Potty training is one of the biggest hurdles of parenthood. Sure, it is exciting to change a poop filled diaper again but what’s better than that? Never paying for a box of diapers again. But potty training can be difficult, for kid and parent. So when a Life of Dad user asked for tips on speeding up the process, we turned it over to the dads of our Facebook community and as usual, you guys delivered!
From Lifeofdad.com"I'm trying to potty train my 2 1/2 year-old daughter. I'm not having any luck, she still always…
Posted by Life of Dad on Saturday, February 4, 2017
Man Up and Get Ready for Dirty Underwear
Tre Puckett: Stop using diapers. She knows she can go in them. Put her in underwear, man up and get ready for dirty underwear. It’s like pulling off a Band-Aid. Just gotta do it.
William Robert Shacklett: Just rip off the Band-Aid. Go straight to underwear and get ready for a few messy weeks. Don’t waste your time or money on pull-ups. They are too similar to diapers and the kids don’t notice a big difference. We did however, keep our daughter in overnight pull-ups until she got a little older.
Dry Erase Markers
Tony McGill: Let her draw on the toilet with dry erase markers. It helps them stay on the potty longer. Then reward with high fives, candy, or stickers on a sticker board.
Martin Cota: My daughter 2 and 3 months, still refuses. And now she made it even more terrifying with her lego stickers.
Candy
Jesse Wolfe: This is what I did. Bought a great jar and filled it with his favorite candy. Put a 30-minute timer on the stove and made him try every 30 minutes. Got a treat every time he tried. He eventually started going on his own. Hope this is helpful.
Positive Reinforcement (and Chocolate)
James Sizemore: Positive reinforcement. Get some small chocolates and give her one every time she does it right. My daughter is 3 1/2 and she finally has both down.
Patience and Encouragement
Robert Foster: Just finished potty training my 3 1/2 year old boy. Nothing was working and I was on the verge of giving up and going back to diapers. He finally got it kinda on his own. But the best thing you can do is be patient and encouraging. When they sense you’re frustrated it just makes them regress. Sit her on the potty every 20 minutes for a day, then every 30, 45, hour, etc until eventually she starts going without your reminder.
Make a Big Deal Out Of It
Richard Mills: We made a big deal out of it. We took her to the store and let her pick out her potty, big girl panties and we got some different juices that she only got when she went potty ( we usually don’t let her have much juice). We sat her potty in the living room and watched movies all weekend with her. It took the weekend of encouraging her but after 2 days she was good to go and 6 months later she has only had about 3-4 accidents.
What’s your best tip for potty training? Share it with us on Facebook.
*Flickr photo by Todd Morris, used under Creative Commons license.