7 Days To Perfect Potty Training Preparation
Congratulations! You’re ready to start potty training.
You’re smart, so you know that diving into toilet training without first preparing is like diving into a pool without any water.
OUCH!
Preparing for potty training before you begin can help to minimize your struggle and maximize your results.
By readying your family for the potty training process, you will help to ensure that it is smooth sailing all the way. Follow these simple steps for the next seven days, and one week from tomorrow you will be starting on your potty training adventure with confidence.
Day One: Establishing the Right Mindset
The most important thing to do on the first day of preparation is to play up the toilet training positives! Let your child know how much fun learning to use the toilet is going to be.
This is your chance to make positive toilet training a self fulfilled prophecy. Build it as a great experience before you get started.
Approached from the proper perspective, potty teaching is an ideal time to bond with your child. Done right, potty training will strengthen the character of your relationship.
You can use this first day to set the stage.
Accentuate the positives. Say things such as,Wearing underwear is going to be so much fun!You’re going to be such a big boy! and Yay! You can flush, just like Mommy and Daddy!
Make sure you don’t do anything during the first day to disparage their diapers or in any way make your child feel like a baby. Rather than making them feel small, let them know that they’re on their way to being BIG.
Day Two: Acknowledge Their Grown-up Behavior
Keep doing everything you did on day one, but now recognize their grown-up behavior at every opportunity. Don’t come out of nowhere demanding sophisticated behavior, but do give them positive feedback whenever possible.
Sharing toys, cleaning up, drinking from a cup without spilling, using appropriate manners, etc. some parents even try this time to encourage them to be "Big kids" and use http://www.athenacreese.com/booster-seats/fisher-price-deluxe-booster-seat/ to get a new booster seat instead of using a high chair. Try to catch them in the midst of any behavior which reveals their emerging maturity.
Celebrate and repeat!
You want your child to:
A) Draw the line between getting bigger and using the potty
B) Crave that particular positive praise.
By first discussing how much fun it will be to feel more grown up once potty trained, then telling your child that they can do it, you are planting the seeds that will start to flower the following next week.
Day Three: Introducing Potty Training Jargon
It doesn’t matter which words you use, so long as you’re consistent.
Some parents prefer silly words such as stinky, pee-pee or poo-poo. In our house we use the word fluff for flatulence. Some parents prefer proper vocabulary such as urinate or defecate. We use number one and two.
There is no right or wrong way, but you must be predictable in your usage.
Continue to do everything you did the first and second day, now adding new language into the mix. Your objective is to make your child feel comfortable.
This means they should feel natural with bathroom discussion and informing you of their needs.
Next week, when you’re in the midst of potty training, you will want your child to tell you when they have to go to the bathroom, rather than telling you they have a dirty diaper.
Preparing them with language is part of preparing them for potty training.
Day Four: Go Shopping
The key purpose of day four is to help your child feel as though they are directly involved in the potty training process.
Parents generally face the most resistance when their child feels that potty training is something that has been thrust upon them. This is an easy pitfall to sidestep if planned for ahead of time. By including your child in the selection of potty training materials, you will be helping them to anticipate what is happening rather than simply requesting that they comply.
Think about it there is a big difference between bringing a potty chair home, then putting it in the bathroom and saying,Time to potty train! and let’s go to the store and pick out a potty training chair together!
Head to the store and pick out a potty training chair. Get one that is durable and won’t easily tip. Let your child put the chair into the bathroom and take ownership of it.
Allow them to decorate the potty chair with stickers or write their name on it; whatever it takes to make them feel as though it belongs to them.
Continue to build anticipation. Say things such as,Next week we’re going to learn how to use the potty instead of using your diaper!
Dave Five: Modeling Desired Behavior
From day five forward, consider taking your child with you every time you need to eliminate. Though this may feel like an invasion of privacy, it could greatly reduce the stress on the potty training process.
Children learn by what they see, not just by what they’re told. They will always look to their parents for examples.
Telling your child when you have to go to the bathroom will help to reinforce the link between feeling and doing. It may seem silly, but tell your child what is happening while it is happening.
Complete the process by reminding your child that next week they’ll be old enough to start trying as well.
Don’t stop with yourself!
Day five will carry the most impact if both parents are in it together. Mom and Dad should BOTH be modeling the desired behavior.
Children learn most from the same-sex parent. Your son will learn most from Dad and your daughter most from Mom. Ideally everyone in the family is working together toward the same result.
Day Six: Teaching
Get a doll, any doll, any doll will do.
You will firstteach this doll to go potty while your child is watching, then ask them to mirror the lesson on their own.
Like the modeling that took place in day five, this might feel a bit silly. Believe me, your child will be watching every thing you do.
Explain to the doll how to use the potty. Teach them how to flush and wash their hands afterwards. When finished, ask the doll if they understood everything. Then say,What? You want me to show you one more time? Okay!
Your child will probably giggle, but they’ll be eager to see it again.
Repeat the steps as many times as you’d like to. Then hand the doll to your child and allow them to demonstrate their knowledge on their own.
This step will give your child the confidence they need to start the potty training process by doing rather than learning. If they feel they already know what to do, then they will be a lot more inclined (and excited) to do it.
Day Seven: Final Preparation
The primary goal of the final day is to get your kid super duper excited about the potty training that will take place on the following day. Pull out all the stops. Make them feel like tomorrow is Christmas.
For you it will be.
Rinse and repeat the best steps from the previous seven days. Keep discussing the potty. Acknowledge their grown-up behavior. Continue to take them potty with you whenever you have to go. Allow them to model with the doll as often as they wish.
Warning: This will probably be a lot!
Prepare your charts and stickers. Show them the calendar and tell them that tomorrow’s the big day! Say goodnight to the potty before they go to bed.
Successful potty training lies in large part with the preparation. Don’t skip these steps, take the time to properly prepare over the course of the week. Make potty training a quick, painless process, rather than the endless struggle it is for many parents.
You’re smart, so you know that diving into toilet training without first preparing is like diving into a pool without any water.
OUCH!
Preparing for potty training before you begin can help to minimize your struggle and maximize your results.
By readying your family for the potty training process, you will help to ensure that it is smooth sailing all the way. Follow these simple steps for the next seven days, and one week from tomorrow you will be starting on your potty training adventure with confidence.
Day One: Establishing the Right Mindset
The most important thing to do on the first day of preparation is to play up the toilet training positives! Let your child know how much fun learning to use the toilet is going to be.
This is your chance to make positive toilet training a self fulfilled prophecy. Build it as a great experience before you get started.
Approached from the proper perspective, potty teaching is an ideal time to bond with your child. Done right, potty training will strengthen the character of your relationship.
You can use this first day to set the stage.
Accentuate the positives. Say things such as,Wearing underwear is going to be so much fun!You’re going to be such a big boy! and Yay! You can flush, just like Mommy and Daddy!
Make sure you don’t do anything during the first day to disparage their diapers or in any way make your child feel like a baby. Rather than making them feel small, let them know that they’re on their way to being BIG.
Day Two: Acknowledge Their Grown-up Behavior
Keep doing everything you did on day one, but now recognize their grown-up behavior at every opportunity. Don’t come out of nowhere demanding sophisticated behavior, but do give them positive feedback whenever possible.
Sharing toys, cleaning up, drinking from a cup without spilling, using appropriate manners, etc. some parents even try this time to encourage them to be "Big kids" and use http://www.athenacreese.com/booster-seats/fisher-price-deluxe-booster-seat/ to get a new booster seat instead of using a high chair. Try to catch them in the midst of any behavior which reveals their emerging maturity.
Celebrate and repeat!
You want your child to:
A) Draw the line between getting bigger and using the potty
B) Crave that particular positive praise.
By first discussing how much fun it will be to feel more grown up once potty trained, then telling your child that they can do it, you are planting the seeds that will start to flower the following next week.
Day Three: Introducing Potty Training Jargon
It doesn’t matter which words you use, so long as you’re consistent.
Some parents prefer silly words such as stinky, pee-pee or poo-poo. In our house we use the word fluff for flatulence. Some parents prefer proper vocabulary such as urinate or defecate. We use number one and two.
There is no right or wrong way, but you must be predictable in your usage.
Continue to do everything you did the first and second day, now adding new language into the mix. Your objective is to make your child feel comfortable.
This means they should feel natural with bathroom discussion and informing you of their needs.
Next week, when you’re in the midst of potty training, you will want your child to tell you when they have to go to the bathroom, rather than telling you they have a dirty diaper.
Preparing them with language is part of preparing them for potty training.
Day Four: Go Shopping
The key purpose of day four is to help your child feel as though they are directly involved in the potty training process.
Parents generally face the most resistance when their child feels that potty training is something that has been thrust upon them. This is an easy pitfall to sidestep if planned for ahead of time. By including your child in the selection of potty training materials, you will be helping them to anticipate what is happening rather than simply requesting that they comply.
Think about it there is a big difference between bringing a potty chair home, then putting it in the bathroom and saying,Time to potty train! and let’s go to the store and pick out a potty training chair together!
Head to the store and pick out a potty training chair. Get one that is durable and won’t easily tip. Let your child put the chair into the bathroom and take ownership of it.
Allow them to decorate the potty chair with stickers or write their name on it; whatever it takes to make them feel as though it belongs to them.
Continue to build anticipation. Say things such as,Next week we’re going to learn how to use the potty instead of using your diaper!
Dave Five: Modeling Desired Behavior
From day five forward, consider taking your child with you every time you need to eliminate. Though this may feel like an invasion of privacy, it could greatly reduce the stress on the potty training process.
Children learn by what they see, not just by what they’re told. They will always look to their parents for examples.
Telling your child when you have to go to the bathroom will help to reinforce the link between feeling and doing. It may seem silly, but tell your child what is happening while it is happening.
Complete the process by reminding your child that next week they’ll be old enough to start trying as well.
Don’t stop with yourself!
Day five will carry the most impact if both parents are in it together. Mom and Dad should BOTH be modeling the desired behavior.
Children learn most from the same-sex parent. Your son will learn most from Dad and your daughter most from Mom. Ideally everyone in the family is working together toward the same result.
Day Six: Teaching
Get a doll, any doll, any doll will do.
You will firstteach this doll to go potty while your child is watching, then ask them to mirror the lesson on their own.
Like the modeling that took place in day five, this might feel a bit silly. Believe me, your child will be watching every thing you do.
Explain to the doll how to use the potty. Teach them how to flush and wash their hands afterwards. When finished, ask the doll if they understood everything. Then say,What? You want me to show you one more time? Okay!
Your child will probably giggle, but they’ll be eager to see it again.
Repeat the steps as many times as you’d like to. Then hand the doll to your child and allow them to demonstrate their knowledge on their own.
This step will give your child the confidence they need to start the potty training process by doing rather than learning. If they feel they already know what to do, then they will be a lot more inclined (and excited) to do it.
Day Seven: Final Preparation
The primary goal of the final day is to get your kid super duper excited about the potty training that will take place on the following day. Pull out all the stops. Make them feel like tomorrow is Christmas.
For you it will be.
Rinse and repeat the best steps from the previous seven days. Keep discussing the potty. Acknowledge their grown-up behavior. Continue to take them potty with you whenever you have to go. Allow them to model with the doll as often as they wish.
Warning: This will probably be a lot!
Prepare your charts and stickers. Show them the calendar and tell them that tomorrow’s the big day! Say goodnight to the potty before they go to bed.
Successful potty training lies in large part with the preparation. Don’t skip these steps, take the time to properly prepare over the course of the week. Make potty training a quick, painless process, rather than the endless struggle it is for many parents.