Top tips for Potty training

I sit here, as the temperature plummets, with the fire on in the sitting room. The floor is littered with the toys that Dimples, naked from the waist down, has cast aside. So far today she has had two changes of clothes. But I’m fairly relaxed about it, and this has nothing to do with the fact that I have been through this once before, or that I am far more slovenly than I would have you believe. Neither is it anything to do with following a particular method of potty training.

I am relaxed because this is the Dimpled Assassin’s second attempt. I am relaxed because she wants to do this, and no amount of persuasion to wait until the weather warms up is going to cut it. I am relaxed because you have to be.

As 2011 became 2012, DA decreed that she only wanted to wear pants. Which was annoying enough on New Years’ Day, never mind that we were ‘on the Continent’, facing a 2 hour train journey back to Ebbsfleet and without the necessary supplies. After three days of relelntless laundering and a stressful morning at nursery, she called it quits and begged for nappies again. In the last six weeks though, she has started telling me to change her nappy when it’s wet, telling me she needs a poo, taking off her own nappy so that she can sit on the potty. I knew it was only a matter of time. That time came on Friday when, for her 2nd birthday, she received  the dearest little Boden pants from Granny and Grandpa. Since then, I have battled to get her to wear Princess Pants at night and on car journeys. But it’s not going too badly. And I’m relaxed.

If you are heading down the road to Potty Training, then here are my top tips for an easier life:

• Do buy pants. Lots of pants. Cheap pants, so that you can throw them if you are too traumatised to scrape the contents off. Save the expensive ones for when they are more reliable.
• Do talk about it: get a potty and leave it around. Let your child come to the loo with you, help you flush, wash your hands, watch other children use the potty or loo. Let them learn the process. It’s also helpful if you can work on them pulling their trousers up and down.
• Do start by seeing how your child does when left without a nappy on, say before bathtime or bedtime, or after a nappy change. They need to get used to the sensations associated with weeing and pooing, both before, during and after.
• Do discuss it with your nursery/childcarer. Check their policy, get their advice if you are unsure about your child’s readiness. If you have started training, then brief them on the ‘system’ you have been using. Send in lots of spare clothes.
• Do be prepared: stock up on cleaning products and make sure that you have plenty of trousers/leggings, pants and socks.
• Do use lots and lots of praise, however well or badly it is going. And bribery if you are that way inclined (I recommend mini-smarties!)

 

 

• Don’t attempt it unless you are getting signs that your child is ready. Taking their nappy off so that they can sit on the potty is a good one! If your child wants to, go with it, even if you know they are not ready. They have to learn themselves.
• Don’t bow to peer pressure. You know your child best.
• Don’t read up too much about it. By the time you get to potty training, there’s a good chance that you’ve been at this parenting malarkey for a while. You should know that there is no ‘One Way’ that works.
• Don’t be afraid to step back from the whole thing and go back to nappies.
• Don’t feel you have to go cold turkey. Start by getting them confident at using the potty at home, then take them out and about. I have found my Girls to be very happy to wear nappies until they are confident enough beyond the house.
• Don’t feel you have to stay home for weeks. It’s not contagious. If you are happy to take them out, and they are happy to go, then go. Forewarn friends and check that it’s OK if you come. Bring spares of everything, and anti-bacterial wipes to clean up.
• Don’t expect them to be done in a few days. Yes, for some children, it happens overnight. For others there are three steps forward and two steps back.

Do email me if you want advice or a virtual shoulder to cry on.