How many of you’s went through the whole potty training battle with your toddler? I’m sure most, and if not yet, it’s to come! Potty training is one of those tasks that most parents are fearful of, but it’s also a task that is much needed to be tackled. Having experience with boys and girls, I will say that girls are usually easier to potty train more so than boys, with that said, everyone is different and learns at their own pace.

My youngest son just turned the big THREE. Prior to him turning three, I made a mental note to myself that I would have him potty trained by his third birthday. Like I mentioned, potty training is a fear, or more or less seen as a daunting chore or task. It’s hands on, requires constancy, and is a lot work, no wonder why it’s a bit scary going into.

Anyways, being intimidated, I put his potty training off long enough, and with a week left before his third birthday, I ripped off the band-aid and decided to take care of business! His third birthday just passed, March 30th, and he is officially potty trained.

My secret to successfully potty training is doing it cold turkey! Just take the diapers away and never look back. Yes, they will have their accidents, and yes it’s messy and a lot of, “Do you have to go potty? Potty time? Do yo have to go pee or poop?” But as soon as you know it, they’re successfully potty trained. It literally took less than a week before he was running up to me or Ryan and telling us, “POTTY!!!” or “I have to poop!” By the way, poop and pee is poop to him. haha.

Prior to this amazing accomplishment, I made a Target run and bought a ton of chonies, several spare comfortable shorts to change into, a box of Night Time Pull Up’s, and a couple options of candy as a reward for when he successfully went to the bathroom. I also chose to use a soft potty seat instead of a toddler toilet. With prior potty training experience, the toilets never worked out for my kids. You can find these for around $10-$15; they also come with a hook that you can stick to the side of your toilet to hang, this is handy! My first son was afraid of the mini toilet that sang. We did end up buying a regular, plain Jane, toddler toilet for my him, but it was a mess and the cushioned toilet seat worked just as good, if not better!

Now, I have wooden floors downstairs, so it wasn’t a huge worry if he had an accident, opposed to having carpet. We do have quite a bit of rugs so we rolled all of those up until he nailed the potty training. For my couch, I assigned him to a square area, and with that square area, I stuck that cushion in a giant black hefty bag and covered it up with a blanket to keep it comfortable for him. Fortunately for me, he didn’t have an accident on the couch, but he did have several accidents on the floor.

The key to potty training is to constantly ask him or her if they have to go. In the beginning they will most likely say, “no,” so knowing this, just sit them on the toilet every so often anyways and encourage them to push and try! I started off by sitting him down every 20 minutes and as he started getting the hang of it, I would bump up the 20 minutes farther and farther out. He did not like the idea of sitting down on the toilet or using it for that matter, I knew that this would be an issue at first so I introduced candy as a reward. If you’re not fond of using candy, you can use something else like hot wheels cars, coloring books, stickers, or a surprise goody bag with numerous items that he or she can reach into and grab from. For my case, I chose candy. Easy Peazy! Every time he went potty in the toilet, I let him have a square of a Hershey’s bar or gave him a handful of Raisinets. This, alone, encouraged him to want to keep trying. We’re on day five now, and candy hasn’t been a request anymore; though he is still looking for a high five or a, “Good Job Buddy-YOU DID IT!”

At night I put sleepers on him, this is just in case of an accident. Because he is still new to using the bathroom figuring out how his bladder works, perfecting this won’t happen over night, literally. Although, last night, night number four, we all kind of just fell asleep and we didn’t put a sleeper on him. Around 4:00 am, he woke me up to take him to the bathroom, this was so impressive, even if it was just by luck.

I remember when I potty trained my eldest son; we made a lot of pit stops into Target or other department stores to buy more underwear and pants for him when we were on the road. Yes… yes… I would pack spares, and most of the time carry a spare change of clothes in my car at all times, but when potty training and always on the go, having other kids, you run through those spares pretty quickly. Just try and always be prepared for accidents; they call them accidents for a reason.

Well, I think that pretty much sums up how I potty trained my kids! If you are preparing to potty train your child, good luck and know that you’re not alone; most of us have there a time or two! Just a tid bit of advice to leave you with, keep in mind that even when you think that your child has mastered potty training, even months down the road, they will have accidents and this is okay, just be patient and work with them.