Get answers to all your potty training what-ifs, how-tos and now-whats.
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Re: Reward Ideas for Your Big Kid
Jen Singer
Have you ever rewarded yourself for a job well done? Maybe you bought your coffee instead of making it. Or maybe you enjoyed a half-hour in the bathtub with no interruptions (or rubber ducks floating around next to you). Or maybe you even snagged yourself a night on the town with friends. Whatever your…
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Top 5 Potty Training Tips
Heather Wittenberg
Potty training happens all sorts of ways, depending on your child’s personality. I’m in the process of potty training our fourth child, and I’m reminded how different each child has been at this stage. One was resistant until he was almost four, and one seemed to train herself overnight! So with all…
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5 Potty Training Mythbusters
Jen Singer
Whether you’re just starting potty training or you’re in the full swing of it, one thing is likely: Somebody has spread rumors to you. Call them potty training myths, these assertions of how potty training is supposed to go can make you wonder if your potty training plan has a few glitches. But before…
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Big Kid® Independence
Jennifer James
It’s often hard to let go and let your child be an independent individual! July is a month that celebrates independence, which makes me think about my children during their big milestones like potty training. These Big Kid® moments have made me so proud and will continue to throughout the years.
During…
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Potty Training – The Year in Review
Jennifer James, Jennifer Shu, Jan Faull and Bernie Dorsey
Readiness has been a common potty training theme throughout 2007. Kids will potty train when they are ready and no one can determine when that time will be except for the child. With the year coming to an end, the Pull-Ups® Potty Training Partners take time to reflect on some of their favorite potty…
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Potty Training for the Working Parents
Every family experiences potty training highs and lows, but it can be especially challenging for parents that work outside the home. Whether parents are working full time or part-time – most parents can’t be with their child every time they need to use the bathroom. To help make potty training easier…
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Potty Training As A Team
The proverb "It takes a village to raise a child" holds true when potty training your toddler. The process can be easier and more fun when you have got everyone from siblings to grandparents to daycare providers involved, in addition to Mom and Dad. This month, the Potty Training Partners are offering…
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Daycare Provider Inside Secrets : The Scoop from Seasoned Professionals
By Lisa A. Goldstein
The potty training process was not going smoothly at home with Kris Staaf’s 2-1/2-year-old daughter. It had been six inconsistent months – using every method imaginable – with few results. Then the daycare teachers initiated a potty training conversation with Staaf and explained their process. Once the…
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A Potty Here and a Potty There : Potty Training in Multiple Locations
By Sue Marquette Poremba
Very few children will work on potty training at only one location, particularly as they are in the later stages of potty training. Not only do children work on toilet habits at home, but many children spend many hours a day at daycare or at a relative’s house. Some children split time between parents’…
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Building Your Child’s Self-Esteem While Potty Training
Moms and Dads want to help their child feel good about themselves, whether it’s praise on a good grade or going for ice cream after a soccer game. However, your child’s self-esteem begins developing during the toddler years, before he or she starts school or joins a team. In fact, the potty training…
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Potty Training on the Road
by Mary Santana, Illinois
Whether you’re taking a short trip to grandma’s house or an extended vacation, traveling with a potty training toddler can sound overwhelming. Don’t stress – Mary Santana, former PULL-UPS® Potty Training Partner and mother of three, has great advice for potty training on the road.“My husband and I love…
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Potty Training on the Go : Top Tips for Potty Training Outside the Home
By Kelly D. Burgess
Sarah Kuehn of Enid, Okla., is going to approach potty training a little differently with her second child. Overall, things went pretty smoothly when she went through the potty training process with her first daughter, Katrina, until a bad experience with a high-tech toilet.
“It was one of those automatic…
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All about Potty Seats
By Kelly D. Burgess
It’s all about independence. That’s the word on potty seats from family practitioner and parenting expert Dr. Jody McVittie.
“Parents need to take a pretty casual attitude toward using the toilet so the children take it for granted as well,” says Dr. McVittie. “That means providing them with something…
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Keeping it Clean
By Sue Marquette Poremba
Laura Giardina of New York State is working on potty training with her 2-1/2-year-old son. Part of her potty training routine is making sure he practices proper potty manners.
“That includes a lot of things, [including] making sure the toilet is flushed, that there are no ‘pee-pee drips’ on the toilet…
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How to Dress for Success
By Sue Marquette Poremba
Toddler clothes are adorable. Who can resist the cute little overalls or the colorful onesies or the soft footed pajamas?
For children who are in diapers full time, those outfits are just fine, but when a child begins potty training, it is time to put them in the back of the closet or give them to…
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Recognizing the Urge
By Kelly D. Burgess
Parents usually recognize when their child has to go to the bathroom (the wiggle, the crossed legs). The trick is turning those signals into teachable moments so your child recognizes that what’s going on can go in the potty!
Wiggles and GigglesChristine Louise Hohlbaum, an American living in Paunzhausen,…
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Consistent Potty Training
By Sue Marquette Poremba
Lindsey Taucher of Austin, Texas, spent her spring break working on potty training with her daughter.
“We talked about it a lot beforehand,” says Taucher of preparing her daughter for the big event. “And I had been offering her the opportunity to use the potty intermittently.”
So, during her week’s…
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The "He Said, She Said" on Potty Training
Boys and girls present unique challenges in every area of parenting - and potty training is no exception. Though girls and boys take roughly the same amount of time to train (eight months on average), there are many differences between boys and girls throughout the process.
"Biological traits can make…
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You Asked…We are Answering
by Maggie Dugan, Wisconsin
In an effort to provide a support system where parents can get the scoop from other parents, PULL-UPS.com provides a Sharing Space where you can "talk potty." While many of you are giving and receiving helpful advice, we've noticed not everyone is getting their questions answered on our message board.…
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Imitation is the Sincerest Form of Flattery
By Lisa A. Goldstein
You would think that using the bathroom should be a guaranteed way to get a few minutes to yourself. But now that you have a child who’s in the process of mastering potty training, should you give up that privacy to help him learn? Is it OK to let your child watch you or a sibling use the toilet?
“In…
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Double Duty
By Teri Brown
Sometimes potty training can seem like quite an undertaking. As a conscientious parent, you know you need to watch for signs of readiness, create a plan keeping your child’s personality in mind and stay consistent with that plan. But what happens when you’re potty training more than one child at the…
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No Two Kids Train Alike : Finding the Method That Works for Your Child
Sue Marquette Poremba
Alana Morales’ son was ready to begin potty training when the dampness was uncomfortable enough to motivate him to use the toilet regularly within three days. Morales’s daughter, on the other hand, is the opposite.
“My son was so easy to train,” says the Gilbert, Ariz., mother. “My daughter, on the…
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Potty Training Multiples : Great advice whether you have one or more to train!
Potty Training MultiplesGreat advice whether you have one or more to train!
Congratulations, you made it to the toddler years with your multiples! And just like you had to buy multiple cribs, strollers and high-chairs – when your children reach that stage of readiness – it will be time to buy multiple…
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Tuning in to Your Child's Learning Style
Do you have a watchful observer? Or an interactive do-er? Understanding your child's prevailing learning style not only does wonders in the potty training department-it can go a long way in helping you adapt life lessons as your child discovers and grows.
Set Your Sights on LearningDo you have a child…
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Dishing Advice at the Pull-Ups® Potty Dance Party
Jen Singer
Max, 2½, and I were sitting on the floor in my booth at the Pull-Ups® Potty Dance Party, a special event in New York City where I was doling out one-on-one potty training advice as one of the long-time Pull-Ups® Potty Training Partners. In recent years, I've counseled parents and grandparents on all…
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Dads and Potty Training
Dave Hagler
Dads can be particularly apprehensive about the potty training experience, and can end up taking a secondary role to mom. But, it doesn't need to be that way. On the contrary, there are many reasons why dads should be excited and eager to enter into the potty training process with their child, and take…
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How to Keep Potty Training Light-Hearted
Dave Hagler
Potty training is a big, important milestone in your child's life. If you wait too long to begin training, or start too early, or go about it the wrong way, your child could go through their entire childhood, adolescence, and maybe even adulthood in diapers. OK, maybe that's a bit of an exaggeration. …
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5 Tips for Surviving Potty Training
Jen Singer
I've been a Pull-Ups® Potty Training Partner for five years now, and during that time, I've confirmed one important hunch: potty training is the most labor intensive of your child's milestones. Don't you think?
It takes work to make potty training successful, but if you stick it out, you will reach…
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