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Potty Training Methods

Read the following twelve potty training methods to ensure that you are on your way to potty training success.

These are the major potty training DO’s!

Potty Training Method #1
Read up. Learning from the experience of others will help you prepare your own toddler.

It may feel like youʼre the first one to ever go through the trials of toilet training, but the endless anecdotes of others will tell you that youʼre not alone.

Potty Training Method #2
Demonstrate. Use every opportunity to model your most desired behavior. Every time a parent must use the restroom is another teachable moment. This is especially true when it comes to the same sex parent. Teaching begins with our words, but seeing is always more effective than simply hearing. Use appropriate and easy to understand language such as, “Weʼre going to use the restroom now” whenever it is time to transition.

Potty Training Method #3
Create autonomy. Empower your toddler by letting them teach a favorite action figure or doll the same life skill that they themselves are expected to learn. This will give them ownership and fuel their natural desire for performance and parental validation.

Potty Training Method #4
Choose your vocabulary. Choose your words with care. It is unfair if you do not explain your purpose before piling it high with expectation. Not only does your child deserve to have things explained, they are far more likely to succeed when you do. However, the language you use will be the language they use. If you would like for your child to tell his or her dolly that it is time to go #2 rather than caca, you must be the one to set that example.

Potty Training Method #5
Make the restroom a routine.  Consistency is important.  Most of us have learned to ignore the tick and tock of our own internal timepiece, but children are still exceedingly aware. Design potty breaks during regular transition times while staying consistent with the timer and you will find your child falling into a natural pattern sooner rather than later.

Potty Training Method #6
Listen to their body. Like thirst or hunger, elimination is a physical need. You must monitor your child’s liquids and account for minutes lapsed. Have your child attempt elimination every twenty to thirty minutes until they find their own natural rhythm.

Potty Training Method #7
Switch from diapers to training pants. Empower your child, they are no longer a baby.  Send them a clear message that it is time to graduate, and include them in the process as much as possible. It will be far easier to get your child excited about getting into underwear and ditching their diaper when the move is decisive. All training pants and clothing should be easy to slip up and down by the wearer without assistance, placing greater control in the toddler’s hands, and improving the odds of getting to the restroom on time. Remember, empowerment and independence are the ultimate aim.  After all, isn’t that what a temper tantrum is all about, control and the “I can do it by myself” feeling that every toddler invariably feels?

Potty Training Method #8
Motivate. Discuss the habits of older friends and relatives and help your child to make the connections between their new skills and the daily actions of others around them. Accentuate the many positive gains of losing the diaper. Wearing underwear is a road leading to bigger and better adventures. Once your child truly understand this, it will be far easy to move forward fast.

Potty Training Method #9
Reward your child with praise and encouragement. Celebrate every effort, but reward your child without fail whenever successful elimination occurs. You can sing their favorite song, give them a sticker for their chart, or get them on the phone with their favorite larger than life character. Our daughter phoned Barney while our son preferred Santa, but both were able to feel the immediate results of their effort.

Potty Training Method #10
Teach hygiene. Wiping from front to back, flushing, and being responsible for your own waste are all learned behaviors. It is up to us to teach these things to our child, and there is no better time than right in the beginning.

Potty Training Method #11
Explain your approach to your caretaker. If your child cannot be with you during all daylight hours, then it is in your best interests to articulate your plan and associated needs to whoever is watching. Caretakers should reinforce your effort rather than dilute your progress.

Potty Training Method #12
Exhibit patience. Relapses will happen, and you cannot always expect a command performance from your child. Keep your eyes and ears open for signals, constantly search for patterns, and understand that potty training is a process, not an event.

Next time we’ll cover a few potty training don’ts.

Potty Training Power…AWAY!!!

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The Key to Potty Training Success

Toilet training your child is a major milestone in their young life, both physically and mentally.

It is also 100% necessary.

Within a fairly narrow window of time, your child will first learn they have the power to control their waste and then be asked to master the necessary control.

The key to potty training success isn’t simply crossing the finish line, it’s making the experience pleasant for all involved as well. Your child, like all children, has their particular likes and dislikes; things they enjoy doing along with those things they don’t enjoy nearly as much.

By making potty training an engaging experience, you will not only make it easier on yourself, you will make it easier on your child as well. Potty training success, here we come!

Please allow us to introduce ourselves and tell you how we led our own children to potty training success. This blog is co-authored by Sean and Cindy Platt. We have been married for eight years and the best of friends for twelve. For the past three years, we have run a highly specialized preschool where learning is always put first.

Despite some of our students joining class at only three months of age, our school is no less a learning environment for the infant as it is for the toddler.

In our Kinder Garden, we start early and finish strong.

Our preschool is based on the philosophy that everyone is a student and learning begins at birth. It doesn’t make a bit of difference who you are or whether or not you have yet to celebrate your first birthday. Everyone is a learner. This philosophy has not only ensured that even our one year olds can spell their names, it also helps to establish the early habits that make fluid potty training fully possible.

Though Seanʼs first experience with potty training toddlers began only after the birth of our daughter, Cindy has been an educator for two tireless decades. Her personal history is flocked with fantastic results because she enters and exits every affair with elevated expectations.

Teaching our daughter was (somewhat surprisingly) a snap. Though we had done our homework and felt we were prepared, we still didn’t know exactly what to expect.

Some things you cannot truly understand until they are actually happening. Fortunately, our first experience benefited from a year and a half of constant communication. We are incessant explainers and our daughter a relentless listener. Once it was time to train our daughter, we articulated our expectations, then crossed our hearts and braided our hands.

The gods of toilet training seemed to be smiling on that particular day as our daughter went to bed as dry that night as sheʼs risen each day since!

Fortunately, we found our initial potty training success wasn’t a fluke.

The summer when our son turned one was when we opened our pre-school. Our transition was immediate. We interviewed clients, selected our families, and then opened our doors to absorb a myriad of families (and philosophies) all in unison.

With a preschool in full bloom, and a few students already past the prime time for potty training preparation, we quickly decided to decrease the diapers and increase the underwear.

It was time to put our potty training success methods to test on a school full of children.

We started with the oldest and went straight down the line, piling packages of unused diapers as though our preschool was an annex for Babies “R” Us. Because we were dealing with different parents each with their own style of parenting, we did face some early resistance. That resistance evaporated like midday dew however, once those parents found themselves surrounded by the success of others.

Potty training isn’t magic, itʼs a process.

You must start with a strategy, then proceed with the will to make it happen. Anyone who says potty training can be completed in a single day without fail probably isn’t painting an accurate picture.

With a proper plan, certainty in your method, and the conviction to see things through, your potty training will not only be successful, but it will be a rewarding experience for all involved as well.

Potty Training Power…AWAY!!!

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He Won’t Go Potty Before We Leave. What Do I Do?

Today’s potty training email exchange emphasizes the fact that a single potty training day or even 3 days is not especially reasonable. This mom is having difficult with getting her toddler to “go to potty” before leaving the house.

Read the text and absorb the tips. As always, the names are changed and copy cleaned to protect the innocent!

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Dear Sean,

Well, it’s going pretty well here in potty-training land.  Yesterday, we had many more successes than accidents. Today remains to be seen. :)  I am wondering, though, how do you move from the “I think I’m starting to go, so I run to the potty” to “I can sit down and go potty before we leave for the store.”

So far, we can’t really leave the house, because he can’t just “go to potty” before we leave.  Is that just a learning thing that he’ll pick up as he gets better?  Or is there a way to teach it?  I do have him sit down and try to go potty regularly, but so far, he’s never done it during those times.

Thanks for your help!

Karen

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Good morning Karen,

I’m glad things are going well. It sounds like you are already through the worst of it. That’s a really great “go to potty” question. Here are our best suggestions:

You’re changing the rules, so there is naturally going to be an adjustment period between the two of you. This is great, so long it’s handled well. If he feels like you’re in it together, he’ll be fairly willing to do anything you ask. If he feels like he’s having to do whatever you say, and he doesn’t really understand why, he WILL be more resistant to your methods.

Here are a few “go to potty” strategies in step:

Clear his bladder first thing in the morning. This is really important. If you start with an empty bladder in the AM, the rest of the day will be far easier to monitor. The last thing you want is to feel hostage to the house. Also, you don’t want to give him the ultimate power of your schedule.

Measure his liquids. Know exactly how much your toddler is drinking. This isn’t something you want to do forever, but by measuring his liquids throughout the day you can begin to manipulate his body’s schedule.

Time the “go to potty” intervals between his potty breaks and take note of the changes. It may take a couple of days, but as long you’re consistent, simple math will make a pattern emerge. Once you can articulate the trends, your GOLD.

By this point, it’s just about getting him to comply. Simple bribery might be the trick. “As soon as you go potty, we can go on our (insert special adventure). Just be careful about giving him too much power. Even if he has control over your schedule, don’t let him know it.

It sounds like the hardest part is over, but if it isn’t we’re still just an email away.

Best, and good luck getting him to go potty!

Sean

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I hope these quick potty training techniques were useful.

Potty Training Power…AWAY!!!

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Answers From a Potty Training Professional

Today we have another potty training professional email exchange from a Potty Training Power client, but we wanted to post it here and help pass on some potty training tips to all of you.

As always, names are changed and copy is cleaned from the “potty training professional,” but everything else is exactly the same.

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Dear Sean and Cindy,

Thanks again for the email with help on potty training – professional as always. : )

We seem to have moved past the crying stage. Jason is cooperating, and even told me once when he needed to go… but he hasn’t yet gone in the toilet.  I think the sensations are weird to him: after being used to going in a diaper, maybe the feeling of going into the toilet is making him uncomfortable?  I had him sit when I knew he needed to go, and he fidgeted and wiggled and said he was done, so I let him get up – and he went right away.

Though he does go, it is always into a pull-up or into underwear, it doesn’t seem to make a difference to him. Did you have any of your students who didn’t like the feeling?  What did you do?

We have a french fry chart (stickers every time he goes until he gets to the fries), but so far, there are no stickers on the chart. No successes. Is this normal? And he gets m&m’s  - one for trying to go, and two if he actually did it.  No luck there either.  But it’s not for lack of motivation!

Thanks again for your help. It’s reassuring to know that there’s someone who has my back here.

Kirstie

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Hi Kirstie,

Oh yeah, we’ve definitely had a student like that. Our potty training toddler, Alan, loved the warm feeling of sitting in his freshly made stew (yuck!) and it took a couple of long days for us to convince him he’d be much happier dried out. We see where you are, but don’t worry it’s almost over.

A visual is probably best, with words to go along. Anytime someone needs to use the potty in the house, you should make sure you take him with you (this is especially true for dad). I know it sounds dorky, but trust us on this. Talk about what you’re doing as you’re doing it:

“Wow! It sure feels good to get my ___ out. I’m SO glad I don’t have to do it in a diaper!” Even when they fight us, our children want to do what we do. It’s instinct, they can’t help it! Let us know how it’s going and don’t give up! If you do, it will be WAY harder the next time.

All our best,

Cindy and Sean

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We hope that little bit of potty training advice helps!

Potty Training Power…AWAY!!!

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Toilet Training Tips to Help Your Family

The right toilet training tips can be a life preserver keeping your family afloat when they need help the most.

Most families arrive at a time in their toilet training when they cross their fingers and hope the countless potty training tips that have come their way will finally pan out with some results.

It isn’t that potty training is necessary difficult, it’s just that it can be emotionally exhausting for mom, dad, and child alike.

There are as many ways to potty train as there are bums to wipe. How each family goes about the process is dependent upon the DNA of that particular family. Veteran parents pass out advice like candy on Halloween, but the three best toilet training tips you’ll ever really need are these: patience, patience, patience.

Having said that, here are a few additional toilet training tips that apply to just about every family.

Encourage Your Child

One thing to remember as your child approaches the age when potty training’s imminent and toilet training tips are necessary: never force the issue. Don’t heed the advice of those who tell you thedeed can be done in a single potty training day.  Your child will let you know when they are ready.

Knowing when to start potty training is paramount. Forcing your child into toilet training tips the scales against you. Instead of taking the easy road to potty training success, you will likely find yourself crying for help while your child digs their heels into the dirt.

Remain Cool and Collected

Be Cool. If your child has an accident because they are unable to make it to the toilet in time, DO NOT make a huge deal. Accidents happen, be wary of toilet training tips suggesting otherwise.

Making a scene will never lead to accomplishing your goals. Toddler logic will simply tell your child that they are going to get into trouble no matter what, so they may as well not try. Endow them with confidence and you will encourage success.

Make it Easy

The final toilet training tip (at least for today) is to dress your child in a way that makes their clothing simple to pull down or remove entirely without assistance. Be sure to promote independence from the beginning. Making your child feel as though they are in charge is a sure way to increase your chances of successful toilet training.

Tips are everywhere – you must decide on those that deliver the most help to you and your family. Don’t expect a quick fix, or a 3 day potty training plan to answer all your problems.

Be consistent and soon enough, you will be flushing to your success!

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When to Start Potty Training

When to start potty training - the question every parent wants to know.

Despite everyone from your grandma to the next door neighbors wanting to hand out regular potty training advice, effective toilet training is different for every family.

The best advice is to sift through the various potty training techniques until you find those that are the right fit for your family. An good place to start is with the three stages outlined in the 3 day potty training method.

Though we disagree with the claim that 3 day potty training works for everyone, we do use the 3 days to draw parallels between the various stages of toilet training.

We’ve previously covered potty training day one, and the  potty training techniques of day two. Today is the third day (or stage) of toilet training: doing, the stage that finally answers the question of when to actually start potty training.

By using the three stages, it is easier to discern when to to start potty training. If you’ve successfully finished both the first and second stages, then green lights all the way.

In the first stage, it is your job to articulate to your child both the underlying reasons for potty training, as well as your expectations. The second stage is showing, where you model your best behavior. Take your child with you when you need to go (same sex parent is always best), or demonstrate on a dolly.

Anything that helps your child understand the how will hep accelerate the when.

So you’re almost there. The potty is now a permanent fixture of the bathroom. Your little guy understands the basics, at least in theory.

What now?

How do you help your little one take that final step?

Simple – help your child by encouraging them to try.

This last step is, of course, the most difficult. You and your child must slowly work together over the coming days. This is not a step that can be rushed, nor is there any reason to. You’re smack in the middle of the good old days. Someday soon, all the hardship will drift into memory. Don’t be surprised if your child regresses and wants to go back to diapers, but don’t allow it to happen.

This is NOT a sign of failure.

Follow these 3 rules. Once you know when to start potty training, go forward at full throttle, and don’t look back!

  • Have your child go to the potty at least once a day. Some parents try first thing in the morning, while others find after lunch or just before bath to be a better time. No matter when you decide is the right time, make sure you make it a consistent part of your routine.
  • Establish a fixed time. Go potty at the same block of time each day and your child will begin to recognize the routine. Children love ritual. The predictability of potty time should make them excited rather than anxious.
  • Slowly increase restroom visits.  Once your child is feeling success at least once per day, you can begin increasing trips. Try to schedule times when you are close to home. Consistency builds success.

Either way, keep in mind that accidents happen. Your child will constantly look to you for direction. If you remain positive, so will your child.

We hope you learned a bit from these potty training tips. It isn’t always easy, but knowing when to start potty training will certainly help to make it easier. Understand the basics and make potty training a time when you and your child can grow together.

Potty Training Power…AWAY!!!

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Potty Training Techniques to Help You Tackle the Toilet Today!

Though a day potty training plan is far from foolproof,a basic understanding of the three stages of the 3 day strategy (telling, showing, and doing) is extremely beneficial to eventual success.

Potty training day one, or the first stage, is Telling.  This is when we tell our toddler our expectations, explain our purpose, and define their role.

This affords us with an ideal opportunity to show our child exactly what we expect them to do.

Potty Training Techniques #1 – Showing

This stage overlaps a bit with the first, but the potty training techniques in this stage give us a chance to demonstrate the real thing for our toddler. Using props for potty training will help your child to understand the process better.

Give your child their own potty. Treat the moment as a big deal or a tiny event; you know your child and how to best ilicit their most positive response.

If you think your child will find a special presentation intimidating, simply slip the potty in the bathroom and let them discover it for themselves. If your child asks what it is, say, “We wanted you to have your own special potty for potty training.”

Techniques that help your child grow excited will always help to inspire a smooth transition.

Most children love presents. Take your toddler shopping for a potty or celebrate their new adventure by throwing a tiny party for the one you already have. Commemorate the event, then let the dust settle before you use it, unless of course they insist on trying immediately.

Be careful with too much partying, however, as a frivolous atmosphere can make things unnatural when it’s time to start the actual training. Your toddler must learn to live between compliance and resistance. You must help them.

Once everything is in place, it’s time to start using the potty.

All potty training tips are not created equal and potty training techniques comes in every shape and size. However you navigate through the transition, make sure your child understands what is happening and is ready for the changes.

Another excellent potty training technique is allowing your child to be a silent observer whenever you need to use the restroom. Though woman tend to be more comfortable with little ones in the bathroom, this is not always the case. Men are sometimes just as willing. Either way, if you feel uncomfortable, you should not do it.  You want this to work. If your child picks up on your discomfort and associates it with the training, then the effectiveness of that particular technique flies right out the window.

When it comes to modeling, same sex role models are best. An older sibling, mom, or dad. Though it doesn’t matter as long as everyone is in it together. Whenever you need to go to the bathroom, invite your toddler along (even if they are just waiting by the door). Let them know that going potty is a part of every day life.

Some final potty training advice to remember - everyone poops. Help your child feel comfortable with this fact and they will feel far more comfortable with potty training in general.

Potty Training Power…AWAY!!!

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