Toilet Training For Your Child-Part II

If your child can understand and follow simple instructions that you give him, then it is the time to train the child for toilet manners. Start with simpler instructions first, like pulling pants down or sitting on the potty and later follow up with the ones that might need a little more understanding or development of motor skills like pulling up his pants, unzipping or even washing his hands by himself.

There is no hard and fast rule on how to train the child. As each child is different in the way he responds to instructions and on how you have been dealing with him in the past, the ways to toilet training too need to be individualistic. Some tips discussed will help you train the child.

1.  Get him a potty chair when he is able to walk and sit comfortably. Make him sit on it a couple of times a day with his clothes on so that he gets used to it, even though he might not be showing signs of readiness yet.

2. You could also begin suggesting to him that should he need to pee, he could do so in the bowl of the potty. You could then make him sit without the diaper and in case he does pee or poop in it, praise him.

3. While you are trying to potty train your child, keep him without a diaper, at least when you are at home.

4. Nothing works better than having your child see someone else uses the potty. It could be other children his age, an older sibling or even you. However, make sure that your child gets to observe someone of the same sex as observing the opposite sex might confuse him.

5. Talk to him a lot about peeing. You could ask him if he needs to pee after every couple of hours. When he does pee, acknowledge it and ask him to tell you the next time. You might need to remind him to tell you again and again, even for months but eventually, he would start telling you.

6. Make him wear lowers with elastic instead of lowers with zips or buttons so that he can pull them down himself if he is able to.

7. Nothing works like encouragement, praise or positive reinforcement. Once your child starts making some progress, you could praise him and let him know that you think he is good boy or a big boy now.

Toilet training can seem to last for months and cause a lot of frustration. Never lose your temper or show your frustration - doing so would only make your child anxious and nervous. Don’t scold your child for wetting his bed at night even if he is toilet trained as night time control of the bladder is perhaps the last thing your child will learn in the process. Never begin toilet training while you or your child is dealing with some other stressful issue. If you are going through a stressful period and are not able to devote much time to it or if your child is dealing with something else, like adjusting to a new sibling, defer training for a while and resume when you or your child are less stressed.