Potty training is a very hard task to teach children, and it is a very hard task for children to master but with time and your patience successful potty training will be rewarding. I have found one effective way to potty train my toddler and I call it the no underwear method.
Generally children should not be introduced to potty training until they are close to the age of 3 because children don’t gain bladder or bowel control until they are the age of 2. That does not mean that you have to wait that long to potty train your child. It is best to potty train your child when you feel as though he/she is ready, or when your child shows interest in potty training.
The No Underwear (Diaper) Method
First I tell my toddler that I have to go to the bathroom to go pee pee, and I ask her to come to the bathroom with me, once inside the bathroom, I show her the toilet and I show her how to use it, I tell her, “pee pee goes in big potty, doo doo goes in big potty too.” I show her the flush handle and tell her what it is called, and I let her flush. I let her come to the bathroom with me consistently, so that she’ll understand what the purpose of the bathroom is for. I also emphasize the words bathroom, pee pee and doo doo so that she can associate the restroom with pee pee and doo, this way she will learn how to express that she has to go to the bathroom, and she’ll know where it is.
Next, I purchase her a potty for herself to use and I place it in the bathroom directly across from the big potty, I explain to her , “this is your potty” I encourage her to sit on the little potty while I sit on the big potty, and I ask her “Are you going pee pee or doo doo?” Of course she doesn’t go pee pee or doo doo on the first time but I applaud her and tell her that she did a great job trying.
Now that I have introduced her to the big and little potty, I let her roam around the house with no diaper for 30 minutes each day. She urinates on the floor, I don’t yell at her or suggest that she use the potty but instead I keep track of when she urinates for example, every 10 minutes, every 15 minutes etc., I do this so that I can take her to the bathroom a few minutes before she urinates. I take her to the bathroom and she sits on the potty I ask her if she is going pee pee or doo doo, but she does not go, instead a few minutes later she urinates on the floor again. I just repeat the process and keep brining her to the bathroom, I repeat this 7 days a week for 30 minutes.
Within that first week she manages to pee pee in the potty, and when she does I dance around and act silly while applauding her and saying “Wow, you went pee pee yay!” this thrills her, she thinks I am a big goof, but this encourages her because she now knows that when she goes pee pee in the potty that I will act silly and clap for her, she knows that she has done a good thing. When I see that she has to make a bowel movement, I rush over to her with the potty and help her sit down, and she stays and she goes in the potty. While she is going I ask her, “Are you going doo doo?” When she finishes I applaud her and jump around and exclaim “Wow look you just went doo doo!” I point inside the potty and emphasize the word doo doo, so that she will learn what it is. I show her how to wipe herself with tissue. I then have her help me dump the contents of the potty into the big potty and then flush, she loves that part. I then help her wash her hands.
I repeat this for months until she finally masters it, and it worked, I started this training when my daughter was around 16 months and now at the age of 27 months she has mastered using the potty, she even asks me to leave so that she can go doo doo, and she reads books aloud while she uses the potty. She now even uses the big potty.
There will be many trial and errors and messy floors but the important thing to remember is to not get discouraged or to force your child to potty train. You have to be patient and not critical you have to make a big deal even when she does not do anything inside of the potty.
When my daughter was 20 months and would go to the bathroom on the floor I would politely say, “Oh you did not make it to the potty? Well you can try again next time. Remember, go pee pee in potty, go doo doo in potty” and I would point at the potty.
As my daughter reached close to the age of 1 I began to tell her what to call her private parts, so that she would know where pe pee and doo doo cam from.
When your child is potty training you can use underwear or pull ups. It is best to use underwear in the home because whatever your child does (pee pee, doo doo) it will soak right through the underwear and into her clothes. The pull ups work o.k. they just can not withhold large amounts of anything, and they may prove difficult to pull down for children younger than 3.
Special ways to express urination
Pee
Pee pee
Wee wee
Make wee wee
Go wee wee
Make water
Tinkle
Special words to call bowel movements
Did you make a stinky?
Poo
Doody
Poop
Caca
Number 2
BM
Special words for private area
You can use thee word Private, to express vagina
Gina (jie-na)
Butt Butt
Bottom
