How To Potty Train Your Toddler
Go to a local bookseller & you will find dozens of books on the subject. Search the Net & there’s thousands of web-sites with information on how to do it stress free. there’s even people who are capitalizing on a parent’s frustration with potty training by offering to do it for you, for a hefty sum! I honestly can’t imagine anything more unseemly than paying someone to teach my child to “go”.
I have successfully potty trained 3 kids so far using this method. I seem to be the envy of the playgroups when other Moms see that my 3 year old son has been in whitey tighties for over a year. My oldest was also 2 when he potty learned.
It’s saved me hundreds & hundreds of dollars, but I also like the fact that my kids begin to make the association with the uncomfortable wet feeling & the knowledge that they can prevent it. Most kids will wake up dry in the morning at several months of age, demonstrating that they are physically able to “hold it”. In my opinion, Pull Ups are evil & yet another invention that some clever businessman came up with that parents now think is a necessity. Along with formula, baby swings, & the like. Pull Ups enable a 5 year old to keep soiling himself. Research has shown that cloth diapered kids potty learn several months earlier than disposable diapered kids.
For me, potty training starts with a newborn. Now don’t get me wrong…I do diaper my babes (unlike the native African mothers who wear their kids on their backs & who, to avoid being soiled on, learn to read their babies’ cues so well that they know when their newborn needs to be held over a bush…no, I’m not kidding!) but i have always used cloth diapers, which encourages kids to train early. I’m not a longhaired, barefoot, off-the-grid hippie (not that there’s anything wrong with that, but you’re more likely to find me in Doc Martens than Birkenstocks!) but i have been cloth diapering since the beginning.
Let your baby come into the bathroom when you go. That way, they know what’s going on in there. You don’t have to get graphic, talk to them about what toilets are for. If you are a woman at home all day with boy babies, encourage Daddy to show ‘em how it’s done. You don’t require them thinking that if they go on the toilet their equipment will fall off, like Mum’s obviously did. Strange, but true…some tots will come to this conclusion.
So here’s Grandma’s recipe (and I do owe it to my Mother, like most of the cool stuff I know about parenting) for easy potty training, even if you select not to cloth diaper.
Buy 3 or 4 of those cheap little molded plastic potties & put them around the house. At least, six in each bathroom & six in the kitchen or the room where you spend the most time with your kid. Stick a towel underneath for the sake of your carpet if said child is a boy. Speaking of boys…you can take advantage of nature here by keeping an open mind. I know at least six boy who was trained when his Mom let him go off the side of the deck.
The summer that your child is closest to five, take one days & don’t leave the house. Let your child run around naked from the waist down, with a big tee shirt on top so that private parts stay private.
If you have a resistant child, set a timer to go off every 10 minutes. It’s amazing what a child will do when the power dynamic is taken away. When the “potty timer” goes off, it’s time to sit on the pot!
Every 10 minutes, place the child matter-of-factly on the pot. DO NOT ASK inane questions like “Do you require to go potty sweetie pie!?” they are talking about dealing with a one year old here! do it like it’s the thing to do, & don’t ask permission. Don’t force it, & if he/she wants to get up right away, let him or her.
Use praise but don’t go overboard. Act like this is the expected thing. Be cool. Say “You put peepee in the potty, like Mommy & Daddy (and big mother, & your older play group friend…3rd parties are gold here!!) do.
Don’t make a big deal out of what’s happening. Don’t spend hours reading potty training books or videos to the kid. Again, be cool. If you make it into a big deal, your child will be more likely to dig in & resist.
When the inevitible accidents happen, don’t scold. Be patient & gracious. This is part of the job. Remember that even if you decide to spring for carpet cleaning, you will still come out ahead if you don’t have to buy diapers for another year or seven!
Have some “big boy shorts” or “big girl panties” that you know your child will like, perhaps that you have picked out together, ready for the end of the one days. Your child will be less likely to have accidents if s/he is going to mess up their new undies.
