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toddler

Potty Training Readiness

How do you know when it is the right time to start potty training your child?

Potty training readiness isn’t always clear.

Deciding when, and how to move our wee ones from diapers to freedom is something every parent must eventually face.

The common timeframe offered by experts is somewhere between 18 months and 3 years of age, though age is never as relevant as potty training readiness.

  • If your child can tell you about their dirty diaper, they are probably ready.
  • If your child can articulate their need to be clean, they are probably ready.
  • If you can have a conversation about potty training with your child, they have already been ready a while.

Toilet training might be the first major chasm we cross as parents. It involves us as much as them, delivers them from one era to the next, and must be driven by careful, consistent and considerate thought.

Learning to use the restroom isn’t just about losing the diaper, it is also about gaining personal responsibility.

When we allow our children to stay in diapers after we know they are capable of doing otherwise simply because they do not wish to take their next step, or because it is more convenient for us, then we are allowing them to make the rules and setting a poor precedent at too early an age.

Worse than bypassing potty training readiness, we are teaching our little one that weʼre comfortable with the idea of cleaning up after them, until they decide different.

We know what youʼre thinking —  “But my daughterʼs only two.” That may be true, but sheʼll soon be four, then six… then sixteen. Right now, sheʼs learning who she is and the early years are paramount.

For some children potty training is effortless, as easy as slipping vegetables into their mac and cheese. For others, potty training is a trying time when our little spawn will heavily assert their will.

This difficulty cannot detour us. Remember, itʼs called potty training.  We may have a little extra laundry, and a load of extra conflict, but the battle is relatively short, and the aftermath will leave your child (as well as yourself) stronger than ever before.

This is all pragmatic, yet perfectly practical parents seem to lose all perspective when it comes to searching for potty training readiness signs.

Itʼs delicate. Either we hedge because of the anticipated difficulty, or we allow fear to paralyze our momentum, afraid of the damage to our child’s psyche if we push too hard or too fast.

As far as cerebral ruin, weʼre not suggesting anyone wrap their child in chains until they can properly eliminate. We are simply saying that it is important to honestly observe our children to search signs of potty training readiness for it is us who know them best.

Once you feel confident your child understands what is happening (and what they are supposed to do), and you are comfortable that their bodies are capable of getting the job done, you mustn’t stand idle and allow your child to make messes without accountability.

Potty training doesn’t begin when you finally decide to grit your teeth and buy a couple dozen pair of underwear.  It is an awareness that should be woven into conversation from the changing table forward.  If approached with the proper measure of communication and warmth, potty training will be a positive and empowering experience for all involved.

Children develop at different speeds and there is no single shining moment that burns brighter than the others. You can set your child up for the greatest success by starting their toilet training at the most appropriate time.

Though the verbal and emotional parts of potty training should begin at the earliest opportunity, there are a few particular skills your child should have before moving on to the more physical part.

Make sure your child can do the following:

  • Sit down without support
  • Run or walk fast
  • Pull his or her pants up without assistance
  • Provide a verbal or visual cue to let you know they need to go potty.

If your child has difficulty with any of the above, a wee bit of practice will get them going. Again, fun is the name of the game.

Run around with your child outside. Chase birds and butterflies, make sure to use prompts such as, “Let’s go,” that precede the action. Teach your child to pull their pants up and down by themselves and be mindful of the behavior displayed prior to elimination.

  • Does your child assume a certain position?
  • Does your child make any particular sounds?
  • Does your child’s face turn red?
  • Does your child retreat to a specific location?

Once you are sure your child has achieved potty training readiness, it’s time to move on to the next step: potty training preparation.

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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Potty Training Boys – It’s Easier than You Think!

Other than when to start potty training, the number one question we’re asked when it comes to potty training advice, is whether potty training boys is any more difficult than potty training girls.

The easy answer is, no.

Potty training boys employs the exact same potty training techniques.

There is no definitive best method for potty training. Toddlers are toddlers. Whether you are potty training boys or girls, the right toilet training tips can lead to toilet training triumph. However, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends encouraging potty training boys while sitting down.

The primary reason for this recommendation is to keep things as simple as possible. Potty training boys in the same way for both body functions allows your toddler to focus on the job at hand. Potty training for boys is also easier when done sitting down (at least at first).

But once your child is consistently accident free, drop a few Cheerios in the bowl and let him have some target practice!

Potty Training For Boys Done Right!

Potty training boys to completion includes both urination and bowel movements. Simplify the process by teaching them to do both actions in one easy routine. Your child can piggyback off their earlier lesson.

Let’s look at the process of potty training your boy from their perspective.

Once your little guy has an awareness, and the ability to associate that feeling with the need to eliminate, you’ll know he’s ready for that next step. But that sensation he’s feeling started at about age one. Your potty training toddler is now about two, and has been releasing in his diaper or pull-up, not his potty training pants, for nearly all his life.

Now you are changing the rules and asking him to stop everything he’s doing whenever he has that feeling.

That’s a lot to ask, at least from his perspective. Why complicate things by adding an extra step? Potty training boys is difficult enough, so why not make it easy where you can?

Potty Training Boys with the right equipment:

What tools are best – a potty seat, a big boy potty, or a urinal?

Well, a potty is probably too low to the ground to use for urination from the standing position while a urinal is only good for #1. Potty training for boys requires a toilet and step stool – an excellent combination.

Once you’ve mastered the sitting, it’s time to get your young one standing. Since your little boy is just learning, his aim will be off and initially he may be prone to dribble. There is also an excellent chance of over spray and mess. Potty training boys requires a bit of extra cleaning in the bathroom and around the toilet bowel, at least until your toddler learns to aim.

Potty training boys is fundamentally no different from potty training girls. It takes patience, practice, and a whole lot of power!

Potty Training Power…AWAY!!!

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Potty Training – Age isn’t as Important as Readiness!

There are many factors you must consider before you start potty training. Age is one of the most important.

Most parents start asking for potty training advice just as their child is approaching their second birthday, some start much sooner. Books are opened, questions asked, and a ton of potty training techniques are tabulated. Everyone seems to say something slightly different and the majority of moms and dads are still left wondering when to start potty training.

This seems like such a difficult question because the proper potty training age cannot be determined by a specific formula. Though, “What is the proper potty training age” is a perfectly legitimate question, the answers are as varied the people responding. Depending on who you ask, the best potty training age is said to be from anywhere as young as six months to approaching three years. That’s quite a chasm to cross. Obviously, the best age for potty training must be determined less by months on the calendar than by your child’s emotional readiness and mental comprehension.

Before you can move to toilet training triumph, your child must have a bladder, capable of carrying out the responsibilities of toilet training alongside a mind willing to do so. As soon as you witness your child able to stay consistently dry for longer stretches of time, they are at the right potty training age physiologically.

If they understand what is happening, and what is expected of them, then they are at the proper potty training age emotionally as well.

Once your child is both physically and emotionally ready, you can start toilet training with a smile on your face. Just know, all the potty training tips in the world will never make it happen without consistency behind them. Potty training is a process, not an event, and it takes place between you and your child.

Like most things worth getting through, toilet training will most likely not happen overnight. It is best to enter the process with reasonable expectations. Don’t believe that just because your child has reached their optimum age for potty training, you will have a single, easy potty training day and that will be all.

Life is rarely so simple.

It is not a rarity to see claims of  3 day potty training. It is far rarer to see them successfully unfold. Unreasonable expectations lead quickly to impatience, impatience to discouragement.

Know what you are doing, and that potty training isn’t likely to happen overnight, and whatever potty training age you choose is likely the best possible decision.

Potty Training…AWAY!!!

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Toilet Training Toddlers

Every parent must eventually decide when to take their child from dependence on diapers, to toilet training toddlers, then finally to independence.

Potty training tips vary, but the timeframe most often offered by potty training advice wielding experts is between one and a half and three years, though age isn’t near as relevant as readiness.

When your child can tell you they have a dirty diaper, they’re probably ready. If they can properly articulate a need to be clean, they’ve likely been ready for a while.

Toilet training is difficult, toddler toilet training especially, yet it is one of the first major chasms we must cross as mom and dad. Toilet training our toddlers involves us every bit as much as them, and must be carried out by careful thought. The potty training process isn’t just about ditching the diaper, it’s about gaining the personal responsibility that comes along with it. Starting with the proper potty training techniques is the best way to experience early success.

Allowing your child to stay swaddled in their diaper after they’ve shown they’re capable of doing otherwise (simply because they are hedging on their next step or stagnation makes it simpler for your schedule), then you are also allowing our child to draft the household decisions, and thus plotting out a poor precedent at an early age.

Even worse, you are teaching your child that you are comfortable cleaning up after them until they decide different.

You’re probably thinking, “But my daughter’s only two!”

Sure, but she’ll soon be five, then ten… then fifteen. She’s learning who she is right now and the first years couldn’t be more important.

For some toddlers, toilet training hits a home run without a lot of effort, easy as slipping wheat germ in the cake batter.  Other children find it a trying time when they feel they must assert their will. Though the process can be difficult, you can not be detoured.

Remember, it’s called toilet training for a reason. You may have a few extra loads laundry, but the battle is brief. When it’s over, your child will be stronger and so will you.

Written down in black and white this all sounds perfectly pragmatic, but many a practical parent appears to lose all perspective when the subject falls to toilet training your toddler.

When to start potty training is a delicate subject – either you hedge because of the anticipated struggle, or you are afraid of possible damage to their psyche if we push our toddlers too hard.

As far as warping your little one’s childhood, no one is suggesting you wrap your child in chains until they can properly use the potty. Simply take the time to observe your child, for it is you who know them best. Be realistic. Few children glide through potty training.

Day by day is the best design.

Of all the toilet training tips, here’s the one that takes the prize: Once confident your child understands what is happening and what they are required to do, you have no excuse to straddle the road any longer. Toddler toilet training doesn’t start the second we come home from the store with a few dozen pairs of underwear. Toilet training is an awareness that you can build from the changing table forward.

Toilet training toddlers starts with us, but it finishes with them.

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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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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Potty Training Advice to Get You Started Right!

There are plenty of potty training tips any veteran of the toilet training experience would be happy to hand you. But none are better than this:

Be patient.

That one tip is better than all the rest of the potty training advice added together.

Approaching potty training with patience is, by far, the most important advice to remember. From the mouths of your friends, the shelves of the bookstore, or the millions of pages online – maintaining your patience while potty training is the golden key that will unlock the door to success.

Having said that, there is a bit of basic toilet training advice you can employ to make the potty training experience a positive one. If you’re a frustrated parent searching for help, these 5 potty training tips will help get your toilet training started.

Potty Training Advice

As soon as your toddler starts trying to use the potty, be prepared to celebrate every victory. Never reprimand your child for not reaching the toilet in time in the rather inevitable event that they have an accident. When you are relaxed, your child is more likely to be relaxed as well.

  • Dress your child in clothing that is simple to remove, as this will reduce the likelihood of them having an accident. That new jumper might be adorable and easy for mom to slip on, but it could also prove too difficult for your toddler to pull down without your help. See the world as your toddler does and you’ll be surprised at how it changes your approach.
  • Model appropriate behavior. Have the same sex parent (this means you, Dad!) encourage your child to use the restroom whenever natural. Use language such as, “It’s time to go potty, why don’t we go together!” You child will probably be eager enough to tag along. Proper modeling is an excellent method to secretly start your potty training your toddler.
  • Advice is free and patience hard. Forcing a child to use the potty before they are ready can be the first step down a long and winding road of resistance. Observe your child and remain mindful of the appropriate, age specific cues that will tell you that it’s time.
  • PATIENCE!  It would be easy to read that as redundant, but that one piece of potty training advice bares repeating. Rome wasn’t built in a day. Chances are your child won’t be toilet trained in 24 hours. Know what to expect and understand that the desired outcome is inevitable, and it will improve the overall experience.
  • Even though potty training can be a test to your patience, the journey will eventually end and you will find yourself joining your wee one in a diaper free dance around the dining room!

Every well wisher from your neighbors to grandma will be eager to hand you an avalanche of potty training advice as though it was candy on Halloween, but only do what is right for you. Every parent has their own set of potty training tips to trade. But make sure that once you’ve waded through all the potty training advice, you’re left with only those ideas that will work best for you and your family.

Just don’t forget the patience!

Potty Training Power…AWAY!!!

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