The Key to Potty Training Success

(ARA) – When it comes time for your child to start preschool, most parents can’t control their enthusiasm, but what do you do if the school turns you away because your son or daughter is not potty trained?

“You find a way to get them trained, of course,” says “Potty Pro” Teri Crane of Avon Lake, Ohio, and she should know. She started trying to train her son, Spencer, when he was two-and-a-half and met such stiff resistance she gave up and put him back in diapers. “Nothing was working. In fact, he actually had become hostile towards the potty seat. We would ask if he had to go. He would shout, ‘No I don’t have to. I don’t want to,’” she says.

Spencer’s breakthrough finally came just before his third birthday. “I wanted to enroll him in preschool, but couldn’t find a program that would accept him until he was potty trained. So I decided it was time to try again,” says Crane.

Knowing that Spencer loves parties, she decided to throw one that would convince him using the potty is fun. Crane planned a Potty Party for Spencer in which he received the gift of a doll he would help train. “All morning, in between reading books and playing games, I taught Dolly how a big boy goes to the potty by himself and Spencer watched closely,” says Crane. “By lunchtime, he had grasped the most important aspects of potty training and was teaching Dolly himself.”

After lunch, for added incentive, she told Spencer that if he showed her that he could use the potty just like Dolly had he’d get to go to his favorite place, Chuck E. Cheese. “It worked like a charm,” says Crane.

Crane’s Potty Party technique was so successful, she decided to write a book on the subject. “Potty Train Your Child in Just One Day” is now in its 9th printing. The book outlines how to throw a successful, themed Potty Party and teaches parents the keys to potty training success, including how to:

* Recognize the signs that the child is ready to be potty trained.

These include dancing, jumping up and down and grabbing their private parts when they have to go; pulling or tugging on their diaper after they have urinated or defecated in it; and being able to stay clean and dry for 3 to 5 hours at a time.

* Create incentive through consistent positive reinforcement.

Toddlers love to play and imagine, so Crane says parents should turn the process into a game. If you can make learning how to use the potty fun and magical, you are less likely to get resistance, she says. The Potty Party is a perfect way to create an imaginative and creative setting for potty training.

* Make the process easy and comfortable for the child.

Most toddlers are too small to safely use an adult toilet, and will be afraid to even try, so Crane recommends parents provide them with a training potty. When deciding which one to buy, she recommends parents put safety first by making sure the potty can’t be rocked or tipped when the child sits on it; the child can’t fall off backwards or sideways; there aren’t sharp or pointed pieces that can scrape or otherwise injure the child; and there aren’t parts that can fall off and be swallowed.

Crane recommends the Boon Potty Bench. It sits just seven inches high, the perfect height for a toddler’s comfort level, and features two enclosed side storage spaces for organizing potty training supplies. “The feature I like best is ease of clean-up,” says Crane. “The toilet ‘bowl’ is a small drawer that slides out quickly and easily, then once you dump it out and clean it, you just slide it back into place.”

Boon spokesperson Kate Benjamin points out another quality that parents appreciate — multi-function. “The Potty Bench really helps save space in the bathroom since it easily converts to a sturdy bench or step stool while the side storage compartments are an added bonus for keeping the bathroom organized.”

The Boon Potty Bench is available at Babies ‘R Us, Toys ‘R Us and other retailers nationwide. To find the store nearest you, log on to www.booninc.com. If you have questions about potty training, you can contact Teri Crane at www.thepottypro.com.

Courtesy of ARA Content

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