My adorable four-year old son took his own sweet time when it came to potty training. At three and a half, the notion finally appealed to him. By the way, three and a half is the average age for boys to potty train. Not that it bothered me when my mother-in-law continually insisted my husband was potty-trained at one. Can we say “selective memory?”

After a year of well-meaning comments about my son being “slow/behind/late” with potty training, I was pretty darned anxious to get him on the bandwagon without pushing him. Finally it happened, he went “pee-pee” at school and a few weeks later, “I go poo-poo at school!” I swear, I heard a chorus of angels as the heavens opened and I basked in the glow of his success.

With the #1 and #2 deposits finally happening, I decided I needed to generate some excitement for “big boy underwear.” And an idea was born…the underwear clothesline.

At a girlfriend’s suggestion (she just happens to be a child development psychologist) I picked a date on the calendar two weeks out and designated it “No More Diapers Day.” Honestly, it really helped both my son and ME get ready for the big change.

I bought underwear featuring Spiderman, Cars, Diego and Thomas the Train. I hung them all bum-side out (why are the illustrations on the back?) on a clothesline in his room. The display allowed us to look at them daily and discuss how cool each pair appeared. In another inspirational moment, I added a couple of pairs of both my undies and Daddy’s so we could see that everyone in the household wore underwear.

“Who’s underwear is that? Who do you see on the underwear? Where’s Diego? Where’s Daddy’s underwear? Where’s Mommy’s? See! We all wear underwear don’t we?!”

Thank goodness we didn’t have any dinner parties or overnight guests during those few weeks. “Oh hi! Want to come look at my entire family’s underwear? The line forms out in the driveway.”

It worked. The diapers disappeared over the ensuing month. However our “big boy underwear collection” has grown dramatically. We have Batman, Superman, Star Wars, Cars, SpongeBob (a personal low for me), Ironman and whatever other nifty kind I find during my wanderings at Target.

You know, Mommy deserves some cool new undies too. I bet my hubby would like it if I hung them up in our room…but maybe I should catch up on my sleep first.

Searching for jungle underwear to call my own –
Ms. G.E. Witch

Ms. G.E. Witch is the nom de plume of Cynthia, a 40-something, occasionally Zen SAHM and freelance writer Read her blog at www.TheGoodEnoughWitch.com.