Potty Training 101

If you have been thinking about potty training anytime soon - then this post is for YOU!

As a school psychologist myself, with lots of years of teaching other people how to potty train their kids, you could imagine how anxious, nervous, and completely overwhelmed I was when it was time to start potty training my own child.

Sometimes, all it takes is a little step back to realize that we have all the tools we need; and we just need a little nudge in the right direction – and maybe a dash of understanding human behavior. So right here right now, I'm going to outline for you all of my hottest tips and tricks to potty training and leave you with some amazing resources and graphics that you can print right at home to get started today.

And as I say with anything involving children, may the odds be ever in your favor.

It is no secret that everyone recommends potty training be done over a series of 2 to 3 days right in a row where you have literally stopped your entire life and devoted everything to potty training. This is because of all of the accidents, all the consistency that it takes, and because learning something like this for a kid who has never done anything like this can be totally overwhelming for them too. So take a deep breath, and here we go.

Day 0

Day zero is what I like to call the day before you start potty training. Day zero is going to be all about talking about potty training, setting up your potty training spot with your kiddo, and making sure they know that the next day is the day potty train is going to start. It could be a great day to go pick out some underwear together, print out the charts, make sure you have everything ready to go. You should be sick of talking about potty training by the time this day is done. What it does is it lets your kiddo know exactly what is coming up. Kids like routine, they like knowing what to expect; so let them know what to expect very clearly and concisely in age appropriate terms.

Day 1

Day one is what I like to call D-Day. This is the day that it all starts. Be prepared for accidents. Expect them. In my house we have a million animals, so we also have a steam cleaner which comes in very handy. But if you don't, decide what's going to be best for you. Is it going to be letting your kid run around naked? Putting them in underwear? Using a pull-up? Decide what's going to be best for your family AND your sanity.

On day one, print out the day one supplemental page from my e-book on potty training and post it up near your station where potty training will be happening. Day one is all about helping your child associate good things happening when they use the toilet instead of their pull up or underwear. So you will see on page one of my supplemental pages that for every one time your kiddo goes potty they immediately get a reward. Make sure this reward is something that is higher level value and also is gone quickly. We picked gummy worms. If you're not about rewarding kids with food (which is totally OK) then pick some thing that's a little bit more intrinsic. Every time the kid goes potty, give them a hug. Let them do a special activity with you. Pick some thing again that's going to work for your family. (Stickers and stamps work well too!!)

Day 2

On day two, think of it exactly like day one but the stakes are a little bit higher. On page 2 of my supplemental pages in my e-book on potty training which you can find at the bottom of this article, you'll see that the child has to go potty

successfully two times to be able to get the reward. Now you'll notice that I'm not saying anything about punishing or delivering a negative consequence when the kid has an accident. That will, in my opinion, not go well. We are only talking about rewarding and shaping positive behaviors and giving positive consequences.

On day two we just proceed as normal and stick with our routine.

Day 3

Congrats! You have made it to day three. I'm hoping this means that potty training is going

well. And on day three, you can print out page 3 on my supplemental pages from my e-book. You'll notice that this page requires even more successful potties before they get the reward. Do you see what I'm doing here? We just want to keep making that reward a little bit harder to get. If this is something that your kid picks up

on very quickly, or if you feel like you're ready for less frequent rewards - you can go back to page one and utilize the single circle to indicate an entire day of successful potties. Eventually this can also be a whole week of successful potties for a reward.

I hope you were able to get something good out of the potty training guide!! I love hearing from you guys how it goes, so please comment or find me on social and shoot me a message! I'm always looking to better my resources so I will take any feedback into consideration.

Snag your free potty training book with supplemental pages and all the instructions + some BONUS troubleshooting guides - right here!

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XOXO AnneMarie