Time for Potty Training

If you have been having trouble with potty training, or have heard horror stories that have you worried, you can use helpful suggestions from parents who have been down this path before. Click on the image for more details! You can use a song or a video to help your child. One favorite is Once Upon a Potty. You can sing the tune with your child every time he or she uses their potty, to make it easier for them to remember. You can also make up clever songs to sing with your kids after they use the toilet. They will love this. When they finish, you can sing a different song, retelling what they did and praising them for doing well. Another way to help make potty training less stressful for all involved is to read to your child. Let your child pick out a book he or she likes, and call them their potty books. Read them only when your child is in the bathroom, or on the potty. Potty targets are a great way to help with potty training. They are usually squares that you place in the toilet bowl, and when fluid hits them, they turn into stars. Show your child that he or she is a star! Making it a game will make it more enjoyable and less of a hassle for your child. A timer can help to remind your child to see if he or she needs to go potty. Start out with a shorter time, like twenty minutes or so, and then adjust this as you figure out how long your child usually can go. Eventually, your child will tell you if he or she has to go before the timer goes off, or whether they don't need to go yet when the timer goes off. You can also use treats or surprises to help your child become more consistent with toileting. Introduce a bag of inexpensive stickers and toys, and use them to reward your child when he or she uses the toilet. Be sure to heap lots of verbal praise on your child, too. Let your child pick a surprise from the gift bag, to provide an easier-than-usual way to potty train. A treat container in your child’s bedroom can hold his or her favorite snacks, and if he or she uses the toilet, you can give them a treat after they wash their hands. Within a short amount of time, your child should be using the toilet consistently. If you have a little girly girl who likes things like nail polish, you can pick up some water soluble polish and help her to paint her fingernails after she uses the potty. You can further reward a “#2” by letting her use real polish on one hand. There are some tried and true methods of potty training that usually work with most children, too. They become more interested as they age in imitating Mom and Dad, and that can be used to help your child learn to use the “grown up” potty. Providing a potty that is child-sized first will help to develop the comfort level needed to achieve independent trips to the bathroom. If your child spends time in a day care program while you work, make sure that they are using the same techniques that you are at home. You don’t want to be un-doing the pro Potty training can be a trying experience for parents. It's extremely important to make sure that your child feels like he is well supported and that you maintain a positive attitude if you want to ensure success.