How to Potty Train your child?

Every child is different, so the answer is… I don’t know!

Potty Training. It’s inevitable. It has to happen, sooner or later, and you rather it be sooner than later. I see all of these parents boasting about their child using the potty for the first time at 1 year old, and I’m all like “I got this…”. Yea, that was 7 years ago when my first child was 1. I now know that the REAL age for a child to be potty trained is closer to 3-4 years old. Typing it even seems like that is a long time to go without being potty trained, but it’s the truth. Especially for a boy because for whatever reason, they catch on a bit slower.

Now keep in mind when I say potty trained, and when someone else says potty trained, we could be defining it as two completely different end goals. They can be speaking in terms of using the potty MOST of the time as being potty trained, as for me, I consider them to be potty trained when the only diaper or pull up in my house is the one they use for night time ONLY in case of an accident, because they all have them occasionally.

I have accomplished potty training my first child, so it can be done. I thought the 2nd time around would be easier, but somehow I forgot everything that worked with my first, and how I did it. Granted, he was 4 by the time he was completely out of diapers including night time, but I did it.

My now 3 year old son is doing wonderful going all day without having an accident an without wearing a pull up diaper, but he acts like “#2” is non-existent. Yea, be aware. Children will intentionally constipate themselves in order to totally disregard the term “Everybody poops”. Suppositories are your best friend in this case, but changing a 3 year old man poop diaper is not fun. For whatever reason, children do not like to poop in the potty. It’s all of a sudden scary and unknown territory even though they just went pee in it 1 minute ago just fine,..This is where I am finding myself at a halt once again. The kicker is, he has actually done poop on the potty once before via bribery. It worked the first time waving a sticker sheet in front of his face saying “You want a sticker? They’re so cool! You have to poop on the potty first!” and he did. So excited, He was and I was, and we were… Now I’m finding myself bribing him just to poop ANYWHERE including a diaper. How did this happen? I assume it’s because he’s more aware of his bowel movements now that he holds in his pee until he makes it to the potty instead of just letting loose anywhere in a diaper.

This brings me to my next potty topic. The potty seat. I’ve purchased quite a few potty seats until I realized they’re actually a step backwards. Training your child to go on this child size seat is great… IF you plan to carry it around to public places with you, including other peoples houses. I found that training on the real toilet is the best was to be consistent and get better results wherever you are. Not to mention the fact that you don’t have to clean the horrid thing, ya know, after…!

I guess the reason I’m posting this is to let all you first time parents know it’s OK and NORMAL for your child to take their time potty training. It’s just as stressful for them as it is for you. You’ll know when they’re ready, and they can’t be forced. They’re only small once. And don’t listen to those out of the woodwork parents and grandparents who want to chime in about how their child was potty trained at 10 months old because again, that’s great for them, but it makes you feel like a failure and it doesn’t help you much now does it?

I’d love advice from any parents if you’d like to chime in, comment below with your advice, tips, and especially how to get a child comfortable going #2!

I found this cute “Reward Chart” below at the site listed. Click it if you’d like to check some of them out. I might resort to trying this…

(Original Image via http://www.rewardcharts4kids.com)