Tips on Potty Training Part 1

Teaching your child to use the potty may need some creative ideas than pure hardwork. However, it does require significant patience and preparation for both the parent and the child.  There are many useful tips that I have gathered and will share by breaking them into a few articles so that you could implement them gradually and experience if each tip works with you and your child.  As each child is different, you never know which tip(s) will work best with your child until you try out.

Here are some useful tips:

1. Assess if your child and you are ready for Potty/Toilet Training.  Both parents and child need to be ready emotionally and physically to make the training a priorty.  See this article for details. 

2. Use Simple Chart.   Record information on a simple such as this.

Use codes such as ‘D’ (dry), ‘U’ (urine), ‘B’ (bowel) and ‘BU’ (bowel and urine) work especially well.  You can modify the time and the chart with your own needs.  Download a free copy.

Use this chart to collect data about your child’s readiness as well as progress.  Arrange to sit your child on the toilet at the time when the majority of accidents in a cluster occur.

3. Determine the schedule.  Observe how many "accidents" per day and the accident patterns.  If there are only 3-4 times, then a schedule of every 1 hour may be too often.  A more realistic approach could be every 2-3 hours to put him to the potty.   If the patterns show that it is more often in the morning or after a meal, then adjust your schedule accordingly.

4. Equal Time after Check. Try to spend about the same amount of time with your child after a check. Regardless of whether it is after a dry or wet check, it is important to balance the two situations.

5. Explain the way things should be.  Let your child understand what is the process and is expected. Tell your child that when he feels the need to go he should hold it in just long enough to walk to the potty, sit down, and let it go.  Keep it simple.

6. Explain the advantages.  Tell and remind your child about the advantages of being trained.   Tell him about no more diaper rash, no more interruptions for diaper changing and the pleasure of being clean and dry.  Discuss training as an important stage of growing up.

7. Role Play using Toys.  You will get your child attention when using their favourite doll or action figure.  Wrap the favorite toy with "diaper". Sit the on a pretend toilet, explaining the toy is going to do his business in the potty. Then graduate the toy to underwear after doing the business.  Reinforce on the advantages of being trained.

I saw this video using toy, quite an innovative toy to use to demonstrate toilet training.

8. Be Specific.  Your child may need training in other areas such as changing clothes.   Avoid the temptation to cross-train.  This is not a dressing practice time, separate them.  When changing clothing, do with as little (preferably none) talking, encouragement, consolations and as quickly as possible.  If your child is not skillful at taking off and putting on clothing, you do it.
Introduce a book/video about Potty.  Beside roleplay, you can read books and show videos about toilet learning so your child can see other children learning to use the potty.

Japanese are very innovative and creative, share with you this movie that has a English subtitle that you could share with your child as well. Quite cute and educational.

9. Learn Wet And Dry. Try to assist your child to associate the feel of dry or wet with the words and other sensations. At the exact moment of contact with wet object such as wet diaper, say the word "WET" and with dry object say "DRY".

Please share with us your own experience or tips if you have any.