Potty Training the Easy Way

I'm thrilled to say: Leo is potty trained!

We have been working hard on "potty trains" as Leo calls it for the past couple of weeks and we reached our goal.  Leo now asks to use the potty when he needs to go and we have very few accidents.  Dream come true.  Potty training isn't my favorite parenting milestone, but we did it!

I've potty trained three little people now and I have learned some things along the way to make the process easier for potty training boys and girls.

  

My best tips for doing potty training the easy way:

1. Wait until they're ready or at least 3.  

If you do this, potty training will be fast.  If you force them to potty training young, it will be a ton of work for you.  My kids day and night potty trained at the same time once they were 3.

2. Figure out what motivates them.

We used character underwear, little Cars characters from the Cars movies, Hotwheels cars, treats, words of praise and stickers as rewards.  Then they got to pick out a bigger toy at the store when they were potty trained.  Different things worked to motivate each of my kids.

3. Clear your calendar.  

Stay home as much as possible to make accidents and potty success easier to handle.  Pick outside play spots and outside activities so that messes are no big deal if you do go out and about.

4. Read potty training books or watch potty training episodes of shows.

One of my kids loved the Daniel Tiger potty training episode and my others like reading the books.  We'd reference them when we were in the restroom.

5. Skip the tiny potty at home.

Just buy the mini potty seat that sits on top of the toilet for girls and have your boys sit backwards on the potty.  Grab a travel potty for the car because public restrooms are gross.

6. Give yourself and your child grace.

There will be accidents.  And there will be messes along the way.  Give yourself permission to throw away gross messes instead of scrubbing them and just know that potty training won't last forever.  Pack a potty training bag for your car.  That way you won't have to stress as much if they have an accident when you are out and about.  Mine has spare underwear, a change of clothes, wipes, pull ups and Walmart bags.  I could grab this bag and have everything I need to clean up a mess and a kid.  I'll be leaving this bag in my van for a while just in case.

 

You can do this!  

 

We're so proud of Leo!  He picked out a car transporter to haul all his mini cars around.  He's played with it so much.  I love our tradition of letting the kids pick out their big prize at the end of potty training because each of my kids chose something that I wouldn't have picked for them, but that they all loved.  A radio flyer scooter, a set of army guy vehicles and now a car transporter.  It's so sweet to watch you kid walk up and down the toy aisles to select the perfect prize for them.