10 Steps to Perfect Potty Training

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Potty training … there has to be a best method, right? After all, we’ve been teaching this for hundreds of years, and I don’t see too many grownups having accidents running down their legs in the grocery store. Yet, despite the fact there seems to be so much out there on potty training, it is still one of the most daunting parts of parenthood.

Don’t fear! I’ve been documenting my potty training journey and reading everything I can get my hands on. Better yet, I’ve spoke to a lot of moms who “got real” about what worked and didn’t work. Finally, I’ve figured out the absolute perfect path to potty training, and here it is!

How to potty train in 10 easy steps | Columbia SC Moms Blog
Step 1: Get information overload. By now, I’m sure you’ve read the articles about how in Vietnam moms use a whistle when their baby urinates and the babies are usually potty trained by one year old! Other moms say let the child decide when they want to do it … let them run naked for a couple days and they will figure it out. People will start giving you advice before the kid can say potty. Preschools can put added pressure on to ditch diapers soon, while some kids learn this skill faster than others. 

Step 2: Make a plan. Once you wade through all the methods, tips, and tricks, you put together your game plan. On one hand, it might be a strategic blueprint and spreadsheet, chart, prizes, and so on. Or, maybe it’s more an idea. You stock up on books on potty time or try to spark an interest in their favorite character learning to go. Maybe you even have some handy bribes like M&Ms and flashy stickers. Anyway, you ARE doing this!

Step 3: Cheer. They have gone in the potty! This is thrilling; you celebrate them. You want them to associate the potty with positive attention, so you want to enforce this behavior. Your child is magnificent. This is going to be a cake walk, and then maybe you’ll write a book about it. 

Step 4: Accidents happen. Setbacks are normal. Unfortunately, normal means pee on furniture, un-washables, cars, clothes, and places you never expected. You will still be handling human poop and beginning to questioning why this is so much of your life now…

Step 5: Next the bribes, tears, fights, and more games of the porcelain throne. You will try harder, maybe switch up methods. Then, you will feel like your child is “pretty much potty trained” or “getting close,”  but in reality taking a kid to the bathroom every five minutes and rationing water is just preventing accidents, not teaching control. You’re doing great! Junior, not so much.

Step 6: Pee. Now, there’s pee everywhere. How does anyone ever do this? We are wild animals! 

Step 7: Telling everyone that you really think it’s important to wait until they are ready. I am here.

Now, let’s skip to Step 10. 

Step 10: Somehow, they all figure it out eventually. 

Let’s face it, fed is best and all potty trained is PERFECT. There is no one path that works for every mom or every kid. There is no one size fits all, magic overnight trick. There is you, your kid, and the potty. Eventually, you will win! Relax, you will not be watching them cross the stage at graduation in diapers, probably.

Maybe we should consider potty graduation photo shoots. Potty trained mommy vacations? How did YOU celebrate continence? 

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Paula Billingsley
Originally from Columbia, Paula has also lived in NC, Florida, Alaska, and the UK before returning, after her husband’s deployment, to start USC School of Law. After passing the bar, working with education nonprofits, and going back for her Masters in English, she’s set aside being an active attorney for now to focus on her health, writing, and raising her baby girl, Evy. Paula knows life does not usually go as expected, like being diagnosed with an autoimmune disease, and sometimes it goes better, like eloping or adopting her best book review buddy, Evy! She binges on good tv, good books, good chocolate, good tea, and good conversation. She’s also a fan of winning, whether at board games or yoga. At home, she enjoys making art, music, stories, and tasty food with her family including two wild puppies, Poppy and Petra. Out and about, she enjoys being involved in theatre and music, like at Town Theatre, enjoying the outdoors and wildlife, attending Windsor United Methodist Church, shopping, volunteering, and traveling on the cheap! She does not enjoy laundry, social injustice, environmental destruction, the patriarchy, coffee, soda, kale, or pants. She’s excited and thankful to pursue her calling and bring her child up in this kid friendly town.

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