Toilet training with the Teeny Tiny Stevies
Bridge Magazine editor, Sarah Tayler, chats to Byll Stephen from hit children's band, the Teeny Tiny Stevies, about their helpful songs for little people.
Toilet training can be a challenging time with anxious anticipation about how it will unfold. In 2015, Byll Stephen and her sister Beth started writing a song, ‘On The Toilet,’ as a side-project to their main band, Little Stevies, to help with Byll's two young children. The resulting song became a hit, and the sisters have since written several children's albums, won multiple awards, and performed for thousands of tiny fans and their grown-ups. (Related content Toilet Training Fact Sheet).
Keeping It Fun With Storytelling
10 years after they frist wrote the song, toilet training and nightime nappies a distant memory. Byll recalls getting started with writing songs for kids.
"When I started writing music for my own kids, I wanted it to be useful. I knew my kids wouldn't listen if I just told them what to do," Byll tells Bridge. "There were no good songs to explain going to the toilet at the time I was toilet training them, so I did anything I could to get through to them. My instinct was to go to the library and find a story to explain it to them. I thought it would be more successful if I could give them a bit of autonomy and make them feel like they were coming up with the ideas on their own rather than me telling them what to do".
Byll struggled to find music for kids about toilet training that wasn't all toilet talk. "I wanted to write a song that could get the message across without using the words wee and poo. We wanted to make it all about positive reinforcement and let the kids know what is expected of them in a really clear, but also really fun way. I love the way the song turned out because it makes sense to younger kids, and older kids still like it because they feel like they are in on the joke with the word play," said Byll. "Our song really helped my kids. Anything I could get them to do using music or storytelling to help them feel like they were finding their own way always made a huge difference. When we started sharing our music for kids, I hoped it would be the same for other families and help them too".
A Natural Progression
"At one point, we were doing Teeny Tiny Stevies and also trying to keep up with our other band, Little Stevies. We would be doing a show for kids in the morning and an adult show at night—we were so exhausted. It was pretty hard to have a young family and two bands. We were playing to 450 people at our morning show and only 60 at night. We realised it was much harder to get people to come out for our adult shows because our audience, like us, were starting to have families or become grandparents, so continuing to move more into the kids' music made sense. It was a natural progression as our audience grew their families".
Boundaries and Clear Expectations
"We have had so much amazing feedback from parents of non-verbal and neurodiverse kids, saying that our songs really got through to them and particularly helped them turn a corner with toilet training". "I think all kids, but neurodiverse kids in particular, really like having the boundaries laid out clearly and knowing what is expected of them. It cuts out that subconscious anxiety of not knowing what is going to happen next". "Even though my kids are older now, they still are much more comfortable knowing what is expected of them, and even as an adult, I like to know what's coming and what the rules are. Kids do so much better when they know what is expected of them".
"Our songs are all about storytelling and sharing clear expectations and boundaries in a super fun and empowering way."
About
Name: Byll Stephen
Mum Stats: Two kids (10 and 13 years old)
Home Town: Melbourne, Victoria
Three words to sum up your toilet training memories: Frustration, tree wees, sense of accomplishment after entering the new nappy-free phase.
"Even Though Toilet Training is well behind me, I don't think I will ever forget the panic when they give you that look, and you make eye contact and you just know they are about to do a wee on the floor"
ON THE TOILET, by the Teeny Tiny Stevies
Watch the music video of the Teeny Tiny Stevies hit song, 'On The Toilet', listen to Byll and Beth read the book, or download the toilet training rewards chart and more at bit.ly/TeenyTinyToiletTraining