Our Top 5 Potty Training Tips

This is just one of June's special Holiday or Celebrations throughout the month.

 That's right it's National Potty Training Month! 

As a mother of a 4 year old this is a milestone that I can proudly say we have achieved. However I remember being the mom that right before we decided to start the whole process I freaked out because I didn't even know where to begin. I must have called every mother I knew to hear what worked best for them. In doing so I started to calm down because I realized that there is no real text book answer for this. 

Something I heard from just about every mom was that every child is different and not to push your kids. They will do it when they're ready. I personally think there is a lot of truth to that. I think it helped me a lot by asking everyone because it made me think about what situation with what approach would probably work best for my child. I think part of the reason I held back a bit a first was because to me I felt I was letting go of my baby. However the quick realization of not having to change anymore diapers made things a lot easier and put a little extra money back in my pocket. It is also a very rewarding time not only for your child but for yourself. This was just another milestone along with so many more to come down the road. 

What we have done is collected a 5 of our most favorite potty training tips to share with you. When I sat down and talked to my co-writer Crystal we soon realized that we took almost the exact same approach. Oddly enough we have had many of these moments with various things in our lives. However here again even though we took the same approach our sons decided to potty train at very different times. My son wanted nothing to do with it till he was age 3, where her son was ready and willing at the age of 2.  Since this worked for both of us I figured it would be only fitting that we make that our first tip to share everyone.

1.  We let them run diaper free and when they start to go, pick them up and run them to the potty saying   "potty" For both our sons we also found that they didn't understand what it meant to "go potty" so what we said instead was "put his water in the potty"  both boys understood what that meant.

2.  Another one of my favorites which is something I also did with my son a couple days after we started I just kept him in underwear all day and night.  A couple days or nights with wet underwear and they will want to use the toilet after that. 

3. This is one that I think is important, especially with the younger potty trainers. Which is to have everyone use the same word. This helps not to confuse the child during the process.

4. A famous tip for boys I have always heard is to put Cheerios or Fruit Loops in the toilet and make a shooting game out of it. 

5. Another approach I was told was to set a timer for every 20 or 30 minutes and when the timer goes off you take them to the bathroom and sit them on the toilet for a few minutes at a time and keep telling them that this is where they should go potty and then when the time comes that it actually starts to happen encourage them that they are doing a great job and that they are big people. 

 I always loved an expression my Husbands Grandmother used which was, "He won't be in diapers on his graduation day so don't worry about it." It not only made me laugh a bit but it made me realize that I didn't have to worry about trying to push it so hard that he would learn it when he was ready.

 I hope some of these tips can help you and good luck with all your potty training adventures!

If you have some potty training tips or stories please share in the comments section. We always love to hear from our readers. 

Happy Crafting and so much more!

Stephanie