Potty Training: Parent Benefits, Do’s and Don’ts
April 23rd, 2008Life as a parent is a rollercoaster ride with its ups and downs. One of the most challenging and ultimately rewarding times for any parent is when they potty train their child.
This article will look at the benefits of potty training and its’ do’s and don’ts. Parents who dread the thought of potty training should feel motivated about this phase of parenthood after reading this article.
Because parents imagine potty training to be an ordeal that they must overcome, they may need a little motivation to get started. Parents need to become aware of the major benefits of a potty-trained child.
Benefits
Every parent knows how much money he or she started saving when his or her baby switched from drinking formula to drinking milk. When a parent can get their child toilet trained and wearing underwear instead of diapers, then they can save hundreds if not thousands of dollars each year.
Parents who have a toilet-trained child have one less daily task to be responsible for and perform. Trashcans won’t be as heavy or full. Parents will gain back some free time.
These are just some of the benefits parents will enjoy when their child learns how to use a toilet and why some parents are anxious to get their child trained as soon as possible. However, no matter how quickly a parent wants potty training to be done and over with there are few do’s and don’ts to observe.
Don’ts
Parents should avoid rushing their child into mastering potty training by a predetermined date or deadline. To an adult, using a toilet and washing up afterwards is second nature. However, to a child, it is new and uncharted territory. They will need time to learn this new skill. Parents are asking for frustrations if they attempt to rush their child’s learning.
Anger is a normal reaction to the frustration parents may feel when a child doesn’t do what parents expect of them. However, displaying anger isn’t helpful for potty training and neither is it good for the parent child relationship. If you can control your own emotions and have realistic expectations for you child, then the do’s should naturally follow.
Do’s
When a child is ready for potty training, they will give you non-verbal clues. Parents who wait for these clues will experience less frustration. Some of the first signs that a child is ready for potty training include curiosity about what their parents are doing in the bathroom and dexterity in performing tasks such as feeding themselves using utensils or wiping their hands.
Waiting for these signals before beginning toilet training requires understanding and patience. Parents must slow themselves down to the speed that their child will learn best. “Tuning in” to their child’s world instead of staying in their own “hurry it up world,” will make it easier for both the parent and child.
Summary
This article has briefly covered the benefits, the do’s and the don’ts of potty training. The ideas mentioned here should help make the experience mutually rewarding for both the parent and child.
Copyright © 2008 by Wanda Lam
