On Saturday, January 23rd, the MomsGuidetoSanDiego welcomed Sri Hatharasinge-Gerschler to lead us in a Potty Training 101 workshop at the fabulous Discover the Glow! We all left with a TON of great information and had a TON of fun.
The moms behind the guide!
As families arrived, we greeted them with champagne and treats as they signed a waiver to use the on-site childcare. While the littles enjoyed time with their friends, we got some incredibly valuable information to help us on our potty training adventures.
Sri and her audience at Discover the Glow
Here are a few of the take-away points we found to be most helpful:
There are more than 27 signs of readiness that your child may show, but the following three may be the most important to keep an eye out for:
*Your child can sit down, in one position, for two to five minutes
*Your child can pull his/her pants up and down by themselves
*Your child dislikes the feeling of wearing a wet or soiled diaper
The potty plan:
*Make potty time FUN! Bring toys, bubbles, ipad, or books to the potty with you.
*Let them choose their undies.
*Give your child a LOT of liquid and set your timer for every 30-45 minutes. Even better, have your child help you set the timer. Take them to the potty every time the timer goes off.
*Always day train your child before you work on night training.
*Every time your child pees/poops in the potty, give him a treat or reward within 3 seconds. Make this a BIG deal.
*The treat or reward should only be used for potty time. Gradually increase the number of pees and poops your child does to get the reward. You should keep a chart for this. For example, after 3 days, your child should only get the reward after using the potty successfully 3 times…mark it on your chart!
*Be consistent!
Other tips we loved:
*In the beginning, ask your child if they are dry in between potty times. If they say dry, and get it correct, give them a reward. Encourage them to stay dry until it’s time to potty.
*The potty seat will save you more time and trouble than starting with the potty chair and will provide less resistance when you travel away from home.
*Start your boys sitting down. This will help them learn to poop in the potty too.
*Start eliminating liquids an hour before nap or bedtime. This will help keep them dry.
*If your child will pee on the potty but fears poop, cut a hole in their diaper and let them wear the diaper as they sit on the potty.
*If your child isn’t yet communicating verbally to say “potty”, make sure they know another sign or signal so that they can communicate the need to go. You can teach them sign language for potty, or even take a picture of the potty that they can show you.
*If you are having a new baby soon, expect regression if you’ve already potty trained, or avoid starting potty training within a few months of baby’s arrival.
After the talk, we had an awesome raffle prize giveaway. Attendees left with goody bags and several won potty books, potty seats, stickers, and training pants.
One giveaway that we are especially excited to announce today is the generous gift of an inflatable jumper, offered by our partners at BBs Eco Jumps. To be entered to win this prize for your next party, simply comment below with one potty training tip that you find most valuable. Either something you learned from the class or maybe have read about elsewhere. (You do NOT have to have attended the class to qualify to win!)
Enter to win below!
We were so lucky to have Sri share her knowledge and advice with us, and she spent a considerable amount of time on Q&A, answering individual questions. Since she specializes in other topics as well, we can only hope that she will be back to guide us through the many other parenting struggles we face on a day-to-day basis.
If you have more questions for Sri, or want to learn more about what she offers, please contact her at
760-274-3555
sri.parent.coach@gmail.com
I’m biased that music and singing help. Google search “Potty Training Song Emme Town” 🙂
If I win, I’d like to donate the Jumper to a good cause helping toddlers in San Diego – any suggestions?
Have potty seats or potty chairs in every bathroom in your house so that there is always once available close by and ready. It’s also handy to have a portable one in the car. My portable one has been a lifesaver even after my daughter was already potty trained.
Set the timer! Especially when you have other kids in the home….even if you are in the middle of something, when the timer goes off, everyone knows it is time to run to the potty!
My son will be 2 next month and was showing Signs of Readiness, but he isn’t talking very much yet! So, I went to IKEA to buy children’s potty seats!! They have one potty seat that is $4.99 and the other is $9.99, wow, they are so affordable!! Compared to Target, their Potty Seats can range up to $45.00!!! With my 1st baby, she got the cute and expensive potty seat…but I’m wiser with my 2nd, and know that the one at IKEA works just as perfect!! So, I bought like 3 pottys at IKEA for all my bathrooms and I even keep one in the living room!! I got a ballon to tie on the potty to make it fun!! Or have your kiddo decorate it with stickers!! Right now we are just having fun sitting on the potty!!
I think the best tip is to be consistent! Sometimes that’s hard to do when life gets busy, but it will pay off in the long run! And I think this tip is great for parenting in general! 🙂
Stickers are a great reward. Display them proudly on their shirt and yours and watch them add up!
Sitting on the potty seat will help my son learn to void there- makes so much sense!
Oh. I forgot to include a training tip. For the moms who are not sure if child is ready, it’s ok to wait. Until you feel your child is completely ready. If they are not teady, this will wind up being more of a struggle than you realize. Good luck! 🙂
The attendance was super. The baby sitter was awesome. Thanks for setting it up. And thanks to Theresa for putting up with all the roudy kids. The venue was superb. Great space great play area. Definitely will use our one week free membership. .. 😉 while I fid not agree with everything the presenter said , I do acknowledge that there are many different methods and theories about potty training.it was great to meet all the moms and dad’s who came. Thanks so much for putting this workshop together and I hope there will be more to come!!:)
I loved the idea of sizing up in undies to help prevent them feeling like a diaper in the beginning.
I am so glad this was helpful for so many of you! I am trying to plan a monthly workshop. If you missed this one I am looking for a space to conduct one next month.
We have made a potty sticker chart, which she loves, and also enjoys flushing the pee/pee in the toilet after she goes.
The tip that stood out the most is the one about using a toilet seat instead of a potty chair. The right equipment makes all the difference sometimes. Another one I liked is teaching the potty sign so he can communicate to me when he’s gotta go!
Thanks for hosting such an informative event! We appreciated the information to start the process.
Great information, many friends have recommended the 3 day potty training boot camp.
I didn’t know that I should wait a few months before beginning to potty train. Thank you so much, we have a baby due in a month and we wanted to start potty training. We will surely wait now.
One fun thing to do is toss Cheerios into the toilet to see if baby can sink em make a game out of it. And for both add food coloring so the can see it change colors after going.
Missed the past class but looking forward to go to the next one 🙂
Lot’s of great tips. Will be needing them when I start to potty train my almost 2 yr old daughter. With that being said, her birthday is coming up on Feb.13th and we could definitely use the jumper!
The thing that stuck with me the most and I though was absolutely genius was the idea of cutting a hole in the diaper and taking a picture of the potty!!! Genius!!
I like the idea of giving them lots of fun things to do while on the potty. We use the Potty book every time we go in and read it a couple times.
It was all great info but my favorite tip was the treats which I haven’t thought of doing yet. Thanks again for this great event!
My fav tip was teaching the sign for potty or printing a picture of a potty that your child can bring to you when they need to go. My son is still not talking but we are potty training so we are doing this!
I have a tip that I learned the hard way … when training your boy do have him sit on the toilet, but teach him how to push his penis down. I got peed on twice while sitting next to my son during the early stages of training since it shoots forward!