Over my long career as a provider I have helped to potty train countless children, and have many years of experience in this transitional stage of a child's growth. I am very relaxed about potty training as I know that all children will move from diapers to underwear eventually even if it takes a while. Sometimes it takes a few days, to a few months. I've even helped little ones who trained themselves!
If I could give parents some advice about potty training, it would be to just allow for accidents, be filled with praise, and not to get uptight about how long it takes. Children need to be able to connect their mind to the control of their bladder before they can be successful at the 'training' stage. Experts will say that this stage begins typically around 18 months when children begin to grab at their diaper etc. I disagree a little with the assumption that an 18 month old is ready to be really potty trained when, in reality they are just at the stage of discovering that something is coming out inside their diaper. They often will grab their diaper as they are going potty or poopy and will become excited that they have discovered something new is happening to them. However, this is the age when parents can and should introduce the big toilet (by having them sit on it and help them to hold on) and begin to use language about potty and poopy to their little ones.
The next stage will be too help them learn the difficult skill of bladder control which is the releasing and holding urine at will. During this stage, it is necessary for children to have many opportunities to be successful by being sat on the toilet especially when they really need to go or when they are showing signs of squatting or hiding. For urinating, I have found that the best way for me to train a child to learn to control their bladder (release) is to take them immediately after they wake up from a nap. If a child is ready to be potty trained, they will most likely still have a dry diaper/pull up when they first wake up and also at other times during the day. This is a sign of bladder control as well (holding) and if a child is dry after nap time, I can usually start the process of training at this stage of development. I will take them potty and they will usually go. Then comes a lot of praise!!
I will continue this each day at daycare and if all goes well, the child will start to be able to release the muscles that have held their potty for a few hours and this is how they learn. Then we can move to trying out this new skill throughout the day.
Going poopy in the toilet is a bit different and sometimes children will not go in the toilet at all, while others will go only poop in the toilet and nothing else. Each child is different about this so I just try to read them individually to get them to be successful at going poopy in the big potty as well!
I have just finished helping to train 2 children and will begin the process with another 2 year old in the next month. By late summer, I will be helping to train 3 more little ones.
This is something I am very experienced with!
So if a child has developed the ability to control their bladder enough that they can "release" when put up on the big toilet and "hold" while playing, napping etc... then they can graduate to underwear at my house and they are potty trained! Depending on the child, this process can take a few days, or a few months.
But just remember, lots and lots of praise, and keep in mind accidents are the tools for learning!
If I could give parents some advice about potty training, it would be to just allow for accidents, be filled with praise, and not to get uptight about how long it takes. Children need to be able to connect their mind to the control of their bladder before they can be successful at the 'training' stage. Experts will say that this stage begins typically around 18 months when children begin to grab at their diaper etc. I disagree a little with the assumption that an 18 month old is ready to be really potty trained when, in reality they are just at the stage of discovering that something is coming out inside their diaper. They often will grab their diaper as they are going potty or poopy and will become excited that they have discovered something new is happening to them. However, this is the age when parents can and should introduce the big toilet (by having them sit on it and help them to hold on) and begin to use language about potty and poopy to their little ones.
The next stage will be too help them learn the difficult skill of bladder control which is the releasing and holding urine at will. During this stage, it is necessary for children to have many opportunities to be successful by being sat on the toilet especially when they really need to go or when they are showing signs of squatting or hiding. For urinating, I have found that the best way for me to train a child to learn to control their bladder (release) is to take them immediately after they wake up from a nap. If a child is ready to be potty trained, they will most likely still have a dry diaper/pull up when they first wake up and also at other times during the day. This is a sign of bladder control as well (holding) and if a child is dry after nap time, I can usually start the process of training at this stage of development. I will take them potty and they will usually go. Then comes a lot of praise!!
I will continue this each day at daycare and if all goes well, the child will start to be able to release the muscles that have held their potty for a few hours and this is how they learn. Then we can move to trying out this new skill throughout the day.
Going poopy in the toilet is a bit different and sometimes children will not go in the toilet at all, while others will go only poop in the toilet and nothing else. Each child is different about this so I just try to read them individually to get them to be successful at going poopy in the big potty as well!
I have just finished helping to train 2 children and will begin the process with another 2 year old in the next month. By late summer, I will be helping to train 3 more little ones.
This is something I am very experienced with!
So if a child has developed the ability to control their bladder enough that they can "release" when put up on the big toilet and "hold" while playing, napping etc... then they can graduate to underwear at my house and they are potty trained! Depending on the child, this process can take a few days, or a few months.
But just remember, lots and lots of praise, and keep in mind accidents are the tools for learning!
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