Today, I’m reading up on potty training. I am going to start soon, really I am. My mom thinks its definitely about time. Josey has been two for two months now. Apparently, I’m behind schedule. However, all the books I have been reading lately tell me it’s perfectly fine to wait — and I should if my toddler is going through major changes or is in a negative period. That’s my excuse for not getting to this before she was two: We remodeled a house. Then we moved. Things were pretty unstable for awhile there.
Anyway, I’ve been preparing by reading up on potty training. I plan to put it on my To Do list for next week — or maybe the week after that. Or maybe the week after that. It depends on the weather, quite frankly. I’ve decided to do a big immersion for one to seven days. We’ll have naked potty days and hang out in the yard. I figure that’ll be the easiest way to keep the mess down. She can pee out there without it being a big deal. I hope that way she starts to recognize what her body is doing. A friend pointed out that some kids learn to potty train naked, but then can’t translate it to going potty with clothes on. I guess we’ll see if that happens and deal with it if it does. (Please, God, please don’t let that happen.)
I also want to get her one of those dollies that pees. I’ve been weighing the pros and cons of that for awhile. Potty Patty isn’t cheap; she’s $40. But given how much my little girl LOVES dolls, and the way she “cares” for them (feeds them, changes their diapers, rocks them to sleep), I think that a potty doll will be a way to make potty training (potty learning as the books stress these days) more fun for her.
I’ve been reading three books, off and on. Mostly they say the same stuff. Today, I read most of Elizabeth Pantley’s The No-Cry Potty Training Solution (she also wrote the “No-Cry Sleep Solution” which is a good book to read if you’re having trouble in that area), and got some good ideas. I loved the three-page Quick Guide she has at the start of the book.
STUFF I LIKE:
• Don’t ask if she has to go to the potty.
I’ve made this mistake a lot lately as we ramp up for the Real Deal. Instead, make it a statement: Let’s go sit on the potty now. To keep your kid interested in the whole thing, offer choices. Do you want to use the upstairs potty or the downstairs potty? Do you want to run to the potty or walk to the potty? Do you want to use the big potty or the potty chair? What do you want to do first, get dressed or go to the potty? (page 77-78)
• Make it a game.
When kids are having fun playing, why would they want to interrupt stuff to go to the potty? To counter this thought, make potty training fun. Start a Potty Train ritual. “Announce its arrival with a loud ‘Choo Choo,’ and call ‘All Aboard’ to your child encouraging him to follow you. Chug around the room a bit and end up at the potty stop,” Pantley encourages. If the train loses its appeal, switch to an airplane or a circus. (page 78)
• Create a custom potty book.
Josey loves to read the potty books we got from the library for her. So, I think that making one about her going to the potty will be a big hit. Pantley recommends taking photos of your child at each step of the pottying process. “The first photo should be of your child playing with toys, so you can explain that he must first identify the urge and stop what he’s doing. The second will show your child’s trip down the hallway, and the third is your child entering the bathroom. This sequence of photos will continue right up to the final hand washing and drying and leaving the bathroom afterward with a look of pride. Yes, a picture of poop or pee-pee in the potty will make a gleeful addition to your homemade book! And happy Mommy and Daddy faces are a good ending,” Pantley says. (page 80-82)
• Make a potty poster.
This is similar to the potty book idea. Place photos of your child or cut-outs from a magazine on posterboard. Illustrate the steps you want your child to include in the potty process. Number the actions from start to finish. Then hang the poster at your child’s eye level in the bathroom. Use the poster to help teach your child the steps involved in pottying, and to remind him/her what to do each time he is there. (page 84)
• Use stickers.
Make the above potty poster or another chart special by allowing your child to add a sticker each time she uses the potty. You can either create a blank space for stickers or let her put them wherever she wants, says Pantley. Stickers can be a great incentive for kids. It’s the small things, right?
- Stickers on a chart can apparently motivate a child during potty training.
• Fill up a Potty Prize Treasure Box
Prizes can be a powerful motivator for kids. I hesitate using food treats (although I might use cheese). This treasure box idea could work well. The idea is to buy about 30 inexpensive little prizes, the sort you can find in the toy store’s party favor aisle or at the dollar store. The key is to wrap each gift seperately in colorful wrapping paper. Then put the prizes in a clear plastic bowl on the bathroom counter. Allow your child to select one prize each time he potties. (page 91-92)
Every few pages, Pantley reminds parents to Be Patient. Expect accidents. This sounds like so much fun. Uh-huh.
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