Creative Ways To Potty-Train Your Child
Written by Carla Lowe - Friday, 10 October 2008
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 The topic and task of potty training is often a sensitive, confusing, and frustrating one for many parents of toddlers. While some young children potty train easily and at a young age, many others are much more difficult to train and take a lot more encouragement, effort, and time.
If your child seems to be more on the difficult side of potty-training (and, let’s face it, most are!), then what you need are some creative ideas for successfully potty-training your child, finally moving him from dependence on diapers to big-kid underwear and functionally independently on the toilet (sounds heavenly, doesn’t it?).
There are a few important points to keep in mind before venturing into the challenging territory of toddler potty-training.
1. First, and foremost, make sure to wait until your child is interested in, mature enough for, and ready for potty-training. Forcing potty-training on your child will only make this process more difficult and last longer, and put a lot of unnecessary strain on both of you.
2. Second, make sure you’re consistent with when and how you go about the business of potty-training. Too many parents make the mistake of being inconsistent, and end up confusing and throwing off their child.
3. Third, make every effort and success of being on and using the potty a big deal with lots of praise and encouragement; at the same time, never discipline your child for refusing to cooperate or having an “accident.”
4. Fourth, be patient. This cannot be emphasized enough! Potty-training takes time.
Now that you know the four “golden rules” of potty-training, we can move on to some creative ideas to help both of you through this process, and make it more enjoyable, too.
Ideas for Potty Training
Books and videos.
There are plenty of potty-training books geared specifically to children who are interested in, ready for, or already engaged in the potty-training process. If your child loves to read, buy him or her a gender-specific potty book and read it together. If you want to make the potty book idea even more effective, consider reading the book together while (and only if) your child sits on the potty. If he/she responds more to videos, rent or buy a potty-training video to watch together.
Personal potty or potty seat.
Kids love things that are their very own, and letting them have their own potty or potty seat is important and may help a great deal in the potty-training process. Let your child pick out his/her own potty or potty seat so he/she can take some ownership and pride in the decision-making. It may inspire him/her to start using it! Some parents prefer to buy a special potty as a gift; say, for the child’s second birthday.
Big-kid underwear.
Here you can stress that diapers are for babies; underwear is for big kids. Let your child know that he/she is a big kid, but if he/she wants big-kid underwear, the diapers have got to go! Go shopping for the underwear together and let him/her pick them out. You can either use the underwear as a reward for successful potty-training (an incentive), or let your child wear them as part of the potty-training process, to get used to being out of diapers.
Rewards.
Kids love rewards; treats, candy, stickers, small surprises, etc. may be just what you need to get your little tyke to go on the potty and move out of diapers forever. Here’s one creative (and money-saving) tip: instead of giving your child a treat every single time he/she tries to go or successfully uses the potty, create a chart, and mark down every time he/she uses the potty. After every five or 10 checkmarks or stickers on the chart, he/she can enjoy a treat! Put the chart up someplace where your child can easily view it.
The lukewarm water trick.
This little-known trick may just actually work. Purchase some special, “potty-only” water toys (cups, pitchers, plastic toys, bath toys, balls, boats, etc.). Fill up a bowl or pail with lukewarm water, put the new potty toys in, and let your child play with the toys while sitting on the potty (use a stool or step, etc. to make the bowl level to your child). Because your child’s hands will be playing in lukewarm water while he/she is on the potty, there is a good chance that his/her body will simply instinctively relieve itself into the potty or toilet.
Potty doll.
There are now “potty dolls” on the market that are designed to help kids with potty-training. These tend to work better with girls than boys, but they may be worth a shot for both genders. Some kids get inspired by watching the doll “pee” and want to go and do the same. Keep in mind that some potty dolls are expensive, so do your research.
Ready, aim, fire! Turn potty-training into a fun game. This is for boys only. Put some potty-only water toys in your regular toilet, have your boy stand on a stool or step, and let him try to “aim” at the toys…If he hits any of them with a stream of urine, he gets a prize!
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