Before you embark on the journey that is potty training, there's a certain amount of preparation you need to make. Like I said in yesterday's post, you need to make sure your child is 100% ready to embark on this journey with you. I say that because there's been studies done that have shown that potty training before a child is ready can cause psychological damage. I guess that can go back to Freud and we all know how crazy he was, but I definitely think there's something to it. Your child must understand what is being asked of them and be able to understand the concept of potty-training. Your child must also have developed the appropriate nerve impulses in their anal and urethral regions. Without these impulses, they will not be able to control their pee or poo and the effort you put forth potty training will more than likely be a waste. So, how do you know if your child's developed these nerve impulses? Do they keep a dry diaper for longer than an hour? Have they woke up from their nap with a dry diaper or even woke up in the morning without using their diaper? If so, they just might be ready!
Now that we've determined whether or not your little is physically and psychologically ready for potty training, I've made a little list to make things a little easier on you! I wish I would've had a list like this with all the necessities in one place before we started.
As far as the potty chair goes, I'd recommend having both a potty chair and a seat you can put on the toilet. That way you can mix things up a bit and let them go on the big potty to keep things interesting, but still have a potty chair that you can take with you from room to room or even in the car with you. Another recommendation I have is to avoid the potty chair and stool in one style. Alea's thrown many fits because when the chairs up against the wall, it can slide and cause the lid of the potty chair to close on them!
When it comes to undies, absorbent is always best in my opinion. This helps with clean up. Not a lot, but every bit counts when you're dealing with pee and poop all day. However, we couldn't find any extra absorbent ones in Alea's favorite characters so we bought mainly character undies. I wanted to get her character undies because that way I could use the "you don't want to pee on Dora" line and it totally worked! She'd get really bummed if she "pooped on Cinderella," too!
Get yourself a bag of M&M's or another favorite treat & a stack of stickers. We made a little chart that we taped on the back of our bathroom door. She got one sticker & one M&M for peeing on the potty and two stickers & two M&M's for pooping on the potty. It's all about rewarding the correct behavior when it comes to potty training.
Now that you got your list, you'll be ready to go! Come on back tomorrow for the big day & get ready to get down and dirty!
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