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!
About The Author: By Valerie Garner, mom and proud grandma, and owner of Joyful Designs in Soy (Candles) at: http://www.joyfuldesignsinsoy.com
I know this is an old topic, but i just had to say thanks for this tip. I plan to use it with my small son, who LOVES water. We tried it yesterday, no pee, but he stayed on the potty longer than he ever has, so that's a good sign. I suppose sooner or later pee will happen! This is the best tip for us that I have read on the 'net. Thanks again!
this is good advice for just peeing but my problem is getting my daughter to poop. she'll pee all day but i can't do anything to make her poop. i'm afraid she'll hurt her insides holding it in
Love the water toy idea, I trained both of my boys with a red dot of ail polish at eh water line in the toilet...they "aimed" at the target....also, no messy over spray on the wall of floor!!
You can color the toilet water or a little water in their small potty, w/ food coloring or water soluble art paint, to be BLUE, when child pees into the toilet it should turn GREEN (if the right amount of blue is in there & not too much, experiment). I know this sounds silly too, but I read it somewhere in one of those books. I personally like the water toy idea or the sink the paper game!
I heard this works if you can stop laughing long enough to do it. A friend told me her brother potty trained her little brother by taking one sheet of toilet paper and tossing it into the toilet and then telling little brother to sink it. She says it worked.
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