“Mommy! I need my diaper changed, my, my diaper changed!”
Not only can my 2 year old sign a Lady Gaga parody song that his father taught him about diaper change time, but he can also identify when he has a dirty diaper.
And that, my friends, is a sign that it’s time to grab your best potty training tips and head for the bathroom.
I’m kind of a professional at knowing when a kid needs to potty train. Not because I’m some genius. Just because I’ve been here before. Four times.
With our first child, I read all of the books. I listened to hours of advice. The minute he turned 2 years old, I bought a potty chair and we began the work of potty training time. And boy, was it work.
With our second, I took a slightly more relaxed approach. He’s only 16 months younger than his big brother. With potty training still fresh in our minds, I decided to use peer pressure in a positive way. When brother 2 went to the potty, everyone in the family got to eat some M&Ms. Worked like a charm.
By the time I potty trained babies number 3 and 4, I had learned to roll with the punches. Every baby was different, learned differently, and would potty train at their own pace. No matter how many times I banged my head against the wall.
That saved a lot of headaches.
So now it’s time to begin the process of potty training again. And I’m ready for it! Today I’m going to share my best potty training tips.
Potty Training Tips: Make it Exciting
Get your little one on board.
If your little one is telling you when he or she is dirtying their diaper, they are probably ready to start associating that feeling with the bathroom.
So how do you introduce the idea of potty training? You’ve got to make it interesting and exciting to them!
One of the first things we always do is make a special trip to the store for our little one’s first pack of Pull Ups® Training Pants. We call them “big boy pants” (or “big girl pants” in the case of our daughter), because I want him to know that something new and exciting is happening. It’s time to leave diapers behind!
Save Money
It’s no surprise that saving money on potty training is a must for our family!
So before we left, I jumped on to the Dollar General’s website. I already visit this store weekly. It’s super convenient to my home. Not to mention that I love the ability to get in, grab what I need, and get right back out. No need to walk the length of a football field for a gallon of milk!
And to make shopping even more convenient, Dollar General now has digital coupons. I love digital coupons, because I don’t have to print them only to lose them or forget them at home. A couple of clicks on the computer or my phone, and I’m ready to save money!
It takes just a few simple steps to get signed up for these coupons.
1. Sign up here or Text JOIN to 34898 to begin saving today!
2. Create an account and load any coupons you would like to use.
3. Visit your local Dollar General to redeem coupons at checkout. Look to their store locator to find your nearest Dollar General!
On many Saturdays, Dollar General will have a coupon good for $5 off your $25+ purchase. I often shop there on Saturdays for this reason. So once you sign up, be on the look out for that coupon for even more savings!
The Trip
Coupon at the ready, my little man and I made our special trip. Before we left, I made a really big deal out of the errand. “Are you ready? We’re going to go get you some big boy pants!”
We were able to find the Pull Ups right away. My guy was really happy to find that Jake and the Neverland Pirates was on the packaging. It matched his shoes!
After grabbing some chocolate (because I am clearly not above bribing my little ones in certain instances), we checked out. I punched in my phone number at the check out, and used my coupon with no hassle.
My little guy proudly carried his big boy pants to the car.
Getting started
While my son is excited about using the potty just like his big brothers and sister, he’s also pretty nervous about the idea of sitting his bare behind on the potty seat.
None of my other children had this problem, so it’s something new to consider.
With that in mind, I decided to check out the potty training quiz to find out which personality fit my child. It’s such a cute little quiz. And at the end, it gave me some specific tips that would work with my child’s personality.
And now I’ve got some new tools to try with my own little turtle!
Getting Over the Fear of the Potty
After encouraging him to sit on the potty with his Pull Up on, I finally convince our guy to sit his bare bottom on the potty. I sat with him and talked about our day to distract him from what we were doing. Another great idea to try would be reading a book or singing a song together.
I also promised him a couple of M&Ms if he just sat there on his bare bottom for a minute. That might have been the most effective method. (He gets his love of chocolate from me, after all.)
After he has mastered the challenge of keeping his bare butt on the potty, we will change the challenge. He’ll have to actually pee in the potty to earn his chocolate or sticker.
We have often used sticker charts as a reward system for potty training and other things that we want to encourage the children to learn. I generally just hang a piece of scrap paper up and we use cheap stickers or free stickers that came in the mail or a book.
We’ve got a long road ahead of us when it comes to potty training. But we are already off to a great start.
What are your best potty training tips? Be sure to share!
It’s been such a long process for me and just when I thought he finally got it, he regressed. 🙁
That happened with nearly all of my kids! That’s why I’ve decided not to make too big of a deal out of it. I just try to be as consistent as possible and really try to keep my emotions out of the way.
All of my kids had a magical week when suddenly they figured out how to stand, how to walk, etc. And potty training is no different! You’ll be amazed. One week he’ll just suddenly figure it out and that will be it. Hopefully that week is coming up soon for you!
We’re not too far off potty training so this was really useful! We have just made the switch to pull ups already because she just wouldn’t keep still to have a nappy done up, and it was weird being in the next stage of the baby aisle at the supermarket. She really is growing up! 🙂 #FridayFrivolity
I remember those days! LOL My little ones loved to run around naked, but when it came to potty training they balked, big time. I wish there would have been tools like you are using to teach me how to best go about it. Great tips, for saving and for success with your child’s personality type for training! Love this, sharing so other moms can use your tools!
Hi Jamie. Thanks for the tips (I’m past those times for now unless I get a grand baby) but I’m sure many can use these good ideas! Thanks for linking up with Funtastic Friday!
These are great tips! I’m trying to take the more laid back approaching to potty training our older child too. Thanks for linking up with Small Victories Sunday.
It just doesn’t make sense to make both of you so crazy over something that is going to happen naturally. Thanks for reading!
You have mentioned great tips here.. My son was a somewhat late at learning to use the toilet and needed to learn how before he could start Montessori preschool. . This is really helpful.