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I found this interesting on my Homepage today 
Information on the potty-training CD
By Terry Armour
Tribune entertainment reporter
Published August 11, 2002
In the recording studio of Gary Fry's Northfield home, there is a group of kids, roughly ages 2 to 10, dancing around in circles with potty chairs hoisted above their heads. The kids are shaking their little booties to some catchy ditty about going to the bathroom.
Going to the bathroom?
"Kids remember things that are sung better than the spoken word," says Fry, who also happens to be bobbing his head to the music.
The kids are shooting a music video for "I Got the Power," a tune from the new potty-training CD "I Gotta Go! A Musical Journey to Successful Potty Training."
The disc is the brainchild of Chicago-area mommy Vicki Esralew. As the story goes, when daughter Robin was 2, she once fell into the toilet during a potty-training session. Poor thing was afraid to go anywhere near the toilet after that.
"So what I would do--me and my husband and my older son--we'd sing little songs to make it more fun and take the pressure off her," Esralew says.
The technique worked. Esralew eventually called Fry, who has a degree in music education, and several pediatricians. They helped her write the songs. A CD was born.
"We listen to it--no exaggeration--70 or 75 times a day," says Esralew, whose kids, Robin (now 9), 7-year-old Reed and 11-year-old Jackson all sing on the CD.
You'd think listening to songs like "I'm a Hottie for the Potty" and "Potty Dance" all day would drive any parent batty. But Fry says the tunes were written with adults in mind.
"We realize that kids oftentimes listen to the material over and over again," he says. "And the parents are often there with them."
Like the infectious rap tune "I Got the Power," sung by 10-year-old hip-hop artist and actor Maestro Harrell. After hearing Maestro belt out the tune over and over during the video shoot, parents were tapping their toes.
Does Maestro, who was potty-trained the old-fashioned way ("My parents would just sit me on the toilet and run water and that kind of stuff"), consider himself some sort of potty pioneer?
"I'm just helping younger kids who aren't potty-trained," he says matter-of-factly.
Maestro must know his stuff. In the middle of the video shoot, one toddler begins to get that look on his face, the one all parents have witnessed.
"Somebody is having their own `potty power' time," Debbie Koller says as she whisks 2-year-old Sammy to the bathroom.
Copyright © 2002, Chicago Tribune
Information on the potty-training CD
By Terry Armour
Tribune entertainment reporter
Published August 11, 2002
In the recording studio of Gary Fry's Northfield home, there is a group of kids, roughly ages 2 to 10, dancing around in circles with potty chairs hoisted above their heads. The kids are shaking their little booties to some catchy ditty about going to the bathroom.
Going to the bathroom?
"Kids remember things that are sung better than the spoken word," says Fry, who also happens to be bobbing his head to the music.
The kids are shooting a music video for "I Got the Power," a tune from the new potty-training CD "I Gotta Go! A Musical Journey to Successful Potty Training."
The disc is the brainchild of Chicago-area mommy Vicki Esralew. As the story goes, when daughter Robin was 2, she once fell into the toilet during a potty-training session. Poor thing was afraid to go anywhere near the toilet after that.
"So what I would do--me and my husband and my older son--we'd sing little songs to make it more fun and take the pressure off her," Esralew says.
The technique worked. Esralew eventually called Fry, who has a degree in music education, and several pediatricians. They helped her write the songs. A CD was born.
"We listen to it--no exaggeration--70 or 75 times a day," says Esralew, whose kids, Robin (now 9), 7-year-old Reed and 11-year-old Jackson all sing on the CD.
You'd think listening to songs like "I'm a Hottie for the Potty" and "Potty Dance" all day would drive any parent batty. But Fry says the tunes were written with adults in mind.
"We realize that kids oftentimes listen to the material over and over again," he says. "And the parents are often there with them."
Like the infectious rap tune "I Got the Power," sung by 10-year-old hip-hop artist and actor Maestro Harrell. After hearing Maestro belt out the tune over and over during the video shoot, parents were tapping their toes.
Does Maestro, who was potty-trained the old-fashioned way ("My parents would just sit me on the toilet and run water and that kind of stuff"), consider himself some sort of potty pioneer?
"I'm just helping younger kids who aren't potty-trained," he says matter-of-factly.
Maestro must know his stuff. In the middle of the video shoot, one toddler begins to get that look on his face, the one all parents have witnessed.
"Somebody is having their own `potty power' time," Debbie Koller says as she whisks 2-year-old Sammy to the bathroom.
Copyright © 2002, Chicago Tribune
