When I was potty training my two young boys, I
discovered this method of potty training that made it
an enjoyable, yet very effective way to potty train
toddlers.
First, make sure your child is ready for potty
training, shows interest, wants "big kids pants" etc.
If they show no signs of readiness, it may be best to
let them mature a bit more.
Make this a game, make it fun and you will not run into
stubborn opposition (after all it is the child's body).
Go out and buy or find around the house items you don't
normally let your child play with. Some examples might
be toys that can be used in water (3 or 4 things), like
little plastic pitchers, balls, tiny cups, whatever,
but make them SPECIAL. The only real rule to this game
is these special "potty" toys can only be played with
while the child is sitting on the potty! This is very
important; no breaking this one rule, or it won't work.
Once the child is sitting on the potty fill a large
bowl or small bucket with lukewarm or tepid water,
place the new "potty" toys in the bowl and set the bowl
of water in front of the child. On the floor if the
potty seat is low, or if it's a potty seat that sits on
top of the regular toilet, set the bowl of water on a
TV tray or something that provides a step, in front of
the child. When the child places his/her hands in the
lukewarm water to play with the toys, if the child
needs to physically go, they nearly instantly go potty
(it's almost an instinctive type of physical reaction),
then cheer, cheer, cheer! Give lots of praise, and if
you wish to give some type of a treat, go ahead.
Let them play as long as they want, as long as they sit
on the potty. When they are done playing, put the toys
away for next time. This is really great because it
makes it fun for them so they cooperate, it totally
ends all power struggles, and also no more waiting and
waiting for them to go only to have them go potty as
soon as the diaper goes back on. They also feel good
because they have immediate success. Potty training
no. 2 was more difficult I found, that just came with
some time and patience and them learning in their own
space and way, relax, it will happen.
Do you want to know how I get this idea? It's kind of a
funny thing, my husband used to be in the military and
when he was young in boot camp they used to always play
jokes on each other in the night by dipping the hand of
someone who was sleeping, into a pan of lukewarm water,
thus making the person wet the bed. It just seemed like
a natural progression to use this trick for good use in
the potty training area and it worked great!
By Valerie Garner, mom and proud grandma, and owner of Joyful Designs in Soy (Candles) at: http://www.joyfuldesignsinsoy.com Valerie enjoys writing on a variety of topics in an engaging style.
