When your toddler nears the dreadful age of the terrible two’s, fortunately there are also some really good things that come along with it to look forward to. You get to witness your child sleep through the entire night for the first time, weaning, walking, and another one of those good things is potty training.
The road to the potty often has potholes
Until this point, the milestones in your toddler’s life have consisted of exchanges. They exchanged milk for brightly coloured and tasty foods they could hold, crunch, squish and mush. They exchanged a bottle for a ‘sippee’ cup with their favourite cartoon characters on them. They moved from a crib to a ‘big kid’ bed they can get in and out of without assistance. But potty training is an exchange that takes more effort on their part than anything else they’ve done up to this point. And frankly, they aren’t always sure it’s worth it. That’s why a few potty training tricks are necessary.
Resistance, stubbornness, reverting back to infant-like behaviour — these are all common methods of fighting the exchange you are asking them to make. Potty training in exchange for giving up diapers doesn’t seem like a pretty fair trade to a two year old. But don’t give up — it will happen. All it takes is patience, consistency, a few mum-tested and kid-approved potty training tricks.
Related: How to know it’s time to go…on the ‘big potty’
Find out more tricks on getting your child to take interest in the ‘potty’
How to make it happen
The key to making potty training happen is to convince them that it’s the best thing to ever happen to them, and it is their idea. Here’s how:
- Let them see you use the potty. It’s not unnatural or weird to allow your toddler to use the bathroom with you. Much of what we learn we retain from mimicking or repetition.
- Celebrate their attempts and successes. In the early stages of potty training, it is advisable and completely acceptable for you to give little rewards for their attempts to go on the potty.
- Be vigilant. Do they poo every morning shortly after breakfast? Do they stop in mid-stride or stop whatever they are doing to ‘go’? About how long after they drink a cup of fluids do they pee? Your vigilance in establishing their routine will help you teach them when and why they need to use the potty.
- Make it exciting. Make potty training an adventure. This potty training trick can consist of nothing more than a shopping trip to the mall or discount store for the cutest, most fun undies there are. Let your toddler choose which ones to buy, because in doing so, they’ll take more pride in staying clean and dry.
Related: Achieving potty success
That’s a given
The other training tricks include being patient, calm, persistent and mixing them with a good amount of grace for the accidents every potty training toddler has. These things are a given when it comes to potty training.
Acceptable rewards
We talked about the fact that rewarding a toddler’s efforts is more than okay. But let’s take a minute to list a few of mum’s favourites:
- Yogurt-covered raisins, fruit-flavored cereals or piece of gum
- Stickers
- Face paint or press-on tattoos
Tell us if these tips and tricks have helped you to train your child! Is there a specific tip or trick that worked for your child? We’d love to hear from you!
For more on training your child to take interest in the potty, watch this video: