Potty training...

[Jotiff10]

Just wondering how everyone handles potty training minded children... From experience of a little boy I recently minded it was a nightmare, parents insisted in putting them in pants, child doesn't/ refuses to use toilet when in my care which results in furniture being soiled etc... In the end we got there, but it was a long and messy road!! I don't know about any of you but it's bad enough when one of your own kids has an accident whilst sat on the sofa but when it others its gets a bit wearing!!
Anyway, I have a little girl coming tomorrow who over the weekend has started using the potty, I'm now dreading tomorrow! Parent has asked me to just leave a potty out which she can use when she needs, I don't agree with leaving pottys around anyway let along when there are babies crawling around, so encourage children to use toilet... Parent got funny with me when I told her this.. Am I being unreasonable?!
Sorry for the rambled..any thoughts are most welcome!!

[sarah707]

Children need to be pretty well established at home before they come in pants.

It's a health and safety hazard as much as anything else - plus you can't be meeting the needs of all the other children in the house if you are constantly cleaning up wee and worse.

I normally suggest parents work with them over a holiday week or a long weekend at least - and of course that the child is ready. There's no point trying to coerce a child who hasn't a clue.

Do you have a policy? I would write one if I were you - there are lots online to give you ideas.

Good luck :D

[JCrakers]

I will help with potty training if parent co-operate.
My policy is a couple of days in pull ups first to see how things are, then pants IF they are showing the signs.

If they are ready then things should progress if not then I won't have children weeing around the floor.
A full time child is obviously easier to potty train than a part time child. A part time child needs to be established at home where as a full time child can usually be started off here :D

[AliceK]

I have a policy which states that a parent must start this at home with success before sending to me in pants. They must be wearing loose clothes and be able to pull down on their own. Obviously I will assist and remind the child to go and have a wee. If a child is obviously not ready and is having numerous accidents I will refuse them in pants. I had one child who wasn't ready and even after I had sat her on the toilet and she had done nothing she would then wee in her pants a few minutes later. I wrote out a timeline detailing all this and a gave it to mum upon collection. Mum then agreed to wait a while and try again. 2nd time round child was much more ready and is now dry. I also train most children to use the toilet rather than a potty which I hate. I have a special seat on the downstairs toilet which has a child seat built in. My toilet training policy is quite strict :thumbsup: My belief through experience is that if a child is ready they can be trained and dry within a couple of days.

xxx

[joannetalbot]

I have a policy which states that a parent must start this at home with success before sending to me in pants. They must be wearing loose clothes and be able to pull down on their own. Obviously I will assist and remind the child to go and have a wee. If a child is obviously not ready and is having numerous accidents I will refuse them in pants. I had one child who wasn't ready and even after I had sat her on the toilet and she had done nothing she would then wee in her pants a few minutes later. I wrote out a timeline detailing all this and a gave it to mum upon collection. Mum then agreed to wait a while and try again. 2nd time round child was much more ready and is now dry. I also train most children to use the toilet rather than a potty which I hate. I have a special seat on the downstairs toilet which has a child seat built in. My toilet training policy is quite strict :thumbsup: My belief through experience is that if a child is ready they can be trained and dry within a couple of days.xxx

I couldn't agree more :)

I have a very detailed potty training policy in place but one set of parents decided to completely ignore it which was soooo frustrating :angry:

They turned up on my doorstep on a tues morning with their child in pants and expected me to train her..............when I reminded the parents of what my potty t/policy says i.e. I can't train a child from scratch as its not fair on the other kids etc, etc, the mum then burst into tears because she said she couldn't take the time off work to do it herself..........I do understand parents predicament and once i'd calmed her down and we'd had a nice chat, she did understand why it's so important for a child to have 1-on-1 attention in the early days of potty training and why it wouldn't be fair on the other children if I gave all my time to her daughter and we came up with a plan of her taking just 1 day off to add onto along weekend to see if she could crack it......

the child incidentally was put back into nappies that day so I did persuade her to do it my way ;) BUT since then the child has been in nappies/pull ups, knickers and then back to pull ups and we are now 6 weeks down the line with hardly any success at all.............................

when the parents told me last week they were putting her back into knickers again i did speak my mind and say that this child was definitely not ready for p/training otherwise it wouldn't be taking so long.........i dont think thats what the parents really wanted to hear to be honest but i do think they forget that we have had alot of experience of p/training children plus we get to know our minded kids really well too...........i did wonder whether i'd overstepped the mark by telling her straight but the poor child was getting sooooo confused with it all it just wasn't fair :(

jo x

[nipper]

I state in my potty training policy that parents need to have started the process and that child needs to be able to pull down and pull up trousers/skirts/tights by themselves (with help if needed). I also state that under no circumstances do I allow children to walk around in their underwear.

[ChocolateChip]

I agree, if you haven't already got a toilet training policy, I would write one up pdq! I adapted the one from Bromley, just about covers everything.
I insist that parents sit down and have a chat about it first now, as so many have just turned up potty in hand, or send them in dungarees or trousers that they can't manage etc, also they need to know that you probably have others in your care who need your attention aswell.
Stick to your guns if you don't want potties lying around the place, it is a health and hygiene issue. I have laminate in my hallway, and the door is gated so I keep any potties out there (as I don't have a downstairs loo) so it a)won't spill on my carpet b)can't be reached by others c) affords a little bit of privacy. If you haven't got laminate anywhere put them down on a pampers mat or similar, I also use these in carseats and on the sofa until I am 100% confident they are not going to have an accident.
Yes, we are there to support the child, but it is our setting and our rules, and they are there for a reason! ;)

[AliceK]

Parents are always in such a rush to get their child potty trained, I have no idea why, it's crazy, there are no medals for getting your child PT by a certain age. My ds was ready at about 2 and half, dd was not ready until she was 3yrs and 2mths. Everyone used to say "oh she should be PT by now". Really? Who says? I know my DD and I knew she wasn't ready. When I could see she was ready she got it straight away. She only ever had 1 accident and she did that on purpose (don't ask).
It makes me so mad when parents are in such a rush to get their children to the next milestone. Wait until your child is ready rather than pushing them and stressing you both over it.
Rant over :blush:

xxx

[Mrs.L.C]

I am always reminding parents that most children are around 2.5-3 yeras when they potty train not 18months-2 years

I have a leaflet I send via email to help them recognise the signs and what they can do to ease their child into it such as letting them sit on a potty fully clothed, taking them into the bathroom to wash hands and hear the flush on the toilet etc and this is months and months before putting them in pants

I ask parents to start at home first and that they need to be pretty much dry for 2 days running before bringing them here in pants. Happy to encourage a child to use the toilet and will ask every half an hour or so if they wanted to try if parents have started the process at home

the only problems we have had are number 2's....we have had a few children over the years who struggle to do them on the potty or toilet but are dry every day but this is something that just comes within time. If its been really bad I have asked parents to use pull ups whilst they are here. One accident in a day is manageable but if its 3 or 4 its gets too much