Potty Training

In the past few weeks, two of my friends have asked me for some tips on potty training children.  I rambled off a couple of ideas to help them out. Then I began thinking, if two of my friends have questions about potty training, maybe more do too. I decided to write down a few tips for those mommies and daddies that are ready to ditch the diapers! I am by no means an expert on potty training, but I’ve learned a thing or two from training Remie and Charlotte and hope that my knowledge may help someone.

Rule #1 of potty training is to make sure that your child is ready. Remie was completely potty trained before his 2^nd birthday and Charlotte was about 2 months after she turned two. That being said, just because my kids trained early, does NOT mean that every child is ready to use the potty on their second birthday. Most children begin training between 24-27 months old and typically boys take longer. My children showed signs of wanting to learn so I jumped on the opportunity and taught them. I knew Remie was ready because every time I would go into the bathroom, he would follow me and want to sit on the potty when I was done. Charlotte was quite obvious about being ready to learn as well. She actually started running into the bathroom and tried to take her diaper off to get on the potty when I realized that she was ready. Some other signs of readiness are when your child has a dry diaper for long periods of time, show interest in the toilet, awareness of bowel movements and the ability to follow directions. Forcing a child to train before they are ready will result in a battle of wills and a frustrated family.

Rule #2 of potty training is to have a reward system. Whenever my children went pee on the potty, they got a chocolate chip. You can use stickers, fruit snacks, candy or anything that your child will see as a reward. Also, to encourage excitement about potty training, I let my kids each pick out their own potty seat and underwear! I remember how excited Remie was to have Mickey Mouse underwear and it was more motivation for him to stay dry because he didn’t want to pee on Mickey. He also had this awesome truck potty seat that sounded like an engine starting and a horn honking whenever he peed in it! He loved it!

Rule #3- Ok, now that your child is ready, you have your rewards and underwear, you are ready to train! I normally pick a long weekend or 3-4 days that I can commit to staying at home to potty train. It’s hard to potty train on the go so it’s really very important that you commit to staying home for a few days. It might be a sacrifice but it is worth it in the long run. Now what I do is I vow that no matter how hard it is, I’m not giving up and putting a diaper on my child. Then I put my children in their new underwear and give them their favorite watered down juice. Have them drink drink drink drink all day long. Every 20-30 minutes you put the child on the potty and have them try to go. They won’t go every time but celebrate with them for trying!

Rule #4- The tricky part about potty training is the battle of wills. You know that your child is ready but they scream and cry when you try to put them on the potty. That’s ok. Don’t fight with them because you don’t want the potty to be a punishment. Be honest with your child and explain that its ok if they don’t want to sit on the potty but it’s really uncomfortable and yucky when they have an accident in their underwear. The child will most likely have an accident shortly after. Don’t get mad. Instead remind your child that when we feel like we have to go pee we have to tell mommy and run to the potty. I also point out how yucky it is to be all wet (this is why I don’t train with diapers because the kids don’t care if they get their diaper wet and it doesn’t motivate them to try to get to the potty). Then the child has to help get changed into new undies.  Pretty soon it will sink in that they don’t like being wet or poopy and they won’t fight you as often about trying to pee.

Rule #5-Speaking of poop, pooping on the potty is normally a bit scary for kids when they are first learning. Once they mastered peeing on the potty, I made a basket full of “Poop Prizes” from the Dollar Store. When they would poop on the potty, they would get to pick out a cool prize.  This worked fabulously and the kids loved it!

Rule #6 No matter how frustrated you get, NEVER EVER YELL AT YOUR CHILD FOR HAVING AN ACCIDENT. This will work against all of your efforts in potty training.

Potty training is an important milestone for both the child and parents. Hopefully my tips will help your child have an easier time transitioning from baby to big kid!