Are you potty training? You need to know these secrets to success. 7 steps to successful potty training shared from a mother of four boys.

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If you have a toddler in your house, I am sure your bedtime routine looks similar to ours. The little one toddles over to the bookcase and grabs his book de jour, although with toddlers it’s more like book of the month. You act surprised when he hands you Dora Goes to the Dentist for the 27th time in a row. He knows all the words, which is unfortunate, it makes skipping pages that much harder.

Get ALL your potty training questions answered in one place!

Is your toddler ready for potty training? Is your child’s bedwetting normal?

Our Potty Training 101 Resource Page has ALL the potty training answers AND encouragement you need!

How on EARTH can he stand listening to the same story, told in the same voice, by the same person every single night?! Watching the same movie twice is a huge stretch for you. Never mind the fact that once you read a book you give it away to a friend, so his continued infatuation with “Dora Goes to the Dentist” is lost on you.

Remember though kids, especially toddlers, thrive on routine and predictability.

Are you potty training? You need these secrets The “secret” to potty training a toddler is to teach them a new routine. There is a sequence of events that takes place, and they are always in the same order with the same results (or close to it).

Consistency, routine, and predictability is your best friend when it comes to potty training. It helps your toddler to know what to expect, and it helps YOU (and his caregiver) to stay focused on the task at hand.

Our potty training method is perfect for working families. It is hard to teach your child new skills when you aren’t with them during the daytime hours. Our approach allows your child’s caregiver to easily continue the routine you have established. You and the caregiver work together as a team, sending the same message to your child and THAT is powerful – and very effective.

The art of potty training is breaking it down into simple steps and repeating them over and over – and over again. Think about reading “Dora Goes to the Dentist” for the 27th time… THAT is what potty training is like!

A day in the life of a potty training toddler:

1. Wake up and go STRAIGHT to the potty/ toilet! Help your child stay laser-focused on heading towards the potty without distractions.
   1. Let him sit there for a few minutes.
   2. You can read, sing, talk, or tell knock-knock jokes to keep him there.
   3. Don’t let it become a power struggle keeping him on the potty.
   4. After a few minutes (or seconds, depending on his mood) let him get down, even if the potty is empty.
   5. (Remember, you are working to establish a routine. You are not expecting results right away.)
2. Flush! (This is a crowd pleaser).
3. Wash hands! (Lots of time can be spent doing this)
4. Put a sticker on a potty sticker chart! (One sticker JUST for sitting, two if ANYTHING came out).
   1. In the beginning, we reward the mere effort of trying.
   2. Once he voluntarily sits still and learns to recognize the urge “to go,” we scale it back and only give stickers for something IN the potty.
   3. He gets a treat once the reward chart is full.
5. Proceed with your daily routine!
6. Drink water/ milk/ juice!
7. Play!

1. Encourage your tot to go sit on the potty! 
   1. Again, you may have to sing, dance, and read to him – perhaps this is a great time to enjoy yet another reading of Dora Goes to the Dentist.
2. Flush! (This is still fun – and it won’t get old for a long time).
3. Wash hands! (Never before has your child been this clean).
4. Put sticker(s) on a chart!
5. Eat snack/ lunch/ dinner/ anything!
6. Drink!
7. Play/ Nap!

Repeat, repeat – and repeat again!

Once you start potty training, your life will revolve around these seven simple steps. When you first brought home your newborn from the hospital, he nursed around the clock, and you worried that you would NEVER ever make it out of the house again, right? Eventually, things calmed down, and the same will happen with the potty training.

Our potty training process is not a “boot camp,” and I do not expect to see success within the first days. But each day we move a little closer towards the finish line. All in all, it took our boys a few weeks from start to finish.

If it drags on much longer than that your child may not be ready. It is perfectly OK (and actually recommended) to put things on hold for a period of time before it becomes a power struggle.

The potty training crash course:

“Potty Train in a Weekend” teaches you how to successfully potty train over just a few days. It can be done and the method described in the book has been successful for many people.  

 

Due to my work schedule, I had to develop a strategy that wasn’t a crash course, but more of a “slow and steady” process. Our 7 simple steps to potty training success are great for families who have someone else watch their child during the day and for children who do better with slow changes to their routines.

If you are reading this and nodding along, chances are your child thrives on routine and repetitiveness – and you therefore still have another 43 days of “Dora Goes to the Dentist” before your child tires of it.

We both know when it comes to parenting there is no “one size fits all” approach, which is why I shared two different methods with you.

Let me know what worked for your toddler. Do you plan on training over a long weekend, or for a longer period of time?

Get ALL your potty training questions answered in one place!

Is your toddler ready for potty training? Is your child’s bedwetting normal?

Our Potty Training 101 Resource Page has ALL the potty training answers AND encouragement you need!

Before I sign off, let me answer a question a lot of people have:

Standing vs. sitting when potty training boys?
We sit – always – and for a number of reasons.

• Little boys have ZERO aim if they even have enough to aim with!
• It can be confusing (and messy) when they are standing up peeing and all of a sudden feel the urge to go # 2. Turning around in time can be quite a challenge. I have witnessed this first hand and the result is rarely pretty.
• They will EVENTUALLY learn how to pee standing up, but just like driving a car, it is not a milestone I am going to rush.