Potty Training Essentials

Potty training has to be one of the hardest things to do as a parent of a young child. It is a big step for kids and parents alike. And it takes a ton of patience, trial and errors, reading, and asking other parents. Hopefully this Hub will give you some insight into this tedious adventure and help you out.

Potty-training success hinges on physical and emotional readiness, not a specific age. Many kids show interest in potty training by age 2, but some children will not be fully potty trained until the age of 5 or 6. If you start potty training too early, it could take longer to train your child.

In my case my oldest son was for the most part potty trained by the age of 3. But he decided to regress and then completely stop using the toilet when it was his younger brother’s time to learn. My wife and I tried everything with our boys. We made a chart that they got to add stickers to when they went. We set times to put them on the pot during the day. We let them run around naked. We put them in the corner if they went in their pants (one minute per age of child). We paddled their butts. We let them pick out their "big boy" undies and wear just them. We got pull ups instead of diapers. You name it and we tried it. After a year my oldest son would pee on the potty but refused to poop on it. And my youngest son would just shake his fist at me and dare me to put him on the pot. Agh, the joys of parenting.

By this time I was ready to just bang my head on the counter and give up. But we had a huge problem. My oldest son was getting ready to start Kindergarten and the rules clearly state that all children must be potty trained or will not be able to start. Thankfully for us, we happened to be watching the news one night, and we heard there was going to be a clip from the "Potty Whisperer". It was said that she could train a kid in 5 hours. At the time I was laughing hysterically at this comment. I mean come on, in 5 short hours this magician is going to potty train a child!

After watching this magician and listening to parents tell of this woman's success I had to know more. I got on the internet and checked out several sites to see if this was going to actually work. Though very skeptical, it seemed that what she was teaching actually worked. When asked what her No. 1 rule for potty training was, she answered, “Never ask if they have to go,” she said. “If you ask them if they have to go potty, then you are the one who is in charge of their body. We’re trying to transfer that responsibility over to them. So we just tell them if you have to go potty, go in the potty”.

It did take us more than 5 hours to potty train my two boys. But I followed what she said and we got the results that we were looking for. There are only 3 easy rules to train your child using this method. The 2nd one can be very disgusting depending on your child. But after a week of it at my house, we stopped buying pull ups.

1. Never ask them if they have to go. Let them know it is their responsibility to take care of their own bodies. And if they have to go potty then they need to sit down and go by themselves.

2. If they go to the bathroom in their pants then they need to clean it up.

3. Cheer them on.

I know all kids are different. But this method had great results for us. I hope it works for you as well!