Disclosure: This post is sponsored by Pull-Ups Training Pants. All thoughts and opinions are the author’s.
My toddler’s favorite word is “No.” He says it a lot. A LOT. It’s his automatic answer to everything and sometimes he even just randomly says it. He’s not big on changes, hates transitions, and if something isn’t his idea he will automatically resist it.
Now throw in a dash of always wanting control of any given situation with just a little sprinkle of “Jeez, Dad, I have better things to do” and you get the idea of what we’re dealing with here.
Yeah. Potty training this kid wasn’t going to be easy. If we’re going to get anything done with him, it was going to take a partnership.
And so potty training begins
We tried some common methods at first. But his resistance to just sitting on the potty was so strong we had to have him go pants-less for a while and wait until, uh, the groundhog peeked out of the hole, so to speak, to get him to see what the whole point of it was.
But even though he now understood why he needed to use the potty, he would still resist sitting on it. He hated being without pants, and if he was wearing them, he would refuse to admit he needed to go potty even when he was in the middle of the act.
Then Pull-Ups Training Pants (https://www.pull-ups.com/en-us/products/training-pants) came to our rescue with the Pull-Ups Potty Partnership (https://www.pull-ups.com/en-us/potty-training/program/new-way-train-pull-ups-potty-partnership).
Our son loved the Disney movie Cars, and what do you know, some Pull-Ups came with Lightning McQueen and Mater on them.
Instant win for our son.
He liked those characters so much he wanted to try the Pull-Ups right away. And, because he could slide them on and off by himself, he felt more in control of his potty training. They’re also designed specifically to teach potty training skills.
Instant win for dad and mom.
Suddenly, we had a working partnership. Liam was now more conducive to potty training. He had cool Cars Big Kid pants and when it was time to go, he’d, well, go. Much better plan than us simply waiting him out until he absolutely had to sit on the potty.
Taking a stand on standing to pee
Our toddler became a Big Kid, and began to act more like one when it was potty time. He will now even stand when it’s time to pee. While I don’t recommend starting your boy off with this technique, and, yes, it can get a little messy, the confidence he built up from being able to put on and take off Pull-ups on his own to go like a Big Kid was invaluable to him.
I’ve been asked if I worry about regression. Not really. Potty training is a learning process, after all, and sometimes setbacks and steps back occur. The trick is not to worry about it but just deal with it as it happens.
Because another point of a partnership is you help each other out when goals aren’t achieved. The point is to encourage, not berate. Potty training is complicated for toddlers to learn so while setbacks might be disheartening, they are completely normal. You need to remain patient and stay the course.
The thing about parenting is that while your child is learning from you, you are also learning from your child. When it comes to potty training, approach it as a partnership. It’s about learning how to go potty like a Big Kid, and that means you have to treat your child as a Big Kid.
He’s got Pull-Ups personality
You need to pay attention to your child’s personality type. The potty personality quiz at https://www.pull-ups.com/en-us/potty-training/program/child-personality helps parents determine which of these personalities their child resembles and provide information to help customize the potty training journey from the beginning. What may work for one child may not work for another and that’s OK. Some children are more independent and resistant to change, as our son was (the potty personality ranked him as Squirrel — always on the go, won’t stop playing even when nature calls), others are not. You must understand your child’s personality and incorporate that into your partnership, or potty training will be an exceedingly long, difficult, and, yes, messy process for you both.
If you have a highly independent child like ours, you’ll need to let them feel in control. A Pull-Ups Partnership will be just what the doctor ordered. If you understand your child’s personality traits, you will help them understand better how to navigate life.
And that is the entire point of being a parent in the first place.
We prefer the Pampers Pull-Ups as it fits my son much better and more like underwear as opposed to Diapers. The other brands are bulky and too reminiscent of the diapers we are trying to get him out of.
My son seems indifferent to the type he has on regarding the specific pictures but can move around much better in his Pampers.