Tips To Make Potty Training Easier This Summer
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You’ve been thinking about potty training and wondering if there are tips to make potty training easier. There is!
Actually, potty training in the summer gives you a few potty training shorts-cuts that I want you to take advantage of, because not much, in good parenting, comes with shortcuts.
These Tips to Make Potty Training Easier Helped Me to Train by 2!
Really-super-quick back-story, then we’ll talk about how to use the summertime to your advantage.
I was fortunate enough to read a very helpful parenting book when my first baby was born which gave a scientific run down on potty training. Since proactive and purposeful parenting are the foundational elements here at Faithful Parenting, it makes sense that I was reading about potty training when the baby was just a few weeks old.
What I learned made so much sense and I have applied it to all 4 of my children.
The principles are cognitive, so it made no difference whether I was potty training a boy or a girl, strong-willed, or laid back, hyper-or-hypo sensitive.
It applies to all the same.
The Science of Your Child’s Peeing And Pooping
From the time a baby is born until somewhere between 18-24 months, emptying of the bladder and bowels is reflexive. If it’s full… it empties.
There is a literal-physical neuropathway that is not connected until between the age of 18-24 months. Once that neuropathway is connected, emptying of the bladder and bowels is no longer reflexive. It is now voluntary!
In short… a child can begin “holding it” shortly after 18 months of age. AS SOON as that happens, wearing a diaper goes from necessity (so he doesn’t pee everywhere) to actually training him to use the diaper as his toilet.
Potty training by age 2 means training the correct behavior, on a cognitive level, right off the bat, instead of waiting until he is 3-4 years old after he has been trained to use a diaper as his toilet for a year or two.
Potty training by age 2 = training into a cognitive skill.
Potty training after the age of two = training a social skill.
NOT-SO-SECRET, SECRET – SOCIAL SKILLS ARE MORE DIFFICULT!
Quick Rundown Of My Potty Training Success
This is what I did.
- #1. Once 18 months rolls around, I am watching for signs of readiness (signs that the child is “holding it.” Such as waking up dry from a nap/night time or stopping the flow after he’s started to tinkle. (hint…this is why summertime is so great for potty training.)
- #2. Take away the diapers.
- #3. Tell him, “You will not be wearing a diaper anymore. You must now use the potty.”
- #4. Train him how to sit on the potty – put him on the potty once every hour – praise and reward like CRAZY-TOWN when he pees or poops!! (Don’t use a little-on-the-floor-kids-training-toilet. Start right out training him how to actually climb on the potty, cuz you don’t want to train twice.)
- #5. Tell him, “You may NOT pee or poop anywhere other than the potty!”
- #6 Be relentless.
Don’t stop or give up because he had one great day, then spent all the next day peeing all over the place. Trust the science and do the work.
I wrote a complete, step-by-step, break-it-down-for-me process, but for the sake of today’s post, this is it in a nutshell.
My kids and I have always been successful because they obey. First-time obedience is a training priority from day one, and everyone in our home is blessed because of it.
Read the complete potty-training guide here.
Summer Time Tips To Make Potty Training Easier!
Little kids love to be naked.
Seriously… at various points throughout my children’s lives, I’ve thought, “at some point, I am going to have to start making him wear clothes!?”
Summertime is hot anyway. So just let him be naked.
Summertime tips to make potty training easier :
- #1. Your child can run around naked outside.
When you’re outside playing with your child, watch him! Look for him to stop what he’s doing and look down. A child will always draw their attention to the bodily function he is feeling. As soon as you see this happen, scoop him up and run him to the potty. Be sure to say something along the lines of, “HOLD YOUR PEE-PEE IN, SO WE CAN PUT IT IN THE POTTY WHERE IT GOES! DO NOT LET YOUR PEE-PEE OUT UNTIL I SAY YOU CAN!”
- #2. Your child should be drinking more water to stay hydrated in summer.
This gives you more opportunities to take him to the potty. He should easily be able to put some urine in the toilet every hour. Being on the toilet every hour provides more than enough chances to poop. Know your child’s schedule. If he had a regular poopy time with his diaper, it’s going to be about the same without it.
Now, there are other benefits to summer that make potty-training easier, such as more downtime, less hectic schedules, etc. However, the truth is, you can intentionally set 1-3 weeks aside to potty train at any time of the year. But the summer is the only time your child can run around naked outside and be completely comfortable.
Final Potty Training Tips and Truths
Did you read over these few short paragraphs and think, “surely it’s not that easy. There’s gotta be more “tricks” or “charts” or “systems.”
Charts and tricks can be fun.
Just know that it’s not necessary.
All that’s really, truly necessary is:
- a basic understanding of the brains function in elimination (aka peeing and pooping)
- a thorough understanding of the role of authority you have in your child’s life
- first-time obedience
- a commited mommy
A Note On Consequences Tips to Make Potty Training Easier.
It’s necessary to correct your child when he disobeys. Even when it comes to potty training.
You would tell him, “NO” if he stuck a fork in a wall outlet. Just the same you should do so as he began to pee on the floor.
If the problem is rooted in disobedience, correct it.
Be certain to connect any consequences with the rebellion and not the toilet training itself.
Take his diaper off, and tell him the new standard (It doesn’t matter whether or not he understands the words, you are training him SO he understands, not because he already does. If that were the case, parenting would be the easiest thing ever.)
Set a 30 minute – 1-hour timer and put him on the potty every time it goes off. Reward, clap and praise like bonkers when he does ANYTHING in that potty! Rinse and repeat. Don’t give up. Don’t stop.
