In preparation for Mason attending his next phase of daycare (36+ months) I thought I'd try to get him on the potty bandwagon once again.
This time instead of just sitting on the potty (which has become his stool for brushing teeth & washing hands), I was told to make a 'big deal' out the event. I went to a few websites (there are plenty) but didn't really find the 'process' I was looking for.
My initial two questions were:
- How long should he sit on the potty waiting to pee?
- How often should I sit him down?
I figured out a plan and went straight to work. Here are the 'tools' you'll need:
- Patience
- Training pants, big boy/girl undies, diaper covers
- Progress chart + stickers
- Rewards (Candy, fruit leather, little toys) [If you go this route]
- Little books to read (helps take his mind off having to pee - less pressure)
- Special 'soap'. I purchased the Kandoo brand (Pampers) to encourage hand washing
- Expectation you will be doing lots more laundry :)
My first step was to prepare the bathroom:
I consulted Pullups.com for potty information and was pleased to see all the resources available to me. Their website is very customized but not perfect. I inputted that I was looking for motivation and that I had a boy and it gave me a video for potty training a girl.
I found a template for reward stickers and printed it off. I grabbed Mason's neglected sticker collection and off to the bathroom I went to tape the sheet and stickers on the wall.
Then I found some treats (aka Hallowe'en candy) as rewards. According to the Internets, this is a controversial topic. Some people do not believe in bribing/rewarding for potty training. Others highly suggest it. Since I was potty trained with bribery (smarties) I'm not opposed to it. Mason does not have an older sibling to mimic and I need all the help I can get with Mason living in two households and being at daycare full time. That's three routines!
Second step was to prepare Mason:
We had a sit down Mommy 2 Mason 'big boy' chat. I explained that now that he was a big boy, we were all done with diapers during the day (still using pull ups for night time) and that we were going to try out the potty all day. I took off his diaper and slipped on his 'big boy underwear'. I even went as far to take him to the bathroom with a light colored pair of clean undies and had him dump water into them. He saw them change color, get wet and cold. I explained that they were not diapers and if he peed in them, he too would be wet and cold. So we needed to have him pee in the potty instead of his underwear. He enjoyed dumping the water into them lol. I placed a diaper liner over top of the underwear (to save my furniture from accidents) and off he went to play.
Lounging in his new underwear
Third step was to track:
I created a simple excel spreadsheet to document his pee times throughout the day and it appeared that he peed every 2 hours or so.
Fourth step is to try out the potty, whether it's sitting on potty with/without clothes. He got a sticker for either. When it was a good window for him to urinate, he sat and I read him two stories and before we knew it, he peed!! I think he was surprised by it but was soon proud of himself. We went through the process of having Mason dump the potty bowl into the toilet, flush and then wash hands. And then of course give him his 'treat'.
SUCCESS! Note the lolly for his first pee in the potty. Sticker chart on the wall and books to read!
Repeat every couple of hours.
Things to remember:
- Patience, not pressure.
- Lots of praise!
- If (s)he resists, explain 'It's okay - we'll try again later'.
- Make it fun! Stickers go a long way!
- There will be accidents. Always be prepared with extra clothes, diapers and training pants.
- It's a long process and may take months.
- Don't give up! It's a step by step routine.
- Kids sometimes regress after being fully trained. This is completely normal.
- There is no 'right' age to train, watch for clues.
- It's a learning process for both of you...relax and see how it goes :)
Good luck!!