A Team Effort
Before beginning potty training, parents need to agree the time is right. They also need to agree on the words to be used to discuss potty training with the child. After the parents have made the decisions regarding methods and words to be used, be sure to inform other care givers who will need to help your child use the bathroom.
Dispose of the Disposables
Switching to cloth diapers when potty training begins offers two advantages. While disposable diapers are designed to wick moisture away from the child, cloth diapers allow the child to feel wet. Your child will soon come to dislike the feeling of being wet and associate that with urinating in the diaper. The second advantage is the money saved by washing and reusing cloth diapers.
Show and Tell
Educating your child about her body and its functions is the first step in easy potty training. She needs to learn how her body works and what the feelings coming from her bladder and bowels mean. This doesn’t need to be highly scientific, keep your conversations with her at her level and use the words you’ve chosen for her training.
The next step is to let your child go to the bathroom with you. She’s probably been doing this anyway, so use the time to explain to her that everyone goes potty. Children are naturally curious, she’ll ask plenty of questions, answer them plainly and simply. If your child hasn’t been following you into the bathroom already, you may feel a little invaded at first. It’s important to relax so she gets the message that using the bathroom is a natural process and everyone does it.
Involve Your Child
Easy potty training requires very little equipment. If you’ve decided to use potty chairs or potty seats, you’ll need those, but many parents do just as well without either of these. She will need some underwear.
Take her shopping with you and let her pick out her own potty and underpants. The more ownership she feels in her potty training, the more cooperative she will be with the whole process.
Praise Praise Praise
Praise all her efforts and reward her successes. She will be eager to do it again. One of the best rewards are stickers she can put on a potty chart to celebrate times she used the potty or had a dry night.
All in all, your child is just as eager to be potty trained as you are. She’s starting to see the difference between babies and big kids and wants to be one as quickly as possible (because they have all the fun!). Let her learn at her own pace and your diaper days will soon be over.
