Toilet training is a difficult task that leaves many moms eager for guidance. While some kids take to potty usage more easily than others, many others encounter roadblocks. If your child is one of those who struggles to master the potty, you can overcome these issues with a little careful work and a lot of patience.
Lack of Parental Knowledge
Kids do not learn how to handle all their potty needs at one time. As the AskDrSears website reports, children learn to control their bowels in four distinct stages. They begin with nighttime bowel control, then daytime bowel control, moving on to daytime bladder control, and then, finally, concluding with nighttime bladder control. As a parent, you can increase your chances of potty training success and reduce your frustration by reminding yourself continually that your kid won’t develop his potty usage skills overnight.
Failure to Understand the Process
Many children struggle to understand the process that they must follow to use the bathroom effectively. To aid them, educate them on the process before you ask them to complete the task. AskDrSears suggests that parents try process-modeling techniques, either acting out the process with dolls or allowing the kid to go with the same sex parent to the bathroom and watch this adult move through the stages of potty usage. Once the child sees the steps necessary to use the toilet successfully, he will be more likely to do it himself.
Clothing-Related Difficulties
Clothing can present a challenge to many new potty users. Children who are still learning the basics of identifying their body’s bathroom time signals often don’t have time to fight with clothing. You can help your kid overcome this problem by dressing him in easy-to-discard clothing, such as pants with an elastic waist. Even though overalls are undeniably adorable, they are also a potty training time no-no as very few children have the dexterity necessary to tackle the complicated clasps that hold these garments in place.
Fear of Flushing
Some children shy away from the toilet due to a fear of the flush. This loud noise and the violent action that follows can intimate young toilet users. If your potty trainer seems to be bothered by the flush, work on overcoming this fear with him. Discuss the process of toilet flushing, explaining why toilets flush and where the flushed things go. Avoid making up fanciful stories about where flushed objects end up as your child may then be eager to flush objects that shouldn’t be flushed. After a little coaxing and some reassurance, your kid may be less fearful of the flush.
