A few years ago, Weehawken’s Susan Scherman, who has been a registered pediatric nurse for 25 years, was watching her sisters have a tough time potty training their sons. This got Scherman thinking.
“Imagine if there was a doll that would help the kids learn,” Scherman said. “At the time, nothing existed on the market that could help parents to potty train their boys. I’ve been a pediatric nurse for a long time and I never remembered anything that would help the parents.”
Scherman, who took some design classes at Jersey City State College (now New Jersey City University), thought that maybe she could be the one to design the doll that could demonstrate how a male toddler urinates while standing.
Hence: “Wee Wee Willy,” a two-foot-high doll dressed in a red sweatshirt, designer denim jeans and jacket, and a baseball cap, with the capabilities to teach a toddler how to use the toilet.
Scherman said that she designed the doll because boys generally take longer to complete the potty training transition.
“I think ‘Wee Wee Willy’ would be particularly useful for single mothers with boy toddlers,” Scherman said. “While most boys develop the physical and cognitive skills between 18 and 24 months, the learning process can take anywhere from three days to eight months.”
How wee Willy works
`Wee Wee Willy’ works as follows: The supervising adult pours yellow liquid into a plastic bottle, located in the doll’s back, which represents the human kidneys. The bottle has a tube that is connected to an oval rubber hand pump. Another tube that extends from the bottle protrudes through the doll’s body and represents the human penis.
By standing `Wee Wee Willy’ in front of the toilet, the adult can stand behind the doll, squeeze the hand pump and simulate urination.
Scherman said that she designed the doll in the span of a day, then hired an engineer to actually build it.
“It was a very easy concept,” Scherman said.
Scherman has been testing demonstrating the doll for a few years and last month, she finally received a U.S. patent for her idea. `Wee Wee Willy’ is forever Scherman’s idea. “We had been testing it and it definitely works,” Scherman said. “We wanted to make sure that it was accurate. I went to a patent attorney in Princeton to see if anything like it existed before. We searched the Internet and did a ton of research to make sure. All in all, it took about two years to find out for sure that there wasn’t anything else out there like it.”
Scherman said that she took the doll to the Toy Fair at the Javits Convention Center in New York last year to see if there would be a manufacturer who would be willing to distribute the doll.
“It would be easy to manufacture, but you would need the necessary molds and skins,” Scherman said. “I’m hopeful that there would be an American manufacturer that would be interested, because it would mean more jobs for Americans.”
However, approximately 70 percent of all toys, especially dolls, are manufactured in the Far East, in Taiwan and China.
“I’m trying to stay as positive as possible,” Scherman said. “So many people are asking me when Willy is coming out. I think there’s definitely a market for it, in Head Start programs and pre-schools. Also, in hospital pediatric wards. I work in pediatrics and it would work great there. Children tend to regress in the hospital. It definitely gets children out of diapers quicker.”
Added Scherman, “People have told me that it’s a neat idea and a new concept. My attorneys are very positive that it will get manufactured.”
Scherman said that the doll can be altered to suit different races and ethnic backgrounds. “In England, he can be ‘Tinkling Thomas,'” she said. “In Spain, he can be, `Pee Pee Pedro,’ and in Russia, he can be `Urinating Yuri.’ I have the names picked out for each country.”
For the past few years, Scherman has been working at the Child Evaluation Center at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ)’s Medical School. Officials at the UMDNJ-New Jersey are excited about the chances of the doll being manufactured. The public relations office has already secured interviews with Good Housekeeping and the New York Times. Scherman has also conducted a few radio interviews as well.
“It is getting exciting,” said Scherman. “The college is pretty excited as well. We’re just hoping that others can see that he can be a buddy or a pal for children at a most important time in their lives.”