4 Tips for Potty Training Success & Boosting Self Esteem

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Potty training can be a difficult process. Some keeps seem to catch on overnight, while for other it takes a little more work. No matter how long it takes your child to potty train, instilling confidence in them during this time is so important.

E has been pretty good when it came to potty training, but he still has some accidents. There is nothing I dread more than those footsteps coming into my bedroom in the middle of the night and that little voice saying, “Mommy? I wet my bed.”

At that point is the the chore of changing E’s clothes, then changing his sheets, and finally getting him back to sleep. By then, I am usually wide awake and it takes quite a while for me to get back to sleep. As a parenting, it can be easy to get frustrated when your child has accidents, but instead of getting upset it is vital to build not only your child’s confidence but also his or her self esteem. 

(Don’t worry, mom, your little one will eventually get it!)

In the meantime, I have come up with four tips to not only survive potty training, but to also build your child’s self esteem and self confidence in the process. 

Provide Plenty of Encouragement

No matter where you are in your potty training journey, you want to make sure that you are providing plenty of verbal encouragement to your child. If your child is just starting out, it might be feeling him that he is such a big boy for just sitting on the potty (even if he doesn’t actually go). Once your child is actually going on the potty be sure to tell him how proud of him you are. 

Continue to praise your child even after he or she is going on the potty on a regular basis. This will boost your child’s confidence and will make him want to continue going on the potty

Make it Fun

One of the things that we did with E when we first started potty training was to take him to the store and allowed him to pick out a potty seat that he liked. He picked out a frog one and he was so excited to bring it home and start trying it out. It actually took a month or two before he actually went on it for the first time, but just the process of picking out a potty that he liked and that he was proud of was enough. 

I have also heard of parents of boys doing things such as putting Cheerios in the toilet for them to “aim” and hit or even going outside on a tree as a way of making potty training “fun.” No matter what you do, using the potty shouldn’t seem like a chore or something that they will potentially get in trouble over. 

Create a Reward System

Create some sort of a reward system for when your child actually uses the potty. This will provide a goal for them to work towards. When we were beginning to potty train E, he would get a few M&Ms every time he peed in the toilet. When he pooped, he would get a bigger prize such as a Matchbox car. This would give him the incentive to to keep using the potty when he had to go to the bathroom instead of just going in his Pull-Up. 

Even though E is for the most part potty trained, we still have a reward system in place if he can go the entire week without an accident. This time, I have built him a treasure chest and when he goes the whole week without an accident he can get a special rock to put in the chest.

The treasure chest is actually really easy to make and can be made in a variety of themes depending on what your child is interested in. I just bought a decorative box at the craft store, covered the glass with painters tape and spray painted the wood. 

After the wood was painted, I removed the tape and glued the pirate flag wooden decal to the top of the treasure chest with a hot glue gun. You can see along the edges that there is some paint I missed. You can touch that up with a Sharpie if you need to.

E loves talking about his rock collection so I bought some different gems and minerals at a local science store. You can also pick rocks like these up at bead stores or even at places online. Now whenever he goes a week without any accidents he can pick a rock to add to his collection.

He is so proud of all of the rocks that he has been earning!

Use GoodNites TruFit Underwear

As I said before, overnight accidents can be frustrating. Instead of having to change sheets in the middle of the night, or even have your child revert to wearing diapers or Pull-Ups again (which can be embarrassing for your child), try using GoodNites TruFit underwear.

Here is the really cool thing about GoodNites TruFit underwear, instead of being disposable such as diapers or Pull-Ups, GoodNites TruFit underwear is actually real cotton underwear with a disposable, absorbent insert to protect against nighttime accidents.

The TruFit underwear is so easy to use. Just place the insert into the underwear with the text facing down and tuck the insert into the inside pocket. Once the insert is secure, the underwear is ready for a good night’s sleep!

These disposable inserts will save your little one from the embarrassment of having wet the bed at night and by wearing the same sort of underwear that they wear during the day it will not draw attention to the fact that your child may still not be able to go all night without an accident.

You can pick up the GoodNites TruFit starter pack in the baby isle of your nearest CVS. The starter pack comes with two pairs of underwear as well as 5 disposable inserts. Both girl and boy starter packs are available as well as refill packs. Another nice feature is that the TruFit underwear are available in sizes S-M and L-XL, with the L-XL fitting children up to 100 pounds. This way you don’t have to worry about your child outgrowing them too early!

Additionally, you can print a coupon for $4 off of a starter pack by using the Jebbit. Jebbit will ask you a series of 3 questions which will then unlock the coupon. It only takes a minute and can lead to big savings! Check out Jebbit HERE.

Comment On: How would you use the GoodNites TruFit starter kit? What tips do you have for surviving potty training?

 

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