Whether it’s your first time attempting potty training for your child or you’ve got a bunch of potty training successes under your belt, finding ways to make the potty training process simpler is always a good idea. Fortunately, the best tips are also the most simple, meaning that you can have potty training success. Success can happen even if you don’t have a budget for fancy potty training aids. Here are some of the best ways to take the stress out of this crazy time in your child’s life.
Photo by Ben White on Unsplash
Take It Slow… or Fast
The best way to keep everyone sane during potty training is to take the process at your child’s pace. There’s no reason to rush ahead faster than your child is ready for. Nor is there any reason to hold them back because you think they’re going too quickly. Take the process as it comes and you’ll experience less frustration and more success.
Don’t Compare
Part of setting the right pace for your child is not comparing their progress to other children- even your own. Each child has their own specific set of developmental characteristics that will determine how quickly they’re able to be potty trained. If you’re comparing your child to your friend’s child who happened to be a potty training pro, you could experience frustration. Frustration will cause anxiety in your child, potentially delaying the process even more.
Photo by Ben White on Unsplash
Start & Don’t Stop
When your child begins to show an interest in being potty trained, there’s no need to artificially delay the start of potty training. Once you begin, though, it’s important to keep the process going and see it through to the end. Constantly stopping and re-starting the process due to normal hiccups that occur is only going to risk further delaying the process. This can potentially create bad potty habits in the future.
Eliminate Distractions
For most kids, staying focused on the task at hand when they’re in the bathroom is hard enough. Add in any sort of outside distractions, then, and you’re almost guaranteed to have a problem. So, if your house is too hot, seek out HVAC repair. If your toilet leaks, causing it to randomly fill back up, fix the leak. Anything that you think might be a distraction for your child will almost certainly actually be a distraction to your child, so be sure to correct it as soon as possible.
Celebrate Success
Potty training is indicative of a whole host of changes happening in your child’s life. It’s important to celebrate successes in this area whenever possible. This doesn’t necessarily mean always incentivizing your child, though that’s certainly an option. It can also just mean getting excited when things happen as they’re supposed to. Letting your child know they’re appreciated for the effort they’re putting in can go a long way toward a successful finish.
Many parents dread the potty training process. By applying the above tips, however, you and your child will get through it just fine.
Featured Photo by Marjorie Bertrand on Unsplash
Potty training is my least favorite! Good idea to eliminate distractions. Although with twins the sister distraction is always present. 🙂
oh man i hated potty training too! it felt like it took forever – and yes twins make it a little bit more difficult!
This is great advice! We are working on potty training right now and are totally guilty of the start-stop.
Sometimes it is just so hard to do – but don’t give up – you got this! it will happen eventually.
What a great post. We are gearing up to potty train my daughter but we are holding off she hasn’t shown enough interest to make us feel like it’s time yet.
Buy in is very important!! Maybe just starting to get the interest out there is a start!