Potty Training Prep

I am still taking that parent ed class I first mentioned months ago. Now the kids are older (ranging from 18 months to 2 years). During our last class we had a potty training discussion.

At 18 months, I feel like Pumpkin is still a little young to start training. After looking through a potty training readiness "checklist" it seems like she is "trending towards independence" but I'm still think waiting to train until she's older is a good idea. With her sister, it seemed to go so smoothly once I waited until she was TRULY ready.

Anyway, our discussion in class quickly turned to potty training prep (the things you do to prepare your child for potty training) as most of the other parents felt the same way--their kids weren't ready for full on training yet. And potty training prep is something I believe in and feel Pumpkin is ready for. Here are some of the things we talked about that I've tried before: WARNING: this post uses the word potty, pee and poop a whole lot. You are welcome to sub in your own words wherever you like.

Books about going potty - Reading books together about going potty can reinforce language skills and contribute to the understanding of what it means to grow up and shed the diaper. We liked this one.

Dolls that go potty> - I think Dr. Phil suggests using a doll in his "potty training in a day" method. Frankly, I tried this method with my first when she was 2 and it we failed miserably. But I do think the doll was another good tool to help her little brain grasp the basic concept of what was happening in her body pre-toliet training. Fluid goes in, fluid comes out.

Watching others go potty - Pumpkin is fascinated by watching her old sister use the toliet. She doesn't show the same fear of the toliet that Princess had at the same age. For Princess, it was watching her best friend, Pukey use the toliet that really moved her in the right direction.

Having a small potty or potty seat in plain sight - For Princess we purchased a small potty chair and set it in the bathroom when she was 18 months old. We didn't try to make her use it, we just wanted to start talking about it and get her comfortable with the idea of having it around (the chair worked well for her, but people also use just a smaller seat or nothing at all).

Here are some ideas brought up in class that were new ideas to me:

Start changing diapers standing up in the bathroom - The teacher had toliet trained many a child while working at numerous day care facilities. She swore that prepping them for toliet training by changing their diapers in the bathroom while they are standing up is one of the best things you can do. This involves helping them learn how to pull their pants up and down and strap and unstrap their diaper (this new found skill, in my head, leads directly to coming into their bedroom only to find a lovely poop masterpiece smeared all over their bedroom wall). But that fear aside, I started doing it with Pumpkin and it is working out fabulously. Kage did mention that moms who have children with larger bums and thighs could find changing a diaper standing up completely unworkable. So this tip (as much as all the other ones) is not for everyone.

When the child is pooping, sit them on the toliet-- but try leaving their diaper on. This gets them used to the act of pooping on the toilet without allowing the poop to splash into the toliet which can scare many children.

Put poop from their diaper into the toliet--which is we should all be doing anyway if we are following the instructions on the diaper package (I had no clue) and care about the state of our landfills...but don't care enough to use cloth diapers. This statement could be a whole different post but back to my point. Let the child see the poop going into the toliet and let them flush it. Once again, this paves the way in their little heads for success in future potty training.

What other things have you done (or heard of) to create "positive toliet experiences" during the pre-potty training time? (We'll save the actual potty training tips for another day).