Last night a friend and I were having an ice cream treat at Cold Stone Creamery when she brought up the subject of potty training her 4 year old. She was telling me about how bad his aim is, pee on the floor, down the toilet, on the wall, everywhere but in the pot. Something every mother can relate to, I’m sure! Well, I can’t relate to potty training but my feet can attest to how bad a man’s aim is.

Trying to solve her problem, I came up with what I think is a great solution, almost guaranteed to work.

Why not give junior something to aim at? Paint a flower, funny face, or cartoon character on the inside of your toilet.

Here’s how:

First, start with a clean toilet, turn the water to the toilet off and flush. Dry the area you’ll be painting with a rag or papertowel.

Using acrylic paint, draw a funny or goofy face either on the bottom below the rim or just above the drain hole. Use two or three bright colors to make your design stand out. I used brown, yellow and red to draw a winding snake.

Let the paint dry and then protect the design with an acrylic sealer. Let your painting dry overnight before turning the water back on. Since acrylic paint is water soluble it will not adhere permanently to porcelain and can be scraped off. From start to finish, this project should take an hour to do not including drying time. Total cost for this project - $5.00

Some mothers won’t have to worry about this but depending on how often you scrub your toilet the design should last about one month. It can be removed with a toilet brush when cleaning. Now, tell junior to aim at the duck or maybe to spray the man-in-the-boat or water the daisies.

Use your imagination, you know what your child is interested in, paint it on the bottom of the toilet and give him something to aim at.