You must have no distractions and you have prepared yourself and your child. Potty Training is a lot of work but if you are dedicated and consistent the training process will go very fast.
To start you will need to make sure that everything is in order.
• Have your potty chair set up in your bathroom. Place the potty chair in the living room or kitchen. The child needs to learn to go to the bathroom. That’s where we need to teach them to do their thing.
• Both you and your child should eat breakfast. Make sure to offer plenty of liquid to your child while he/she is eating.
• Personally be ready for the day – Showered, teeth brushed, gone to the bathroom. You don’t want anything pulling you away from training once you’ve started.
• Your child is only in a t-shirt and his/her nappy. Don’t have trousers or a dress on the child. It’s harder to see the accidents when they have them on.
Once these things are done you’re ready to start the potty training. Put the underwear on the child and tell them that they are “Big Boy/Girl Pants”. Make sure you call them that. Be sure to tell the child how big they look and how proud you are of them for being so big. They like being called big so remember to call your child a big boy or big girl often. Tell your child that they must keep their underwear dry.
Now you will need to take your child and have them throw away all the unused nappies. There is no going back now. Tell your child that they don’t need those yucky baby nappies anymore. They’re big and all grown up! If at any time your child says he wants the nappy tell him that they are all gone. Make sure you stick to this. They might ask or even cry for them because of the comfort they have with them. After all, they’ve been wearing them for almost 2 years. Bring your child into the bathroom with you and get down to his/her level. Explain to your child the purpose of the potty chair. Tell your child that it’s used to put wee and poo in and if he needs to go wee or poo that it needs to go in the potty and not in is new underwear. There is not need for a power struggle here. If your child cries at this point and says no, do not react just take them out of the bathroom and go to the next step. Talk with your child about being wet and dry. Do not ask your child if he’s wet, as you have already told your child that he must stay dry. The focus will be on the child staying dry not wet. Remember to have the child check frequently. Each time your child checks their underwear and they are dry, really praise them. Make sure your child knows how proud you are of him/her for keeping the underwear “dry”. Tell your child to “tell mummy/daddy when you have to go to wee because you’re a big boy/girl.” make sure not to just “ask” the child if they need to go because you will probably always get the answer “no”. Instead try saying something like “You’re such a big girl. Mummy/Daddy is so proud of you. Be sure to tell mum/dad when you have to go, OK?” This will make the child think he has the control but it’s really you asking him if he needs to go.
Also remember to have your child check for dryness. You should be having the child check for dryness and telling them to tell you if they need to go every couple of minutes. You want to keep this in their mind at all times. Start offering your child their favorite drinks. Have them drink all day. If they seem tired of one kind of drink, try another. The more they drink the more they will need to go to the bathroom, which means more opportunities to train. Spend your day with the child. Get on the floor and play games, sit with your child to watch their favorite program on TV. If the weather is good you can play in the backyard (as long as bathroom isn’t a mile away). Color with the child, clean the toy box with the child. Anything goes as long as you are right by the child’s side. You must not leave the child’s side. Staying with the child is the key to this program. It’s so important to catch them in the act of going pee or pooping each and every time. The more you catch your child in the act the faster the training will go. If your child is willing you can do role playing on what to do when they need to go wee or poo. Some kids like this and others do not.
When you see your child weeing or pooing in their pants, pick your child up in the middle of them going and run them to the bathroom and sit them on the toilet as fast as you can. Have them finish on the toilet. When you are picking them up don’t yell or call them bad. Just say “Yuck, your underwear is wet and that’s horrible. You’re a big boy/girl; you’re supposed to go wee/poo in the big boy/girl potty and keep your underwear dry.” If the child finishes in the toilet say “Good boy/girl, I knew you could do it!” Now give them a snack. Don’t say the snack is for going pee or pooping in the toilet. You will repeat this over and over with each accident. Accidents are part of the training. Accidents help the training process succeed faster because it gives you the chance to show your child what to do and what not to do. Don’t ever make the child just sit on the toilet. This is a mistake a lot of parents make. They get so discouraged about the child weeing in their pants that they place them on the toilet and say that they are staying there until they go. Please do not do this. This causes the child to be scared of using the toilet and view the toilet as a punishment. If you make them just sit on the potty it will make the training harder and take longer.
You will probably need to do washing if you don’t have enough underwear. It’s OK and doesn’t mean that your child isn’t getting it. It will “click” for your child if you stay positive and stay consistent. When your child does tell you that he/she needs to go wee or poo, run with your child to the toilet and let them go. When they go, you need to go “crazy”.
Jump up and down and tell them how big they are and how proud you are of them. Tell them that they are so grown up. Keep clapping your hands and really make them feel good about themselves. Once they are done going you need to tell them “let’s call daddy at work” or “let’s call Aunty Jane”. Call anyone that will praise your child for being so big. The child needs to see and feel how great of an act it was for them to go in the potty. You should always act with great joy each and every time they go wee or poo in the toilet.
Some kids like sitting backwards on the toilet because they don’t feel as if they are going to fall in. This works well for both boys and girls.
Nap time - Yes it’s OK to put your child down for a nap during training. I personally have found that most kids will not have an accident if you have them go wee before the nap and then just as they wake up.
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