7 kids 1 bathroom

*Gasp!* I can hear it now as many of you are reading this! Part of it is because you know what I'm talking about, the other part of you, couldn't even imagine.

The last home we lived in was small, three bedrooms (okay, one wasn't even a bedroom), living room, kitchen and ONE very tiny bathroom. So how did we manage.....there's actually a lot to say about this then one would think.

What do you do when it's 6am, everyone is trying to rush to the bathroom at once because everyone needs to go!!!! And not later, but NOW!!!!!

Smaller kids go first.....they're most likely being potty trained and haven't learned how to hold it yet. Anyone who is under the age of 5 gets to go first! Next......whoever gets in there first, gets to go. But only to go to the bathroom, grooming must wait.

While waiting, the waiting children could be eating their breakfast, getting dressed, making their beds, or patiently watching TV and waiting until everyone else is done.

Once everyone has had their chance to do their business......The person who has to be out of the house the earliest gets to go back in first.....brush teeth, comb hair and get out! If this particular person needs to "do" their hair or their makeup or something else.....put a mirror up on the back of the bedroom door. There's no reason for them to be hogging the bathroom so they can primp themselves up. Bathrooms are used for well, the obvious reason of course, brushing teeth and showering.....ONLY! Everything else can be done in their bedrooms or in the car or on the bus if need be. I can remember waking up late for school and having to do my makeup on the bus, it didn't kill me anymore than it'll kill your 16 year old daughter!

We've been lucky in the fact that everyone wakes up at different types, so it hasn't or hadn't been too bad.

Showers are only done at night and we alternate boys and girls. For example, M-W-F are girl's nights and T-Th-S is boy's night. We skip Sunday unless the kids have had a hard day at playing, then we just wing it! I shower during the day, always have. If I want a relaxing bubble bath, I wait until night time when the kids are in bed. But to be honest, bubble baths bore me......

How about the dreaded brushing of the teeth. This can be difficult, especially if you have kids that need to be in there at the same time. Well, one can brush in the sink, the other can brush in the bathtub and the other can go to the kitchen. Worse comes to worse, tell one of them to go use the gardening hose if they absolutely can not wait.

We have had times when one person or another just can't wait, so they've been told, 3rd tree to the left. There has only been one child on one particular day that used that advice as he really could not wait. Thank God our home was shaded by lots of trees where no one could see what he actually was doing.

Back to showers.....each child gets 10 minutes before it's time for the next one to get in. Right now the only one girl who needs to hold to that rule is Gitty as she's old enough to shower herself. But we bathe the younger girls ourselves as they are only 4 (almost), 17 months and 7 months. The boys', other than JP, is a little tougher as they'd stay in there all night if we'd let them!

I hope this helps some of you figure out your bathroom situation, if you are like how we used to be.

We now have two bathrooms and I wouldn't go back to having one unless I absolutely HAD to!

Night Time Potty Training

It's almost your son's 4th birthday and he's the only kid on the playground not completely potty trained. Sure, he can go all day with going on the potty, can tell you he has to go when you are in public and uses it quite successfully at home for the last year.....but what about at night?

That's a different story. The bedtime routine still involves a night time pull up and your child seems to be the only one still wearing diapers to bed. The truth is, he's not the only child. About 10-13% of 6 year old children still wet the bed. You are not alone. And for all those people who like to tell you how horrible of a parent you are for it, tell them to stick it! You know your child, they don't and you need to do what's best for both of you!

I myself have had two such children. JP, who just turned 5 in September didn't get night time trained until November and we still have middle of the night accidents. Macie, our almost 4 year old still wears a diaper to bed. Some may call us lazy, that we aren't or haven't pushed the night time potty training enough, but that truly is not the case. Any parent knows, you can't push a child to go to the bathroom. They will do it when they are ready and not a second before that. Most of the reason for that is......it's something they can control and you can't. You can try bribing them, but what good does that do? You are rewarding them for something they have to do anyway.....and when do you actually stop bribing and what happens when you do? Regression, anyone??

Before you do anything, have your child checked by his pediatrician. Most likely, he'll do a few tests on your child to check for a UTI (which can be ruled out, because he goes potty during the day) and/or his kidneys. As long as your child has no medical issues, you'll be sent home with reassurance that all is fine in the world and it's quite normal for your 3 year old to NOT be potty trained at night. Sadly, you'll go stop off at the store and pick up another box of night time pull ups for your child and the routine will continue for at least a little while.

But how and when do you step in and decide it's time to take control? Well, that's up to you, how long you are willing to wait it out, how hard your budget is taking a hit because of the extra diapers and other personal reasons you have.

For us.....JP was just over 5 years old and enough was enough. At this point we had 4 children in diapers, JP at night, Macie at night, Emmie and M&M all day and all night. Someone had to give up their diapers, so naturally we started with the oldest person in the house.

The fun began.....

Sippy cups were limited during the day. One with each meal and only half during snack times. If he wanted a drink in between, well he could have A SIP of water, but no more than that. Considering my children eat 3 meals and 3 snacks, he was not going thirsty during the day. The next thing we did was to take drinks away after 7pm. No drinks, except a sip or two of water before bed, after brushing his teeth. Then it was potty time, story time, prayers, tucked in and bed.

The next morning, he woke up running for the bathroom. Anyone in his way was getting knocked over. Of course this resulted in him waking earlier then his typical 8am schedule, but if it meant no more diapers, then I was okay with that. On very rare occasions JP does wet the bed. He still has nights, especially when he's overtired or if he sneaks a drink from one of his ever sympathetic siblings after he's already been in bed, but for the most part, he's completely potty trained.

I have to add here, limit soda and carbonated drinks. They are diuretics and it'll only set your child up for failure. Gatorade's and other drinks that restore electrolytes shouldn't be given unless your child is sick. These also will make your child have to go to the bathroom more than usual. And surprisingly, not much juice. The sugar seems to go through my JP......even if it is natural. Stick with water, milk and 1 or 2 cups of juice a day.

Now let's see if we can get his almost 4 year old sister to be the same way.