Now I am no child psychologist or potty-training certified guru, but I am a mom who just barely survived the potty-training season with our 3-year-old. This to me is enough for me to feel confident to advise anyone else out there fighting for their life! If you haven’t gotten to the glorious season of potty training, then you may think I’m exaggerating when I say “fighting for your life” but if you have lived through it then you know how real that statement actually is!
I do not remember my now 11-year-old being so hard to potty train back in the day. It’s fair to say he caught on to it quickly and it wasn’t painful. Now our 3-year-old had us fighting for our lives when it came to potty training. This little boy refused to potty train at first then he admitted defeat and started cooperating, until he decided he wouldn’t anymore. To say it was an emotional rollercoaster is putting it lightly. The worst part was getting him to go #2 in the toilet. He refused to go #2 in the toilet until one random day he was watching TV and got up walked to the bathroom and said, “Mommy I have to poo in the toilet”. This child then proceeded to climb onto the toilet, sit down, and go #2 like he hadn’t just tortured us about it for months!!! I can’t tell you exactly what did the trick but I can share with you the different things we tried in our house when it came to getting our little guy potty trained.
Don’t Give Up
We made this mistake and please save yourselves and don’t do it! We stopped the potty-training process three times. Twice because we doubted if he was ready or not for potty training after trying and one time because we threw in the white flag ourselves. Don’t do it, I can tell you it was the wrong call on our part. Stay consistent and no matter how long they take to get onboard, they eventually will because you are showing them that this is the new norm. As adults change can be scary for us, so just imagine how these little people feel when all they know is peeing & pooing in a diaper. Now we are asking them to do something entirely different.
Positive Reinforcement
Reward jars are another method we used to kick-start potty training! We get a lot of candy and snacks from the kid's school events that I wouldn’t typically let the kids have daily. These usually go in a bowl, or in a cabinet for a rainy day. So, when potty training the little guy got crazy, I realized that this would be the perfect time to get good use out of my secret candy stash! We took two jars (from the Dollar Store) and filled the “pee pee” jar with gummy bears because those are his favorites. Then we took the “poo poo” jar and filled it with ring pops, larger candies, etc., and decorated the jars accordingly. Each time he peed in the potty he got 3 gummy bears (three is his favorite number) and when he went poo in the toilet he got to pick one candy from the poo jar.
Now we did candy because it’s not something our kids get every day! You don’t have to do candy; you can do whatever you consider an “extra” to get them motivated during potty training.
Musical Motivation
So, we aren’t fans of letting the little guy use electronics, but when he’s behaving, and we are out and about we will let him use YouTube Kids. He loves to watch videos of cars, trucks & construction machines! YouTube Kids also has an amazing selection of potty-training songs & videos. There is a poo poo song that has become famous in our home. If you have a nervous pooper then this also helps take their minds off the stress of it. Hearing the song and watching the video makes the experience fun for them!
Be Prepared
Leaving the house during potty training can feel like an impossible task but it doesn’t have to be. Now don’t get me wrong, this is not how I felt when the time came, and I could no longer avoid leaving the house! The anxiety of your toddler having an accident at any given moment is horrible. If this is you right now, please believe me and take the leap right over the door threshold, it will be ok. We found it easiest to pack a bag for our little guy when we were going out. Even now that he's been doing an amazing job, I still pack a bag just in case he has an accident. I packed three extra outfits with three extra pairs of underwear, wipes, wet one wipes (to disinfect public toilets), and a few of the reward items from the jars. Just because you aren’t home doesn’t mean you shouldn’t reward going to the potty. You are probably thinking, what does this have to do with actually potty training these kids? It helps establish comfort during this process. This is a huge change for them, and accidents are going to happen. We don’t want to shame them for having an accident or feel embarrassed. Being prepared for an accident reassures them that they are okay to keep trying.
No matter the method you decide to use to potty train your little one, just remember that you’re doing an amazing job! The simple fact that you are researching, reading, talking about it, and trying shows that you care and are willing to put in the work. That alone speaks volumes about what type of parent you are. For some parents, it's an easy process with no casualties and to those parents I say, hold on to your luck for as long as you can! For the rest of us, keep your head up, cry when needed, don’t give up and once these little humans are potty trained this will all be a distant memory that we will laugh about (maybe).
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