Pampers Easy Ups Party // Potty Training Advice

May 20, 2016

Pampers Easy Ups Potty Training Party and Potty Training AdvicePotty training is a huge milestone in a both a child, and parents life.  Toilet training toddlers is one of the first real signs of childhood independence, and it is a really exciting time!

I’m excited to partner with Pampers Easy Ups to share with you a little bit of my insight as a mom who has gone through potty training with all of my three kids.

Pampers Easy Ups Potty Training Party and Potty Training Advice

Pampers Easy Ups Potty Training Party and Potty Training AdvicePampers Easy Ups Potty Training Kids Party and Potty Training Advice

Pampers Easy Ups Potty Training Kids Party and Potty Training AdviceI had a lot of fun putting together and throwing a potty training party play date with some of my good friends and their kids!

Pampers Potty Training Party Healthy Meals for Kids

 


29-pampers-easy-ups-potty-training-tips

Pampers Easy Ups Potty Training Kids Party and Potty Training Advice

When I have little friends over, I like to keep it simple.  I usually serve little finger foods that the kids enjoy, my specialty is muffin tin meals for the kids.  They always get a kick out of eating their food out of muffin tins, and especially love getting to pick out what they want from the tray.

A Kit for Potty Training Survival

A Kit for Potty Training Survival

Pampers Easy Ups Potty Training Pants

A Kit for Potty Training Survival

A Kit for Potty Training Survival

I put together some goodie baskets for my guests, or Potty Training Survival Kits if you will.  Kids toilet training can be a bit of a rough time, so I wanted to put together a little something special with Pampers to help make the diaper-to-underwear transition time a little bit easier on both mom and child.

Potty Training Survival Kits:
Pampers Easy Ups
Potty Training Reward Chart
Pampers $5 off coupon
Toys and Bubbles for the Rewards when they complete their chart
Lindt Chocolates- these are actually for the moms.  It’s hard work for them too!

I’m going to be totally honest with you. Potty training the first time around with our oldest was a really stressful time for us.  In fact, I may have a little post traumatic stress still when I think about it!  Ha! It was a rough nine months!

Yes, you read that right, NINE months of potty training!  As a new potty training mom, with a baby and a toddler, I was determined to not have two kids in diapers anymore.  Ezra caught on pretty quick with going #1, but the #2?  Well, that took a full nine months to conquer, and boy that wasn’t easy.  He was so afraid to go #2 on the potty, he just wouldn’t do it! We had accidents with #2 every-single-day for nine months, which was hard since he was completely fine with going #1 in the potty!

Even though it was a bit of a stressful time in our house, it did make it easier on us to use Pampers Easy Ups training pants.  After a while, it just got too hard to have to clean out and wash his little pairs of underwear.  We also were just so on edge all of the time wondering if he was going to have an accident.  It not only made it less of a worry at home, but especially when we were out of the house, and I didn’t want to have to deal with another messy clean up and clothing change away from home.  Finally, we just wised up, and used the training pants until he was more comfortable going on the potty when he was more ready to do it.

Eventually he was able to get to the underwear stage with the support of the Easy Ups training underwear, and we were all just thrilled when it finally clicked for him one day!

So, I wanted to share a few of the mistakes I made while trying to potty train my oldest child.  Not to say that my other two were easy, potty training isn’t always an easy task.  But, they were definitely a walk in the park compared to our first experience!  You live and you learn, I suppose!

Here are a few things that I had to learn the hard way on what NOT to do when potty training. Hopefully a few of you can benefit from my mistakes!

What NOT to do when Potty Training:

  1. Don’t Start them on your Time Schedule.

Sometimes as parents we tend to have an agenda for things, and potty training is no different.  When the ‘new baby comes’, or ‘before we go on a vacation’, or ‘after we go on a vacation’, or ‘before he starts school.’  Those are all great reasons that you would want your child to be potty trained for.  But, this can be a huge mistake if your child simply just isn’t ready.  I totally made that mistake with my oldest.  I tried to potty train him on my schedule, and he just wasn’t quite ready.  He was a little too young, and needed a little more time.  Boys also tend to be a ready a little later than girls.

2.  Don’t Expect it to be Easy.

Potty training isn’t easy, so just expect that you’re kid isn’t going to be that miracle child who potty trains himself, and you’re most likely in for several rough days ahead.

3.   Don’t think there will be not Accidents.

Everyone has heard those random stories of the kid who magically potty trained himself, and never had any accidents.  Well, I’m a little skeptical about that “story.”  Some kids are definitely easy than others, but it’s hard for me to believe that a kid would never have a single accident?  May his parents are available to hover 24/7, and they somehow made it to the potty every time, but I wouldn’t bank on that.  Just expect that your child is going to have some accidents. It will be ok, you will survive, I promise! I did!

4.   Don’t Lose your Cool.

Wow!  I wish I could go back in time and start over with this one.  With nine months of potty training, I would be lying if I said I didn’t lose my cool.  In fact, I probably lost it a few too many times.  I think cleaning up poop day in and day out can do that to a person.  I do remember one time I put Ezra into a cold tub of water to clean him up.  I still feel bad about that one.  But, like I said, it’s not going to be easy.  But, try not to lose your cool.  Your little toddler is trying their best, and it really is an adjustment for everyone.

5.  Don’t be afraid to start over another time.

So, maybe you have started potty training, and it just isn’t working out.  Your child clearly isn’t ready, and everyone is miserable.  Don’t be afraid to just stop the clock for a bit, and try again another time.  I liked using the training pants instead of a bulky diaper so the kids could get a hang of the underwear feel.  The Pampers Easy Ups have cute designs for boys and girls with Thomas & Friends® and Dora the Explorer®, so the kids feel like they are a big kid who is ready to tackle potty training.  It was also nice that they have super-stretchy sides to make them easy to pull up and down when they were interested in giving it a try on the potty.   The Easy Ups also  have some graphics on the Easy Ups that would fade to help them learn when they go in their training pant, providing a good opportunity to talk about the potty, and when they feel like they need to go, they can try it out on the potty.

6.  Don’t Shame your Child.

Toilet training can be hard on everyone, especially the parents, but also for the child.  It is important to keep it a positive experience for your child so that they will be empowered, and want to continue to have success on the potty!  It can be very frustrating to have to deal with the mess, and stress of potty training, but keep it a positive experience, and never shame them for having an accident.  Focus on the positive!

7.  Don’t Reward them Every Time.

It is easy to get into the habit of rewarding your child every time they go potty, and I think it is ok to offer a little reward in the beginning, but they don’t need to be reward EVERY time they choose to go on the potty.  I mean, kids go potty a lot in just a day.  Reward charts are a great way to re-enforce their success, and if they work up to a reward with several successes on the potty, then they will get into the habit of using the potty, while setting a goal and achieving it!

8.  Don’t Prolong the Night Time Potty Training.

So, you have your kid potty trained in the day, but what about night time?  It’s almost like you have to potty train twice!  But, not really!  Try it out from the beginning.  Allow them to wear training pants at night if you are worried about night time clean up.  But, set an alarm, and take them to the potty at night from day one.  I am saying this, but really it was my husband who did this with our kids at night while they were potty training, and it really was so nice to be able to transition to night time potty training without a lot of problems or accidents.  Our kids didn’t really have too many accidents at night, and rarely have since potty training.  I owe that to my husband taking them to go potty in the middle of the night every night.

9.  Don’t buy a Mini Potty.

I was never really a big fan of those little miniature toilets for potty training.  I always preferred the toilet training seat that goes on top of your regular toilet seat.   Having the potty training toilet seat directly attached to your regular seat makes it so you don’t have to re-train them in a different seat after using the mini one.  I just always thought it was easier to do it on the big potty from the get-go!  Plus, it’s much easier to just flush the mess away! I also always made sure to have a step stool at their feet.  Kids feel more secure when their feet aren’t dangling.

10.  Don’t leave the House without a Plan.

Leaving the house while in the first stage of potty training can be a bit of a nightmare.  The last thing you want to do in public is to clean up a big mess.  Before leaving the house, make a plan.  Would it be appropriate to change into Easy Up training pants for the trip in case of an accident? Public toilets have never been more disgusting than when you’re potty training your toddler, am I right?  They tend to touch everything..  But, having a plan always helps.  A change of clothes or training pants on hand, just in case, and maybe a plastic ziplock bag or two.  Those have saved me a few times!

11. Don’t forget to offer Praise.

Potty training is so tough on parents, mentally, physically, and emotionally (I’ve never spent so much time in the bathroom!) But, those little toddlers are working real hard too.  You are their entire world, and they want nothing more than to please you, and make you happy.   This is a big transition in their lives, and it isn’t something that they are going to pick up on overnight.  And if  your kid did, well then congratulations, you have produced a genius, but for the rest of us, it’s going to take some time.  Be sure that when they do succeed, praise them as much as you can!  They will enjoy feeling like they did a good job, and mom and dad noticed!  And, they will be much more willing to try it again!

12. Don’t Stress!

I know that is the last thing a potty training parent wants to hear.  But really, the less stress the better.  Trust me from my mistakes with my oldest child.  It was such a stressful situation, and I wasn’t making it any better by overreacting and stressing out too much.  My other two were much easier to potty train, because I didn’t stress about the small stuff like I did the first time around.  I really think that made all the difference!

Well, I hope this helps if you are seeking any potty training advice for your little one.  Hopefully you are able to learn from my mistakes, and are able to have a positive potty training experience for both you and your toddler!

Visit the Pampers Website
Follow Pampers on Twitter and Facebook
#PampersEasyUps

All photos by me 

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *