My little one began her transition from diapers into big girl underwear around the age of 16 months. Not much time passed before my daughter was completely out of diapers altogether. Through that transition we always seemed to struggle with my daughter “holding it” whether because she was too busy playing to stop and go or just felt too much pressure from a reminder to go potty. So while my daughter is completely potty trained at 3 years old we were still dealing with  her holding it or waiting too long to get to the toilet. Very recently we have come up with some awesome ideas to help give my daughter more control of the whole process. Here are my 4 tips on giving more control to your little one no matter where you are in the potty learning process.

Tip number one: 

Let your little one create their potty space! For us this looks like a basket where my daughter was able to pick and choose the books that were always available for her to read while waiting to go. To keep this step fresh and engage her brain in potty going each day we started each morning by choosing the books she would get to look at throughout the day while on the potty.

Tip number two:

Decorating her potty chair. We let our daughter use stickers to put all over her toilet to make it more “hers”. If you aren’t using a potty chair you could also let your child pick out the child size toilet seat you will be using or the stool they will need to climb to the regular toilet.

Tip number three:

Talk about your own bathroom trips with them. Talk about the struggle that is real to find a bathroom in a new place or the accidents you had as a child. Having someone that understands the frustrations that come with potty trips helps your little one relax knowing she or he isn’t alone in the learning process.

Tip number four:

Offer incentive to go. I’ve seen this one a lot in potty training tip articles. Most often incentives used are a candy, or a toy, both of which are certainly options. With a very low sugar intake in our home, candy was out the window and with doing our best at teaching our children minimalism 6 toys a day was sort of going against that family motto as well. So what did we do instead? We chose to print out our daughters current favorite movie character potty chart and tape it in the bathroom. Every time she goes potty she gets to use her stamp set to stamp a potty box! She really likes the control of choosing which box to stamp as well as what color and stamp to use. Stickers would also work great for a chart!

There you have it, my four steps to help give your little one more control in the potty learning process. Other key things to remember are to be patient, be kind, and most of all do you best to keep things light hearted, jokes and silly games are some of the most helpful tools in making a difficult process like potty learning more fun and exciting for little ones!

Lakota

I am a stay at home mother of two, who loves to create in every form, from cooking, to henna, to painting or sculpting, creating with my hands is my passion! I love to dance and let loose when the music flows right. Being outside is a special kind of therapy I think humans need more of as well as mindfulness! I love all things new and adventurous and am always looking to experience more of life 🙂