Parenting nightmare- How to potty train your kid?

Hello everyone. Today I will be discussing one of the nightmares of parenting- how to potty train your kid?

In this article,  I will be talking about my experiences and what helped me. Potty training was the biggest nightmare for me. So, I will be sharing some tips for the same.

My experience

I started potty training my daughter at 15 months. Experts suggest 18-24 months as the ideal time to start training. I got a cute duck-shaped potty seat that even had a flush. I thought she would love it and training would be easy for me. 

But things didn’t turn out as I expected. She didn’t even want to touch it. I tried a lot to make her sit on that but she would cry like hell. Then I thought of giving a break for a few days. After a few days, I tried again but got the same reaction.  This cycle continued for months. I was clueless and exhausted but I kept trying. 

She would know if she wants to pee or do potty but she wouldn’t go on the seat. I tried making her sit on the toilet seat directly, but that also didn’t help. The appreciation method also didn’t work. 

Cleaning the house numerous times a day was physically exhausting for me. I am sure many of you can relate to this situation if you are trying to potty train your kid.

I won’t lie but I did scold my child several times as I was getting mentally as well as physically fatigued. 

Then I saw a potty seat with a ladder on some shopping site. I thought about giving it a try and ordered it. 

And that was a miracle. She loved it and started using it from the very first day. She was now so obsessed with it that every half hour she would want to use it. That was another trouble for some time.

But after 2 weeks, things became normal and finally this parenting nightmare ended. My child was finally potty trained for the day.

“It’s okay to take a break and let your child get familiar to the idea of potty training.”

Tips for potty training your kid

1. Start with cloth nappies: Start by giving cloth nappies first. This will be a step in making them aware when they pee. You can start talking about potty training and making them understand the process.
2. Set a schedule: The next step can be making a schedule for training. Like asking them if they feel like peeing or doing potty. You can start by letting them use the potty seat with their nappies or diaper still on them. Let them get comfortable with the idea of using the potty seat. Once they seem comfortable,  you can let them use a potty seat once a day and then gradually increase frequency. 
3. Praise and reward: Specialists recommend praise and award methods. Kids are very sensitive and they respond well to gentle teaching. They need to be encouraged and rewarded whenever they are successful. Although this process is very tough on mothers and requires a lot of patience from them.
4. It’s okay to take a break: You should understand that this can be a tedious and time taking process. If you feel your child is not ready to use the potty seat, then please give it a break for a few days and give it a try again. During this time, try talking to your child about how important it is. Also, you can show some videos and make your child comfortable with the idea.
5. Peaceful environment: Also as my paediatrician had once told me that any new thing should be started when it is a peaceful, settled environment at home. This means if you are on a vacation or some functions at home or if the baby is sick, then no new changes are supposed to be implemented. 

I hope this helps the parents but this is not the end of the struggles. Also, there might be people trying to make you feel bad for not being able to potty train your kid. It will be hard but please try to ignore them.  All kids are different and will take different times. 

Nighttime training is another challenge and I will talk about it in my next blog.

Sometimes I feel parenting is all about completing milestones. Do check out my blog How to night train your toddler?

Have you also ever felt that?? Do let me know in the comments section. 

If you are interested in getting moral stories books for your lil ones, do check out my books.

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