show and changed the language to “a way you can know that you are growing.” It works well for us and I hope it is in the spirit of Mr. Rogers’s General way of communicating with children. Either way, I’m not exaggerating to say my boys LOVE this book!

First, This was published before I was born so you know the photos are outdated. I was using it as a introductory book for my son and it works great. My son loves real photos of babies. It first talks about diapers which has been great for us right now. Especially great as my son is in a phase where he doesn’t like having his diaper changed and when I show him the page with the baby getting his diaper changed, he then wants to get a new diaper. It first goes through other things toddlers learn to do as they get older like eating and playing. I do skip parts or change words as it applies to what I want to teach my son (I don’t want to teach my son to stand while he urinates just yet), but that could be the case in other books too.

This is a great book for beginning and intermediate potty trainers. I loved Mr. Rogers as a kid and as a parent I still do, thanks to his tactful economy with words in this book. He says just enough to give kids the facts about potty training but not too much to gross parents out or scare kids away from toilet learning. This book a simply written, informative, and encouraging. All children love to look at other children and my daughter responds to photographs so much better than illustration. This book shows real children sitting on the toilet or on little potties with their parents supporting them by their sides, and also alone. This is great to read just before beginning potty training to help your child learn why he or she must learn to use the toilet, and also while the child is on the potty (since its a little longer than many first potty books and might help your child stay sitting). This book illustrates the use of both cloth and disposable diapers and tells kids that changing diapers is one of the ways parents show love. I am so glad that is mentioned, because a lot of kids definitely take it for granted. Kids of both sexes and of various ethnicities are shown in both panties and training pants, using all sorts of different potties, and in different situations. A great book for parents and kids. A huge hit with my family.

Kid loves the book, I don't actually read word for word just what's happening in the picture. I don't like that it doesn't mention washing hands at the end

True to Mr. Rogers' style, the way he speaks to the child is direct and caring. This is a very unique potty training book in the fact that it deals mostly with the child's emotional state around this large life transition. I highly recommend it if you have a toddler who is nervous or unwilling to use the toilet.

I bought this book for my son who is just turning 1. We do elimination communication (EC), and I plan to start Montessori potty learning once he walks. I bought this book because it had real photos and good reviews. Pros: The book is respectful in tone and addresses some concerns children may have about using the toilet. A diversity of children are depicted. It also addresses the topic of accidents, something some books don’t, and it talks about the intrinsic benefits of using the toilet (staying clean and dry), something sometimes neglected in other books. Cons: It uses language toddlers don’t use (bowel movements, thereafter abbreviated as BMs, and urination) when I think pee and poop would be easier to understand. This may especially be a drawback for younger toilet learners/ trainers who have fewer words in their vocabulary. The photos also have some drawbacks. While one little boy is shown using a floor potty, the rest of the children are shown using the toilet—often without a seat reducer and all of them without a step stool—and as a result, they look rather uncomfortable. One little boy is even shown gripping the toilet seat (ewww), perhaps because he trying to avoid falling in without a seat reducer or is feeling unsteady without a step stool for his feet. You want your child to be relaxed on the toilet, so they will learn to relax their muscles to pee and poop. I’m not sure photos of kids awkwardly clinging to the toilet may be the best for convincing little ones new to using the toilet that it is preferable to using their diaper. Finally, a minor point, but this book may or may not be consistent with your potty training approach because it uses language like “when you are ready”, and “children need to take their time with things like that.” Therefore, it might be more appropriate for those using more gradual approaches to potty training/learning than for those using quick, intensive training approaches (3-day, 7-day, etc.) where the child is placed on the potty each time they start to go.

This is a really helpful book, that addresses children with the same dignity and empathy you expect from Mr. Rogers. Even though the pictures are dated our toddler loved looking through it on her own while potty training. She seemed to find the pictures relatable and asked questions about them, too. This book addresses several nuanced things my toddler was struggling with as well, like the loudness of flushing, or what going potty while out of the house would be like.

Great book! Due to the lockdown we have been using this book to teach out 2 year old son to potty train. He can see that other kids are going potty through the well appointed pictures. After the first day of potty training he has been peeing all on his own in the potty. Pooping is a bit trickier and will take more time, but thats to be expected. Glad we bought this book.

Old fashioned yes it is but it really helped get us going. Fred Rodgers rock still.

I wanted a book with photos instead of cartoon drawings for my twin girls to get them familiar with the idea of the potty. They are 15 months and enjoy looking at the pictures. I don’t read the text as is as it’s quite odd. No-one I know calls doing a poo ‘making a BM’! And at the end it does a lot of messaging around ‘if you go to the toilet your parents will be happy’ which I don’t think is the healthiest of ideas. But the pictures, even though old fashioned, are great and my twins enjoy choosing the book from the shelf and looking through it

Super ancient book, but still relevant.

Bought it cuze of recommendations but personally it’s a huge disappointment. Love the real pictures that connects to real life. Was expecting a story line or something but nothing that my 2 year old was interested in except pictures, so I had to describe and talk about the pictures only! Wouldn’t have bought it if I knew it before