Moms Talk: Flushing the Potty Blues Away

If parents didn't potty train their children, everyone would be running around with diapers and bathrooms would be obsolete. 

Thankfully, there comes a time in every parent's life where they have to say no to diapers and yes to flushing. 

How do you tackle potty training with your child? Do you wait until they want to do it? Or mandate an age? What useful tips do you have? 

Karin Jackson
When my oldest two reached not only 2 years, but then two and-a-half and were still not potty trained—with a third one on the way, boy did I hear it from my mother! I'm from the parenting style that says 'they'll get it when they get it,' but she potty trained me at 13 months. Yikes! 

I know there are moms out there who can, did, and do successfully potty train their children at younger ages, but my mantra remained through all four of our kids: When they walk up to me and say, 'I want to use the potty,' then that would be the day they would use the potty!

For the most part, it worked like a charm! I, too, used the seat that sets on top of the big potty. I set aside an entire day with a timer and a lot of patience reminding them to sit there every hour. The twins were actually the easiest of the four, and they were the first. My second son liked to hide in the basement toy room and come out very wet. My youngest daughter refused despite gentle asking for months and months. We joke that food is the way to her heart, but even the age-old M&M bribe didn't work with her. 

Absolutely every kid is different. And I believe whole-heartedly that eventually they'll get it. Mine did. And before the age of 3! It really does just require the right timing, enough time, lots of reminding, and a healthy dose of patience.

Happy Flushing!

Jennie Scherer
There are several factors that affect potty training from my experience. My oldest child was the easiest to train.  When she was two, I was very pregnant with her brother. I did not want to buy double diapers. So, several weeks before he was born, I simply planned to stay home for a few days while we got started. I put some cute little panties on her, which she loved and told her she needed to get to the potty on time so that she wouldn’t wet her new undies. She had already practiced a few times, but not consistently. 

We would practice going potty about every hour at first. She loved to climb up on her stool and wash her hands after. When she was successful we made a huge deal about it, even sang a song. She went in the potty several times that first day and had several accidents. When she didn’t make it I would calmly give her a new pair and make sure that she put the soiled pair in the laundry.  

By the end of the third day, she was mostly potty trained. She would have an occasional accident, but she didn’t like the mess so she made sure that she made it most of the time. When her little brother came, she had a few accidents, but I just stayed with the program and she resumed her progress.

For my second child I tried the same thing, but it didn’t work out as well. We were not at home every day. I worked at a daycare center where he attended. It took a lot longer because he was in a room with 15 other 2-year-olds and two teachers and I don’t think the wetness bothered him as much. Finally when we got a chance to spend some time at home everyday it started to kick in, but still took a while. I tried to use pull ups but that did not help because it is nearly the same as a diaper, which keeps the wetness away so the child isn't as sensitive to it. The only thing that worked was training pants, which are cotton underwear that are a little thicker. I also liked the potty seat that sits right up there on the big person potty and is very portable. 

My third child, another boy, potty trained faster than my first son, but not as fast as my daughter. He spent time with a wonderful babysitter in her home while I had to work. She worked with him just like I did with the others and did at home. He was trained around two and a half years old.

In my experience with my children and working in childcare I have found that girls are usually easier to potty train than boys. It also makes a difference if the child spends the day at home or daycare where the trainer/child ratio is higher. The tools and method that you use can be effective or not. Also, we have to remember that every child is different.

Jennifer AuBuchon
Boy it seems like ages ago for me! With an almost teenager and 10-year-old, I don't remember the specifics. I'll just share that my son was motivated to potty train so he could go to school (preschool). However, once the reality of school starting got closer, he had a few accidents to which he'd say 'Guess I can't go to school!' I remember thinking 'What a little stinker.' He totally knew how to use that to get what he wanted (or didn't want)! He started school and loved it thankfully, so it was a non-issue. Thank Heaven for Beth Hudson making his first school experience a good one! 

Jenny Wescoat
My parent educator, Linda Bersett, gave me great advice about potty training. She told me that it was about me making the commitment to be done with diapers and gave me guidelines for building in potty breaks instead of asking a million times a day if they had to go. That's within reason, of course. I didn't attempt to do that when my kids were 6 months old or anything!

I potty trained my son when he had just turned 3, and my daughter when she was two and a half. With both kids, I followed Linda's advice. I focused on the week after Memorial Day and led up to it saying 'After our camping trip/whatever, no more diapers. We're going to use the potty.'

My son took just a couple of days and my daughter was about 95 percent there after a couple of days. The last 5 percent took care of itself easily when I started handing her the roll of paper towels when she had an accident.  

I had a freaky accident discovery, but it was a great thing. I noticed that both of my kids usually did No. 2 right after lunch, so before I even did my official potty training with my oldest, I was casually letting him sit on the potty for a few minutes after lunch every now and then. A couple of times we happened to hit it right, and as a result he was never scared to do No. 2 in the potty. He only had a messy accident one time. I tried the same thing with my daughter a year later and it worked again.  I feel like I have had a combination of good advice and luck with this area. I have one more to train in a year or so, and I may find that I have to toss everything I thought I knew!