How To Be Sure There's a Plumber Involved in Your Child's Potty Training!
Intro To The Plucky Duck Show
They look so innocent.... umm hmmm
I was surfing the internet one day, and came across a cute little cartoon. Oh boy, did it EVER bring back a flood (yes, pun is intended) of memories!
Now to LOOK at these two little guys, sitting in the toy box they had just emptied all over their bedroom floor, you would never GUESS how influenced they could be at such a YOUNG age by a simple cartoon! After watching this cute li'l "Plucky Duck" cartoon (which IS hilarious, by the way)... our two boys got the idea that some of THEIR toys also needed to go "down the hole" . We had been potty training at the time and not really knowing what this cartoon was about, I thought it would be a cute one to let them watch. BIG mistake!
Potty training is one of the most challenging things you can do with kids. It is also one hugely important life skill that parents hope their kids learn sooner rather than later.. I guess I thought if they could watch a cute and innocent little cartoon about using the "big potty" it might help to train them faster. It trained them alright... but not the way I wanted them to be trained!
The Plumber Told Me He Had "Seen This Before" ~
We lived on a military base at the time, in some very nice base housing in North Carolina, and our boys had watched this cute little cartoon in the afternoon. Mom had put them down for a nap and a little while later I heard little footsteps echoing in the hall way on the way to the "big potty"... then I heard "Fire truck go DOWN THE HOLE"... NOOOOOO!!! I went running to hear the f~l~u~s~h and see water coming out from underneath the bathroom door! After using just about every towel we owned trying to clean the floor, I called the plumber. Fortunately, in base housing you just called them and they came right out.
The Plumber arrived a little while later to see what had happened... and to start to clean out the clogged "hole"... in it he found a lot of assorted little boy toys. He dug out the matchbox size firetruck, a little police car, as well as some GI Joe guys (those GI Joe's are LITTLE now, not like when some of us were kids and they were 12 inches tall. Oh no, they were small enough to fit "down the hole"). I think I even remember him pulling out a "raisin guy" or two... or three.
I don't know if anyone else remembers, but years ago there was a fast food restaurant that was giving away little "raisin guys" (The California Raisins)..I think the restaurant was "Hardees" that had them at the time. And, I believe our boys had collected every one that had ever come out, because they had become avid collectors! A couple of those little raisin guys had gone for a "swim" that afternoon.
After some embarrassment and a sincere apology to the plumber, I told him about the "Plucky Duck" cartoon our boys had watched that afternoon... with a knowing GRIN, he told me that he totally understood. Because you see, we were not the only ones who needed a plumber that afternoon! Oh no, he had been to other homes on the Air Force Base of young boys who had done the SAME thing!
So, I think the next time someone tries to tell me that children are not influenced by what they see on television, even at this young age... I'm going to laugh and show them my story!
By the way, I wonder if those little "raisin guys" have any value on Ebay these days? I think we still have an entire BAG of them in the basement (and I DID clean and sanitize the ones that went "down the hole".)
So, if you ever decide that you want a plumber to become involved in your child's potty training, this is about the best way I can think of to make that a reality! Just let your adorable little kiddo's spend the afternoon watching cute little Plucky duck here. Then be sure you have that plumber's phone number on SPEED DIAL!
And here you thought the "Potty dance" was so cute! All I can say is "kids, don't try this at home!"
