How to Potty Train: Tips, Tricks & Techniques that Work!

***UPDATE from my earlier post on POTTY TRAINING TRICKS:


I now have 4 little ones and have successfully potty trained the 2 older boys, but now I've got my first girl to potty-train.  I've heard that girls are actually easier, so we will just have to see about that.  My older daughter just turned 2 last month and loves to sit on the potty, but has only gone pee-pee on it once or twice.

In my potty training experience, here are a few signs that your little one is ready to start the process of potty training:

*When they show an interest in the potty (start by letting them flush the potty and make it fun)

*He/She tries to take off their diaper when they go pee-pee or potty in it (or in my kids' case... when they successfully take off the wet/dirty diaper themselves)

*They start to tell you when they go pee-pee in their diapers (My daughter yells PEE PEE!! or POO POO when she goes in the diaper! Which is great, because she realizes what she's doing, but it's usually too late at that point to sit on the potty, so when she announces this to me, I quickly take her to the bathroom, remove her diaper and have her sit on the potty so she associates the two)

If your child hasn't shown interest, then here are a few ways that you could get them interested:

*Let them come in and watch you use the potty (if your kids are anything like mine, they probably do this on their own anyway... but explain to them what you're doing.  "Mommy's going pee-pee in the potty like a BIG GIRL!")

*Let them flush the potty!! YAY! So much fun! ;)

*Read books about using the potty. We have a few different ones, but there's a huge list of different ones out there!  My kid's have always loved 'P is for Potty' with Elmo!

*Buy them their own potty seat or training toilet to use and get excited about!

There are so many different techniques you can use, but every child is different and every child will do it when they are ready.  Some kids are ready at 2, some kids aren't ready until 3... and that's okay.  You don't want to force a child to try something that they may not be mentally ready to do.  But I can tell you one thing... the more fun and exciting you make it, the more excited they will be to try it and most likely, the sooner they will be interested.

As I mention in my previous potty training post, my boys LOVED the sticker chart technique while potty training.  I would buy sheets of fun stickers with their favorite characters on them, and made my own little chart in Microsoft Word (or you can use the Dora & Diego one pictured>>).  I would keep the chart taped to the wall near the potty and they would get to pick from a bowl of fun stickers when they made it to the potty in time (or in the beginning phases, I will just give them a sticker to put on their chart, simply for sitting on the toilet for a period of time).  It worked like a charm for my boys, so we'll just have to see how it goes with the girls.


Please feel free to share your own potty training tips, tricks and techniques in the comments below! I know there are a lot of different ways to do it, so it's always nice to know all the different ideas out there :)