Due to your child's agreeable nature, they are likely to be on board whenever you decide to introduce Pull-Ups® training pants. Eager-to-please children will be interested in this stage and raring to get started.
Part of creating a positive emotional experience for your willing child is being in tune with them. Eager-to-please children are programmed to seek approval, and look to their parents for confirmation that they are doing the right thing in the right way. Let them know what to do, and praise them when they do it! Whenever you’re able, take your agreeable child to the bathroom with you. This potty training process is a partnership.
Try these Potty Talk scripts with your eager-to-please child:
- “I’ve noticed you’re interested in going to the potty. That’s pretty cool. Let’s go to the store to get some Pull-Ups so I can show you how to use them. Pull-Ups will help you learn how to use the potty like a Big Kid.”
- When you’re in the store, you can discuss the various Disney characters, weighing which one your eager-to-please child wants to try out first.
- “Pull-Ups will help you put your pee and poop in the potty just like a Big Kid [or name of sibling/cousin]."
Pulling pants up and down is an important skill that builds independence -- for potty training and beyond. Make sure your child has pants with an elastic waistband, and give opportunities throughout each day to practice this skill. Give your child a choice when you’re introducing Pull-Ups. Let them be part of the process in choosing her type of Pull-Ups, and the character on her Pull-Ups. Work together to find a special place in the bathroom for the Pull-Ups, and let her know that they’ll be there when she’s ready. “Your Pull-Ups will be right here. Maybe you’ll be ready to try one on after I change you next time.”
Connect with your eager-to-please child by reading a book or singing a song when they are on the potty. You can even make up your own silly potty stories about the characters on their new Pull-Ups. Be creative in your story telling, and encourage your agreeable child to be creative, too. Silly potty stories go a long way to motivate and engage your toddler, and laughing builds the feeling of being in this process together. Encourage your eager-to-please child to use dramatic play in the bathroom, too. A stuffed animal or doll can wear Pull-Ups and go through the potty steps, with your child directing all the action and “teaching” his special friend how to be potty trained.
Let your eager child join in the fun by selecting which Pull-Ups designs to wear first.
When your child sees the change on the Learning Designs picture or feels that his Cool & Learn is wet, count that as a win – celebrate it with a song, high five or silly dance. For eager-to-please children, success builds on success, especially when you add in encouragement.
Potty training is a big moment – it’s when your little one becomes a big kid. So it’s important to reinforce this change, and there are a couple easy ways to do so. First, be consistent. When you take your kid out of diapers, keep her out of diapers. Pull Ups are more than a training pant. They’re also a symbol to your little one that it’s time to potty like a Big Kid. Going back and forth from diapers to pants only confuses them. Next, make the first time they pull on a pair of Pull-Ups a symbol — a promise that you’re in it together and will work and learn together on the potty training journey.
My Own Potty Book
Create a special book with your agreeable child about going to the potty. Use your child’s name, favorite colors, plus details from your lives. Kids love to see themselves as the star of the story. Offer this book while your child is sitting on the potty, and later when they’re running for President. But seriously, make sure to bring the book when you are traveling or in an unfamiliar place. Here is some text you might use in the book. Feel free to customize it for your toddler:
- Sometimes, I dance around and my tummy feels funny; that’s when I remember I need to use the potty.
- I go to the potty, pull down my pants and sit on the potty.
- Sometimes, pee comes out.
- Sometimes, poop comes out.
- I feel so much better after I have gone potty! Ahhh.
- When I sit on the potty, I can sing songs, look at a book or hold my favorite toy.
- After I’m done, I use the toilet paper to wipe, wipe, wipe.
- I put the toilet paper in the toilet and flush.
- The flusher is loud!
- I pull up my pants.
- Then wash my hands.
- Now, I can go play again.
- Sometimes I use the potty before I get in the bathtub or go to bed.
- Sometimes I use the potty just to see what will happen.
- I feel proud and happy that I used the potty!
- I feel like a Big Kid when I use the potty!
