The Two Dreaded Words: Potty Training

The list of parents who enjoy potty training is probably as long as the list of people who enjoy traffic jams, headaches, and chemical face peels. However, it is something all of us parents have to do whether we want to or not. I remember going to bed the night before we were going to start the potty training and I was terrified knowing that potty training started that next day! I am going to share some tips I have learned from my own experience and from lots of other mothers with whom I have had the joy in talking about this lovely topic.

Tip #1: Finding the right time: Every child will be ready at different times. You just have to find your child’s right time.  Some kids start showing interest very early on or later on like my son. I think potty training will go a lot smoother when the child shows interest because if not then look forward to struggle after struggle after meltdowns each day. It is good to talk about going potty on the toilet and wearing underwear from early on just to get them comfortable. We did that for a whole year before my son started to show interest. It somehow was right when we came home after delivering our baby girl that he wanted to wear his underwear that had been sitting in his drawer untouched for so many months. I was trying to recover and take care of a newborn, but my big boy wanted to wear his underwear and I knew I had to go with it. So this was our right time.

Tip #2: Getting the gear: Everybody’s potty training gear is going to be different. Some people love having a kid sized plastic toilet to potty train on. I am not a big fan of the kid toilets because I didn't want to go through the extra work of cleaning it out. I want to flush and be done.  So I got a toilet seat to put over our toilet and also bought a stool for him to get up on the toilet by himself. Make it fun and let your child pick out the stool or toilet seat so they are excited to try it out!

Tip #3: Finding what motivates them: You know your child the best so only you would know what rewards will motivate them to go. For my son, it was the typical candy bribe that motivated him. I have heard other mothers say that making charts and putting a sticker on each time they went worked for them. Keep rewards just for when they actually go so the correct association is made with the right behavior. We started a chart in the picture below, but as you can see it is not filled out all the way. There was some motivation with it, but that tapered off fast.

Tip #4: Potty proofing the house: Since I put my son straight into underwear on our first day of potty training I needed to potty proof the house because you can only assume there are going to be accidents. I brought out my sons plastic table to sit on in our living room and put a towel underneath it. I also put towels down on the couch for him to sit on and on our kitchen chairs.

Tip #5: Never let them out of your sight: Because when you do they just might be sneaking off to another room to go do their duty in their underwear. So you must watch them like a hawk and yes it gets tiring.

Those are just some personal tips. Remember though to stay positive! Give them lots of praise when they go in the toilet. And just when you think your child will be in diapers for life, they somehow always seem to come through!