I know I seem silly for saying this. Mainly because, how could anyone ever love the time in parenting where your sole job is to get their stuff in the toilet. But I do…
I Love Potty Training
Day 1 of Potty Training: Look at this cutie… she has no idea her life is about to change forever. Good thing it looks like she slept well, eh?
I have now potty trained two children. Two people have learned the most polite thing you can ever do…. going in the potty and not in your pants, or anywhere else for that matter.
And it only took me three days.
Now I know, and I’ll begin with this, everyone has their thing, their way of doing stuff. Even potty training. Some people go in with a half a plan wanting to figure it out as they go, some people are as patient as the day is long and take their time, and some people want to make potty training equivalent to ripping off a band aide… quick and painless. I’m the latter.
I’m not a half planner. One of my pet peeves is to be told constantly how to do something, so trying to figure out potty training, whilst potty training, is not me.
I’m also terribly impatient when it comes to toilet things. So, the idea of waiting around for 3-6 months for my child to understand that “YES” he must go potty, and “YES” going in the potty is better than going in your pants is also just not for me.
So, in light of this, I have chosen to potty train both of my children with the…
(Let me be clear here, the people of this website have no idea who I am, and have not asked me to write this. I simply love this plan so much that I want to throw every pre-potty training parent a little life raft!)
My desire here is not to tell you all about the program; I think it is pretty self explanatory from the name of it. Instead, I want to tell you why I like it, and even tips I’ve learned about potty training along the way. I’ve included several links to the official website throughout this post for you to visit for yourself.
Why the 3 Day Potty Training Program works for me:
- There is the obvious reason, no more diapers… at all. Only cute and adorable tutees with superhero underwear or flowers and butterflies. It’s just so precious.
- Children who struggle with speech learn new phrases and ways to communicate using this program. I know this because my son was a late talker. He rattled on with gibberish for the first 2 years of his life. Teaching him to pee-pee in the potty helped him develop new vocabulary and even new sentence stems like…”I need to go pee-pee!”
- There is so much celebration in the 3 Day program. I have cha-cha’d down my hallway, made up songs about pee, laughed about how stinky poo is, and fist-bumped my kids more times in these three days than I can count. It seems like it would be a stressful time, but potty training this way is actually very high energy and so fun.
- Stubborn, strong willed tots, like my baby girl, get a large dose of structure with a ton of positive reinforcement. You are constantly reminding them to communicate with you when they need to go, and rushing them to the potty when they have to go, and you do this on repeat about a thousand times in three days. For my daughter who doesn’t really listen well yet and doesn’t follow directions well for that matter either, this really impacted her. She was able to grasp the concept in just an hour or two and hasn’t looked back.
- The chances of you getting peed on, or of you tracking a pee trail through the house are definitely higher, but the reward is so great. High risk, high reward.
- The structure and intensity of the program suits me because I’m not very patient. I cannot bear the thought of sitting on a chair and reading to my kid while they “Try”. It would drive me insane. Plus my kids hate it. I have tried to do it this way, but my children won’t have it. The way this program operates is very straight forward. If they sit down and don’t go in 10-20 seconds, you take them off the potty. It teaches them to listen to their bodies and not guess when they have to go.
- You would think that hanging out with your child all day, I mean all day, would be really hard. Because that’s basically what you’re doing, you go everywhere your child goes, constantly reminding them to tell you when they need to go pee-pee so that you can catch them in the act and get them on the potty. But it’s actually really fun. I feel like I get to know my kids a little better through potty training and I enjoy the uninterrupted time I get with them. It’s not a burden, but a privilege.
Tips for Potty Training:
- Save your money, don’t buy a fancy chair. Buy the most boring chair you can find. Like mine. If your chair claps, sings, whistles or shouts hooray… potty time becomes about playing with the toilet, not doing their little business.
- Unless you want some kind of weird, gross poop war on your hands, don’t let them see you empty the potty chair because, guess what? Then they will want to do it, and it will be the grossest tug-of-war in your life. And it won’t end well.
- The first time you go out… take everything. Seriously, take the potty, extra clothes, wipes, treats, everything. And don’t feel any shame when your kid sits on their potty in the middle of the fall festival or in a parking lot, because you’ll laugh later. And trust me, no one cares and EVERYONE who has kids has been there.
- If you’re doing stickers, set up your chart next to the potty. It’s just convenient, and doesn’t delay the magical splendor of receiving a sticker after a successful potty visit.
- Encourage your children to push their own pants down. They are going to have to do it eventually, and this is a great learning opportunity when they are in and out of the bathroom 50 times during these three days.
- Each morning, review what the words “Wet” and “Dry” mean. For the first half of the day, I set a timer to go off every 10-20 minutes, and if the baby has dry undies, they get a sticker on their “Dry Panty” chart. After 5 stickers they get a special treat!
- I only push juices and drinking tons of fluid in the morning, this way they are peeing a ton and getting a lot of practice before nap, but after nap it tapers off. This is also good for when your spouse is coming home, it’s not as crazy because your baby is only peeing every 30 minutes and not every 3 minutes.
- Unless you want over-sugared crazies on your hands, water down your juice. My kids have literally never had straight up juice, they think me pouring water in their cup with the juice is actually how juice is made. Besides, the point is to make them drink a lot, not to give them a ton of juice.
- Just have it in your head…YOU’RE GOING TO GET WET. Even if you by some miracle don’t, go ahead and prep yourself with this because then you won’t freak out when it happens. If you freak out, then your kid gets upset and the whole point is to not get upset. So… have extra towels on hand and just dive in.
- When you do need to go out, or it’s time for nap or bath or anything else where you would prefer not to wait until they have the urge, direct them with “Let’s go potty”. Do not ask them if they need to go because they’ll just say NO. Every, Single, Time.
Day 3 Picture: I did it!
I know potty training can be stressful, but do your research and pick the plan that works for your personality. It will be worth it, and you can do it! Just remember, no matter how it goes, no matter what happens, your child won’t be 18 years old and still peeing in their pants. They will learn.
Good luck!
I’d love to hear how you potty train! Or tips you have to make your potty training experience fun or effective. Just comment below!
Other posts you may enjoy:
- How I accidentally fell in love with Homeschooling
- An Uncomfortable Faith
- Where to Turn When it’s Been One of Those Days
Luciana
December 6, 2016 at 8:37 am (8 years ago)Katie, I vote for this program! It is all it takes , for most kids, if you stick to it.
I never followed a so-called “program”, but tried in my own way to do it in a week. Kids are smart as you pointed out, they figure things out quickly (even things like wanting to empty the potty), so why can’t they figure out to just do the deed??!!!
Good post, very helpful!