Potty training, it is a huge step in your child growing up (and one that will start to save you tons on diapers!) Every child is different when it comes to potty training. What if your child seems to be potty trained at home, but you start to get reports that at daycare, he keeps having accidents and won’t go on their potty? What do you do? How can you help to potty train your child to go when you are not there, and he goes perfectly fine at home? Keep reading for some parenting tips on how to handle it when your child is potty trained at home, but not elsewhere.
Related: Potty Training 101: Is Your Prince or Princess Ready For The Throne?
Parenting tips for dealing with bumps in potty training
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Talk to the provider: Have a discussion with your daycare provider. They are pros in this biz (and in the biz of potty training) they may have some parenting tips for your regarding successful potty training outside of the home. Maybe your child needs some private time while using the toilet.
Fear: Are you using a potty seat at home, one that is their own that can go from room to room that you have to clean out each time? That is not what they are using at daycare and that can be scary for your child. Kids have great imaginations and the adult sized toilet (although low to the ground for them) can seem scary! He might think he will fall in! Or worse, something will come up from the water and bite him! At home, try transitioning to using the regular potty, maybe with a potty seat to make the opening a little less scary. You are going to have to transfer him to the big potty some time right? Unless you plan on carrying his potty seat everywhere you go.
Training pants: If your toddler is having a fine time at home using the potty but having trouble at preschool or daycare, maybe try some training pants. Chances are your child feels safe and comfortable at home, and although they are at daycare during the week, might not feel so comfortable with those toilets. They are different, there are other kids using them at the same time, it is just an entirely different experience altogether for her. I would explain the training pants to her and talk to the daycare about your plans. Maybe they have some suggestions as well.
Potty Training Made Easier with Huggies Pull-Ups® Training Pants
Reward system: You may have used a reward system for other things regarding your child, why not potty training outside of the home? Explain to your child that you want him to be comfortable using the potty at daycare. Using a sticker chart or a calendar he can put stickers on might give him a sense of accomplishment and pride and be happy to report to you that he had gone on the potty at school.
Talk to your child about what his concerns and fears are about using the potty at daycare or out in public in general. Validate his concerns and fears, do not make him feel silly, because his fears are real. It just takes one news story on a Boa Constrictor living in someones toilet for me to think there is one in mine too!
What have been some of your challenges while potty training? Maybe you work in childcare and have come across this sort of thing before. Share your parenting tips with us below!
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We’re about to get real serious about potty training…I think my girl is gonna be way more stubborn than my boy ever was.
potty training can be tough
I feel that my second child’ training took years – that was not fun!
We just potty trained our second child 3 weeks ago. We used rewards (Smarties in our case) and also switched to underwear and didn’t go back to diapers at all.
These are great tips! A reward system worked fabulously for us – a bag of M&M’s and a few days was all it took with my youngest but all kinds are different and finding what works for you is important.
I think a reward system is key. Kids get so excited about being rewarded for behavior and for trying.
Oh goodness, I think I blocked out so many of those memories. My second child was so easy to potty train, but the first was so much work!