No Stress Potty Training Tips for Girls
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I have really enjoyed a lot about parenting, but other than my daughter saying “I love you, Mommy”, no other thing has she done has made me more excited than her interest in potty training.
She started showing interest at about 20 months, but to be honest, we really didn’t want to deal with potty training at that point in time.
Fast forward a few months later, and now these parents of a two-year-old are thrilled to be getting a child out of diapers.
We are still working on getting the complete potty training system down, but our preparation has certainly paid off! Our daughter asks to go potty every morning when she wakes up and is getting in the routine of doing things all on her own!
We are a little more laid-back as a family and didn’t enjoy the intensity of the 3-day method (and I didn’t want to sacrifice my rugs for the cause) so I wanted to share our easy potty training tips so that you might be able to have a low-stress potty training experience too!
POTTY TRAINING SUPPLIES
One of the best potty training tips I can pass along is to get the right supplies. This will make it so much easier and you will feel prepared for the road ahead!
We didn’t go all out with potty training products but tried to have a couple of bathrooms (one upstairs, one downstairs) that were prepared with toddler potty equipment.
For our main guest bathroom downstairs, we did have a small potty seat that was easy to keep tucked away. Since this is the bathroom that friends and family use when they come over, we wanted to make sure that it wasn’t potty training chaos when guests walked in.
We used this small seat (in the Minnie Mouse design) so that we could take it on and off easily. Be sure that you get one with the potty hook included, as that is what made it so easy for us to store the seat when not in use.
We also put a small stool in the bathroom so that K could climb up on the potty herself. We took the stool from our pantry and designated it to the bathroom for now. You probably have a stool like that or you can grab it on Amazon here.
We found the stool to be pretty important in getting our daughter excited about going to the potty because she felt more in control. When we would set her on the toilet with no stool under her, she seemed to feel a little stranded and wanted to get down quickly without going to the potty.
For our upstairs bathroom, we have a little more permanent set up. Since that is the kid bathroom, we didn’t feel the need to have to take the training seat down after every use.
We got this potty training step & seat off Amazon (notice a trend here?)
I contemplated going with a less obnoxious color scheme (you can get it in white and grey) but when Kinsley saw the box she knew that was for her and got really excited talking about “her potty”.
She got the concept immediately and climbed up and we even had a successful deposit made in the porcelain bank.
Other than those three items, the only other “product” we are using for potty training is a rewards chart.
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We put stickers on this chart everytime we take a potty training action and that has been something that K really looks forward to.
I made copies of this potty training chart (in pink and blue) that you can print out and use at home. Sign up using the form below to get free access to my resource library and download these charts!
WAYS TO ENCOURAGE POTTY TRAINING
Kinsley wasn’t really hesitant to start potty training. We had her flush the potty and practice putting toilet paper in a few months before we ever really started sitting her down on the toilet seat.
When we did decide to get serious about potty training, we got her some pull-ups diapers and some big kid underwear. We gave her those as “Potty Training Presents” and explained to her that she would get to use them as she started to have some success with the potty.
We encouraged her to tell us every time she had to go potty and even led by example by announcing every time we needed to potty. It felt very silly, but it got our daughter to catch on pretty quickly.
Unfortunately, she seemed to think we were announcing everytime we had just gone potty, which is what she did for a few weeks, but then figured out that it was indeed better to let us know BEFORE you go.
We always take her to the potty if she asks, even if it is a false alarm. But she knows she only gets a sticker if she completes an action on the potty training chart.
And we went through the “Sat On The Potty” Column within 2 days, but once the row was full and you got your reward (usually candy or a trip to feed the ducks), no more stickers!
This process has worked really well for us and not made us crazy parents, which I am sure our family and friends appreciate.
I never thought I would be as proud as I am to watch a tiny human poop in the toilet, but you better believe I almost cried the first time she did it. Motherhood makes you do weird things.
Be sure to grab your free potty training reward chart by signing up below!
