5 toilet training mistakes and how to avoid them
Toilet training children can sometimes be a long journey and requires a lot of patience. From time to time difficult situations arise. Here you can find out which mistakes you should avoid when toilet training.
1. Don’t start toilet training too soon
Each child develops the necessary skills to use the potty individually. For this reason, there is no “magic age” to start toilet training. Most parents realize that between the ages of two and two and a half their child is emotionally and physically mature for toilet training. Some children, on the other hand, are only four years old when they can understand and implement the small, new tasks to do with the potty. If you start practicing too early, your child will not understand how to use the potty and learning will take longer than it would normally have. If you are unsure whether your baby is too young for potty training, you can refer to our article ” 10 steps to potty training “.Read about the signs you can look out for in your child.
2. Choosing the right time for toilet training
The right time for toilet training in children should be well considered. If you start at an inconvenient time, such as just before the birth of a sibling, during a stressful work week, moving house, or other events that could interfere with stress-free potty training, the chances of success are poor. A routine and a regulated daily routine are the be-all and end-all for small children. Unexpected changes in habits quickly make the little ones confused and stressed, which can lead to possible regressions in development. It is therefore advisable to wait until the daily routine has returned to normal and peace has returned at home. Then it makes sense to calmly start the toilet training from the beginning.
3. Don’t put pressure on your child
The biggest mistake you can make when toilet training your child is to apply pressure. If your child doesn’t show interest in getting sober, don’t force them to. It may not have developed far enough and the nervousness that arises from the pressure exerted on it can then also have an effect on the bladder. This often leads to a suppression of the urge to urinate or to constipation. So let your child decide for themselves what pace is right for toilet training. You can support your child with stories and picture books that illustrate potty training. You can find out more about this in our article ” Accessories for drying out “.
4. Don’t put yourself under pressure
When toilet training your child, don’t let the “well-intentioned advice” of third parties throw you off course. You should ignore comments like “in the past, children were much more dry than they are today!”, no matter how often you have to listen to them from grandparents, parents-in-law or acquaintances. Keep in mind that toilet training methods have changed over the last 50 years. Many rules are no longer up-to-date, outdated or simply no longer tenable. And even if a friend or acquaintance tells you that their son was sober by his first birthday, remember that you have your own plan.
5. Don’t punish your child for toilet training
Under no circumstances should you punish your child if toilet training isn’t working the way you want it to. Scolding your child when something goes wrong or refuses to use the potty isn’t helpful, it’s actually counterproductive. Your child will often wet themselves instead of going to the potty. Regression is completely normal and part of development. Then getting angry about it in front of your child will not motivate your child to continue, but rather damage their self-confidence. At worst, they will fear doing something wrong and refuse toilet training altogether. This fear of the potty can sometimes become so severe that your child suppresses the urge to go to the toilet.
So stay calm and composed if your child fails to use the potty successfully. No matter how frustrating it can be for you, you should resolve such mishaps as pragmatically as possible and not make a big deal out of them. Free your child from the wet clothes and put them on new ones as calmly as possible. This should also be done as quickly and stress-free as possible at night, so that you can put your child back to sleep quickly.
Even if you wish your child to dry off and use the potty better today than tomorrow, it is important that you take care not to ask too much of your child or yourself. Hasty action will not speed up diaper weaning, on the contrary, it can make toilet training take much longer than expected. With the necessary patience and a lot of understanding, going to the potty will soon be a success for you too.