Toilet Training Policy

[playfelt]

I don't allow the underwear for training here either in the sense that I am not paid enough to constantly clean up carpets etc after them and I have the others to think about in the sense of the carpet or floor is unsanitary till I can clean it properly - not fair to the others or me. I usually find once a child is able to wake up from naptime with a dry diaper they are ready to start potty training. I put them on after nap and usually "catch" that one which starts the process rolling. We have scheduled diaper breaks throughout the day and children learn to hold it and pee on demand so to speak. If they can't stay dry for the hour - two hours between changes then they are not ready. Just because a child tells me every 20 mins they have to piddle is not really training. I just do not have the time to build that many trips to the bathroom into the schedule and as you all know the needs of one child can not dominate the needs of the group for more than a day here and there. When ready we switch to pullups but use a diaper at naptime. I have used underwear under the pullup for the final stage with the idea that if the underwear stays dry for 2 whole weeks then we can try leaving off the outer layer (pullup). One accident and the two weeks starts counting over again beginning with the following monday. Parents are encouraged to have them in just underwear evenings and weekends and to turn control for knowing when to go over to the child to speed up the process - and they get to see just how many accidents the child is still having.

Parents often need reminding that it isn't my job to hover over a child and watch for signs. If I see them fine but my eyes are on lots of things all day. Generally the parents that start the earliest seem to become the most frustrated and in the end all the kids are trained in due course so why go to the extreme to make it happen a month earlier.

Another thing I feel strongly about is that I do not give "rewards" for peeing. We don't give candies for eating lunch, or taking off shoes, or putting on a hat. These are considered maturity rites of passage and using the toilet is the same. It also is the fairest solution in daycare when you have children in various stages of learning at the same time. For families that do choose the reward method when a child does go we make an issue about it and tell them to remind me to tell mommy that they earned their treat at daycare. Then at pickup we talk about it and it is up to the parent to give the reward at home. That way too whatever a family chooses candy, sticker, penny, etc. stays consistent for them.