Potty Training For Parents

Potty training your child can certainly be an experience, good or bad, that you will remember for a long time. Being able to use the toilet is a big milestone in your child's life. It's also a time when you will learn where every bathroom in every store in your town is located.

Is your child ready for the potty? This can only truly be answered by the parents. If the child stays dry for longer periods of time, like 2 hours, has regular bowel movements, can communicate their needs, is uncomfortable in wet or soiled diapers, or shows interest in the potty and asks for underpants, then they are probably ready. Don't get hung up on having to potty train them by a certain age because if they are not ready, this can lead to frustration for both of you as well as a long drawn-out training session.

Here are some tips to help the process go more smoothly:

Let your child pick out some cool new underpants and explain that he or she gets to start going on the toilet just like Mom, Dad, and Sister. Make a big deal out of it if that's what gets your child interested.

Also have them pick out a potty seat, which goes on top of the regular toilet and can come in neat colors and designs, or a potty chair. This helps helps them "own" the potty training process.

Start on a weekend or a day when you don't have much scheduled. The less running around you need to do, the better.

Give them plenty of fluids so that they need to "go." Then sit them down every 20 minutes or so and praise them when they go. If they have an accident, don't scold. Keep praising and encouraging.

The biggest hurdle is often getting them to initially understand that what they've been doing all this time in their diaper can be controlled and let loose on the potty. You can tell when it's clicked. What can work to that end is to have them run around naked or just in their new thin underpants. It may take only one time for them to see the pee run down their legs to understand. Sometimes it takes a little longer.

Some parents use candy, stickers, or a new toy for reinforcement, especially when they have trouble getting the child to do #2. This can certainly motivate kids. If you don't want to go that route, be sure to heap on lots of praise and love and give them your undivided attention.

Potty training takes lots of patience and no two children are alike. What works for your first child may not work for your second. The key is to stay positive, stick with it, and get creative when you need to. Even though it may not seem like it at the time, your child will become potty trained.

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