Lisa's 4 rules to Potty Training a 2 year old

Recently potty trained my fifth child.  I think I may have finally gotten the hang of it.  Here are my rules for potty training a child who has never gone on the potty… ever.  Of course, I know all kids are different.  This seems to work for my kids.  At least for the last two.  First three were miserable experiences.  Hopefully I can relieve someone from that stress.

#1 Have a day set aside where the only thing to do is have a potty party.

Potty party includes
1. New potty
2. A hard floor
3. Balloons
4. Juice boxes and milk and maybe even a water bottle.
5. Child friendly Potty movies from youtube
6. A book (to keep from going insane from potty movies)  - you want to stay close to your child to catch them going
7. Paper towels
8. cleaner
9. Long shirt for child – older brother’s t-shirt works great(No pants the first day)

Tell your child about the potty party the day before, and get them excited.

#2  An accident is never a big deal.  It’s just an accident.  Clean it up and tell your child it’s ok, next time try going in the potty.

#3  Making it in the potty is a big deal.  Get excited.  Smile, say, “Good job!”and give high fives.  Then take it to the toilet to dump and let them flush.

#4 Once you’ve started, there is no turning back.  No more diapers. … except at night.  I know lots of people train at night at the same time.  We use pull-ups at night for a while.  However, before this day he had never worn a pull-up, so it is still a little different.

Oh, and the pants lesson comes on day 2.

This Fisher Price potty is the perfect size, cute, and easy to clean.  I got it from Walmart.