[.ca] Caillou Potty Time (ISBN 289450165X)

This book is great! Just what we needed:
My son has been doing well with potty training, but has gone back & forth. One week I think he's almost done with training all together & then the next he's having lots of accidents again. I have found, at least for us that pull ups promote laziness. We have used pull ups only at night now for a couple of weeks. Elijah is 2 1/2, & it has made a big difference. However, it wasn't until I purchased Caillou's book that Elijah really got the hang of things! It was like magic-since Caillou has accidents, Elijah could identify with the book. Mind you we have the Bear in the big blue house potty video & My Big Boy Potty book starring Michael, both of which are big winners, but this book was the 1st to really drive it home about the accidents. Caillou makes of few, but learns to get there faster next time & be successful. Elijah also gets to the potty on time now! I'm thrilled & very impressed with Elijah & this book. The only reason I didn't give this book the highest rating is because I believe you need a combination of a video, cloth training pants (They need to be able to FEEL the wet) & this book.

What A Letdown!:
I bought this book because my daughter loves the TV show. The illustrations don't look much like the animation on PBS (the book must be the original - before Caillou was "discovered"). The book is colorful, but longwinded and somewhat repetitious. My biggest beef with the story: Caillou ditches his diapers for underwear BEFORE he is potty trained. That's insane! As a result, Mommy ends up changing her son's wet pants often. We have read almost every potty book available on the market as of 9/2003 (over two dozen!). Most fit into two categories: INSTRUCTIONAL books that introduce the skills needed to master the potty; and those that are primarily ENTERTAINING, for children who understand what is supposed to happen on the potty, but need extra time to make it happen. I think Caillou - Potty Time fits more in the INSTRUCTIONAL category for the following reasons: 1) It identifies the purpose of the potty. 2) It specifies bodily functions such as "poop" and "pee." 3) Includes the important steps such flushing. My advice - there are other instructional potty books on the market that are much better. Try What to Expect When You Use the Potty by Heidi Murkoff, You Can Go to the Potty by Martha Sears, or My Big Girl Potty by Joanna Cole.

Not helpful:
This book did not help at all with the potty training. My daughter loves Caillou and I thought it might help her figure out the potty. It didn't.

Not a step by step guide for your child:
First of all, my 20 month old son loves this book. This is, of course, because he loves Caillou. And I think that it will be helpful in that he wants to imitate what Caillou is doing. If I say "potty" he says "Cai" and gets the book to read. However, if you are looking for a book to explain the potty process to your child, this is not it. It doesn't even come right out and say what Caillou is doing on the potty. It just says he has to "go". Go where, I ask? Timbuktu? The park? I have remedied this situation by adding in "pee" and "poo" where appropriate. It is a good book for him to identify with however, and combined with The Potty Book: Boy just may do the trick.

Not a great potty-training book:
My toddler loves Caillou, but this book doesn't do much to help facilitate potty training. My son never thought of wearing his potty chair on his head until we read it in this book. Ugh. It also isn't very clear about what Caillou is doing on the potty, and there is too much emphasis on his accidents. I think we read this book twice before I donated it to our library - I figured that way at least a parent could read through it to decide if it would help them before spending money on it.