Potty Training Secrets from CafeMom.com

Have a potty race
Many parents scare their kids; when they see the child start to pee, they pick them up, run to the bathroom, tear off their pants and throw them on the potty. That's a real good way to ensure your child is going to be scared of using the potty! My advice: when you see the child start to pee, exclaim "Potty Race!" Race them to the bathroom and see who can sit on their potty first. Chances are they won't make it, but you will get them to connect going potty with something fun. Prize for effort, of course!

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Leftover Easter egg surprises
Fill the small plastic eggs with leftover candy, stickers, coins, or another small reward. You could even fit a pair of new underwear in an egg. Put all the eggs in a basket and let your child pick an egg to open each time they go potty! Children love to see that basket full of rewards waiting for them; wondering which prize they might choose next helps encourage them.

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Put the potty in the bedroom
I started only putting my son in underwear about 3 weeks ago. He has a little potty that we put in his room at night so he can go if he has to. He is doing very well and stays dry through the night most of the time.

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Have a poo-poo party
We had a "poo-poo" party the first time my oldest daughter pooped in the potty! It was cute, she was so excited. After she did it, I ran and told the rest of our family and made some brownies. We put a candle in them and even sang "Happy Poo-Poo to You!"

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Bribery works
Our neighbor is the pool manager in town, and our family loves going to the pool. So when we were potty training our girls, we told them that if they didn't potty in the toilet, they couldn't come to her pool that summer. That tactic worked for one child more than the other. But similarly, our younger daughter wanted desperately to go to Sunday school with her older sisters. We told her she had to be potty trained to go, and that's what worked with her!

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Let him sit in it
My nephew was around four years old and was not yet potty trained; he would just not cooperate. After months of trying, my dad put him in underwear and took him shopping. My dad told him to tell him if he had to go potty, but my nephew didn't and ended up peeing in his pants while sitting in the cart. My dad told him that he was not done shopping and that he'd take him to change his clothes when he was finished. My nephew was potty trained from that point on.

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Toss the nappies
I made my little girl throw all her diapers away. I put her in big girl panties and gave her something to drink constantly. When she pee-peed on herself, I told her it was nasty and icky and by the end of the night she was going to the potty. Within three days, she was going all by herself and doing ALL of her business on the toilet. She never used a training potty, either.

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Potty specific toys
Have your child sit on his potty and give him specific toys that he is ONLY allowed to play with when he's on the potty. He'll do it when he's ready.

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Make her clean up the mess
When my daughter had "accidents" -- which was really about her not wanting to go to the potty, but still wanting to wear underwear -- we would not get mad, but we would have her clean herself up and the floor. She did not like it, and from then on she went to the potty. She only has real accidents occasionally, when she is playing and waits too long to go.

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Natural urges
We let our son run around naked out in our backyard. He was amazed to see the pee come out. It really, really helped!

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