Hint Mama

The Big Blog of Hints: Sharing hints to make parenting easier, cheaper and a bit more humorous

  • Home
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Contact
    • Share a Hint
  • Gear
  • Preparing For Baby
  • Toys
  • Childproofing
  • Traveling
  • Mealtime
  • Activities & Classes
  • Parties & Entertaining

Today’s Hint: 7 Ways to Make Potty Training Easier

February 25, 2015 By Karen Witham

Note from Hint Mama: I’m right in the midst of potty training my 2.5-year-old daughter, and it’s no secret that potty training is hard. In fact, the difficulty of potty training is why my posting frequency has gone down a bit lately – I’m spending my free time cleaning up accidents and watching my tot closely. However, I’m sure the process would be even harder if I didn’t have potty training hints from contributor Karen Witham, a been-there, done-that mom, to help me. Here’s the latest in her series of posts looking back at what she learned from potty training her two children.  

Potty training is something all kids and parents go through. It’s emotional, time consuming, occasionally very messy, and can be a real hassle. However, from experience, I’ve learned that there are ways to make it a bit less stressful for you and your child. Today’s hint is seven tips that can help make potty training as easy as possible.

1. Dress your child for potty training success. In an earlier post here on Hint Mama, I suggested ways to dress your tot to help support potty training. Think commando, skirts and t-shirts, and skip the overalls and footsie pajamas.

X4441-froggy-potty-d-12. Pepper your house with toddler potties. I suggest buying a couple of those portable toddler potties (I like the Fisher-Price Froggy Potty). Put one in your child’s bedroom, so going potty at night or first thing in the morning is convenient. Put another one in the most popular room in the house, like the playroom or family room.

3. Don’t forget the wipes. I also put a box of diaper wipes next to the potty. I think wet wipes are gentler than toilet paper, and more likely to help them do a good job getting cleaned up.

4. Regulate fluids. Don’t allow a big drink just before a long car trip, in the car, or before bedtime, to help lessen the chance of accidents and save yourself some cleanup time.

5. Help your child form good bathroom habits. Make it part of the routine to use the bathroom before leaving the house and right before bed. It helps if the entire family does this, so your child doesn’t feel singled out. And be sure to read this earlier hint on instilling good bathroom manners.

6. Teach your child how to look for bathrooms. Try to make your little one feel safe in being able to ask to go to the bathroom — even if it’s annoying or inconvenient. Point out the restroom when you pass by one, and familiarize them with the symbols for women’s and men’s restrooms – they can serve as a visual cue.

7. Engage in potty talk. Spend some time each day talking to your child about his or her feelings, and occasionally weave in some questions about using the bathroom. If you are used to being around adults all day, like I am, it can be hard to say things like, “How does your body feel today?” “How was it when you went to the bathroom today? Did it feel good, did anything hurt?” “Are you feeling proud that you used the potty this morning?” “What can I do to help you?” “Do you like your frog potty? How do you feel about using the toilet mommy and daddy use?”

If we don’t openly talk to our little ones about the basics of using the toilet, how can we expect them to know how to talk to us about their potty training challenges, fears, and needs? What if the main barrier to using the toilet is that the flushing noise scares your toddler? What if your child has mild constipation and it hurts them to go? What if their toddler potty is uncomfortable for them or hard to get up from? You may never know unless you ask.

It’s a fine line – don’t obsess or force your child to have daily conversations about potty training. If it’s just one of the many areas of life that you discuss, and in which you are interested in their feelings, potty talk should be relatively natural and a positive experience for you both.

Now, just a couple caveats: these tips are meant for those of you potty training toddlers and preschoolers, not infants. And of course, I’m not an expert. I’m just a mom. But I do have potty training experience and the gift of a little hindsight (my kids are both in elementary school now). I hope these tips prove helpful or at least, thought-provoking.

What are your tips for making the potty training process easier?

Karen Witham is a mother of two children who she can’t believe are already ages five and seven. She spends her time on both sides of the Bay, working full-time as an editor and writer in San Francisco and living in Oakland. A transplant from the East Coast, she spent ten years living in Boston and also loves New York and most of all, Paris. Karen has a B.A. from Brown University and an M.A. from Emerson College. She blogs at Thoughtstream. Connect with her on Twitter at @kewitham or LinkedIn.

Follow Hint Mama on Facebook and Twitter, and read more about her and her disclosures.

Share Button

More Hints

  • Today’s Hint: The Training Potty to GetToday’s Hint: The Training Potty to Get
  • Today’s Hint: How to Encourage Kids to Wash Their HandsToday’s Hint: How to Encourage Kids to Wash Their Hands
  • Today’s Hint: When to Start Potty TrainingToday’s Hint: When to Start Potty Training
  • Today’s Hint: How to Dress Your Toddler for Potty Training SuccessToday’s Hint: How to Dress Your Toddler for Potty Training Success
  • Today’s Hint: 5 Tips for Traveling with Older KidsToday’s Hint: 5 Tips for Traveling with Older Kids

Filed Under: Activities & Classes, Diapers & Related Products, Potty Training Tagged With: bathroom manners, Fisher Price, Froggy Potty, Hint Mama, Karen Witham, potty, potty training

Drop Me a Hint

Contact Hint Mama

Comments

  1. C says

    November 1, 2016 at 7:58 pm

    1, 2, 3, 5, & 7 apply to infants just as much as any kid. You might be able to do a little of 4 but keep an eye on weight gain. Probably not worth the risk. Obviously 6 is over an infants head.

Trackbacks

  1. Today’s Hint: When to Start Potty Training – Hint Mama says:
    April 7, 2015 at 8:43 pm

    […] the better off everyone will be. For more on potty training, check out my hints on “7 Ways to Make PottyTraining Easier” and “How to Dress Your Toddler […]

  2. Today’s Hint: 3 School Lunch Tips from the Trenches – Hint Mama says:
    November 19, 2015 at 2:12 am

    […] like my tips for handwashing and potty training, when it comes to school lunch packing, try to make sure that it’s as easy as possible for your […]

aaa

SEARCH HINTS

[instagram-feed]

Advertise Here

You can find more information about advertising on HintMama.com, month- and quarter-long sponsorships, guest posts, press relations and disclosures here.

Find a Hint

  • Activities & Classes (96)
    • Potty Training (10)
    • Preschool (18)
    • Story Time (4)
    • Storytime (3)
  • Baby Registry (24)
  • Bathtime (10)
  • Birthday Parties/Entertaining (43)
    • Baby Showers (11)
  • Childproofing (28)
  • Decorating (32)
  • Diapers & Related Products (21)
  • Exercise (13)
  • Gear (172)
    • Bibs (5)
    • Bottles (11)
    • Car Seats (18)
    • Clothes (24)
    • Hair Accessories (2)
    • Strollers (12)
  • Help (18)
  • Helpful Tech (61)
  • Holidays (60)
  • Loveys (4)
  • Mealtime (81)
  • Play (56)
  • Pregnancy (16)
  • Preparing for Baby (97)
  • Recording Memories (16)
  • Safety (36)
  • Saving for College (2)
  • Savings (63)
  • Shoes (4)
  • Sleep (26)
  • Staying Organized (37)
  • Taking Time for Yourself (44)
  • Top Hints (19)
  • Toys (88)
  • Traveling (71)
  • Uncategorized (5)

Shop: Hint Mama’s Picks

At Hint Mama's Amazon.com store, you'll find the select products Hint Mama recommends as well as those mentioned in Hint Mama's posts. Read Hint Mama's disclosures here.

Old Hints

  • December 2019 (1)
  • December 2018 (1)
  • October 2018 (1)
  • September 2018 (1)
  • August 2018 (1)
  • July 2018 (2)
  • January 2018 (1)
  • September 2017 (3)
  • August 2017 (1)
  • July 2017 (1)
  • June 2017 (2)
  • April 2017 (1)
  • March 2017 (1)
  • February 2017 (1)
  • January 2017 (10)
  • September 2016 (1)
  • August 2016 (2)
  • July 2016 (1)
  • May 2016 (1)
  • April 2016 (1)
  • March 2016 (2)
  • February 2016 (1)
  • January 2016 (1)
  • December 2015 (3)
  • November 2015 (3)
  • October 2015 (5)
  • September 2015 (7)
  • August 2015 (7)
  • July 2015 (9)
  • June 2015 (6)
  • May 2015 (9)
  • April 2015 (11)
  • March 2015 (11)
  • February 2015 (11)
  • January 2015 (18)
  • December 2014 (17)
  • November 2014 (14)
  • October 2014 (23)
  • September 2014 (21)
  • August 2014 (20)
  • July 2014 (22)
  • June 2014 (21)
  • May 2014 (21)
  • April 2014 (21)
  • March 2014 (21)
  • February 2014 (19)
  • January 2014 (22)
  • December 2013 (21)
  • November 2013 (21)
  • October 2013 (23)
  • September 2013 (21)
  • August 2013 (8)

Before entering the corporate world, Jennifer Saranow Schultz (aka Hint Mama) was the lead writer for The New York Times “Bucks” personal finance blog and a reporter at The Wall Street Journal. Read More…

300x250 Mom Break POPSUGAR Select Moms USFamilyGuide.com

RIGHTS RESERVED

Hint Mama™ is a trademark of the author of this blog. Unless otherwise indicated, all text, images and (sometimes humorous) hint sharing were created and produced by the author of this blog. Rights reserved. So please enjoy (but do not reproduce without permission).

From the Blog

Today’s Hint: A Solution for Missing Puzzle Pieces

Today’s Hint: How to Talk to Little Kids About Alexa (and Robots)

Today’s Hint: Hint Mama’s Top Halloween Hints (Plus a New Halloween Hint)

Today’s Hint: What to Do With Old Coloring Books

Today’s Hint: 5 Outside-the-Box Bath Toys

Advertise, Sponsor, Press Relations, Disclosures

You can find more information about advertising on HintMama.com, month- and quarter-long sponsorships, guest posts, press relations and disclosures here. Google+

Find it Here

Copyright © 2014 · Hint Mama · Design by Anchored Design on the Genesis Framework