Potty Training Headaches!

[5 Little Monkeys]

First, decide if you want to keep this family. Parents not liking our approach to things is normal and IMO, to be expected. Disregarding our opinion, advice and not being able to communicate and reach a compromise is not acceptable though. If you want to go forward with her, plan a time to discuss potty training (I like to just give a heads up that during pickup one day, we need time to talk) Than be ready with a plan and ask her what her thoughts are. In the end, at your home it's your rules but hopefully you 2 can come up with an approach that both parties are comfortable with. For myself, I treat potty training case by case and work WITH the parent and child as each child is different. I explain to them what the best approaches have been IME and most times they go along with that (a lot of parents want their child trained FAST so are willing to do whatever I suggest lol) but sometimes a family has had previous luck with an older sibling doing a different approach and if I'm fine with it, I'll give it a shot.

The approach that I've found works best is....

- child has to be showing signs of wanting to be trained (dry diaper after nap, holding it, knowing when they need to pee/poop, saying potty, taking off clothes etc)

- child wears underwear underneath the pull up (keeps my home clean but they still feel the mess when they go)

- at first, there's a schedule. However that is only for 1-3 days max as than its YOU that's trained not the child. After that, I encourage them to use the potty at normal potty times (snack, lunch, before going outside etc) but the in between washroom visits are left up to them

- help the child with pulling up and down of clothes, getting off and on toilet but don't do it for them!!

- once I feel that they're ready for just underwear, (some have been as fast as one day!! Some have been a few weeks) I plan to stay inside for a day or two. I expect accidents and prepare myself for that lol. Make sure the parent leaves quite a bit of extra clothing at your place. Don't allow the child on your "good" furniture and encourage lots of washroom visits and make a big deal out of every success (it's a huge milestone!!) and try not to shame them for the accidents (we all make mistakes when learning a new thing and if they're like most of us, they won't want to continue with it if they get scolding for their mistake)

- to be considered fully trained, they must be able to do all the steps themselves. I still wipe bums for poops but that doesn't last very long as they learn quickly what to do

Doing it this way has been the easiest and fastest method I've tried over the years. Good luck!!