New to potty training - Help please

[bonnie]

I do have a potty but it's only for if a toilet training child needs to go now and the toilet is already in use. I purchased one of those toilet seats that has a toddler seat built in for my daycare washroom and have a stepping stool.

Hourly isn't going to be frequent enough for the first few days. More like every 20 mins. I also require real underwear. Some daycares want pull ups due to hygiene issues but I have found real underwear shortens the learning process as a little bit of pee running down their leg is a real lesson in reconsigning the need to go.

If the potty has been used, I dump into the toilet, swirl with water from the sink, then wipe out with lysol wipes and dry with toilet tissue.

I tend to begin toilet training the first business day after their 2nd birthday. It normally takes a good two weeks of real underwear and 20 mins reminders and sticker charts. But before I train a child, at around 18 months, they are pulling their own pants up and down for each diaper change. I will not toilet train a child who is unable to dress and undress their lower half because taking a child to a potty/toilet, pulling their pants down, sitting them down and then wiping them and redressing them is not independent toileting on any level.

A child needs to be able to just be verbally reminded to go and try, they need to be able to undress their lower half themselves and they need to be able to sit on the potty or toilet themselves. I teach the child to wipe themselves from the get go and I just double check they are clean before the child redresses themselves.

Thank you. I like the idea of them being in underwear. I have read that it does make the learning process quicker. And since my kids will have been trained at home for 4 weeks, I think underwear should work out. Or at least, I can try it from the start. Thanks again.