Practice English Speaking&Listening with: My Three Best Potty Training Tips | CloudMom

Hi moms, hi dads, it's Melissa.

Today I'm answering a potty training question.

Here it is.

"My daughter is almost three and still isn't potty trained.

I was waiting for her to kind of let me know that she was ready, but it really just never

happened, so that's why I'm so late in potty training her.

But she also seems kind of scared of the potty, is this normal?

Is there anything I can do to calm her fear?"

Great question!

So glad you asked these questions, potty training is something we all worry about so much.

I remember being so stressed when my child was one of the last in his little playgroup

to potty train, he was also the last who stood up and the last to walk, and he was the last

to talk and now he's a very smart 13 year old.

But anyway, with potty training I did have people say to me and it made me chuckle, that

everybody is potty trained by the time they graduate high school.

So it can be something that stresses out all of us parents but it works out.

In most cases, doctors encouraged us to try to potty train our children by around three.

In my experience, girls often go a bit earlier.

I've noticed that people in Europe seem to try to attempt this a bit earlier, some kids

go a bit later, you might have a deadline that's imposed by your preschool.

But whatever your situation, it is around this age so you want to try to get a plan

in place when it comes to potty training.

So with all that being said, with the background that we parents tend to ourselves put too

much stress on our little ones when it comes to potty training, here are three tips that

work for me.

Number one, avoid the issue.

Don't talk about it.

Don't talk about it with your husband in front of your child, don't talk about it with your

child, don't talk about it with your friends on the phone when your kid might be overhearing

it, this is going to create angst, stress.

You want to make this a stress free issue, so avoid the subject.

Meanwhile, you're going to have your plan in place.

Make the potty fun and relaxing and make it a reward.

You can put toy cars on the top of your potty, you can put Hershey's Kisses.

Every time your child goes, he gets to have a little reward.

Some people don't believe in rewards, but I used them with all of my kids when it came

to potty training, I don't think any of them got spoiled, I don't think any of them suffered

from having had a few extra chocolates during that time period, and it actually really helped.

Your doctor might suggest at a certain point that you just hang around or go to a low-key

beach and just take those diapers off and that will be it.

Your child will get very tired very quick of walking around with a wet diaper or worse

a dirty diaper with poop in it, it's just not a very comfortable thing.

So, once the diapers come away, the child is going to have to sooner or later do it

on his or her own.

Talk to your doctor about this, but that might be your last resort.

There also are some really super fun books when it comes to potty training, so I would

try reading those.

These are general tips, I have a whole series of videos on potty training so check those

out.

I hope they're helpful to you.

Don't worry about it, and I'm looking forward to getting a message from you in a few months

time telling me that your child is now super well potty trained and ready for college.

Thanks so much for writing in and I'll see you again soon on CloudMom.