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Daycare Center and Family Home Forum>What Is Your Toilet Training Policy?
Unregistered 04:36 PM 08-24-2018
I'm adjusting to a new daycare job that has an interesting policy about using the toilet. Basically, don't even mention it until they start using the toilet at home.

This seems very foreign to me as I'm the kind of person who, half jokes with a crying newborn "Well, if you don't like me changing your diaper then you need to use the potty." If I'm with a two-year-old who is able to tell me "I'm pooping!" then, I think it's natural to explain that "poop goes on the potty" and offer the opportunity to try sitting on the toilet. No pressure. No forcing. Just simply reading stories and talking about the bathroom and giving the opportunity to get comfortable with the idea (plus they can practice things like pulling up and down their own pants, etc.) [My two year olds at another daycare LOVED dancing to "Potty Time" music.]

Apparently, the policy is that the child needs to be potty trained at home for three weeks before they start working on it in school. I can understand not being allowed to go to school in underwear until they've been dry for three weeks, but not even mentioning the toilet seems a little odd to me.

What's your policy about toilet training? Is it a "don't even mention the potty?" policy until they start at home- even if the kid is with you 50 hours a week?
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LysesKids 05:40 PM 08-24-2018
Originally Posted by Unregistered:
I'm adjusting to a new daycare job that has an interesting policy about using the toilet. Basically, don't even mention it until they start using the toilet at home.

This seems very foreign to me as I'm the kind of person who, half jokes with a crying newborn "Well, if you don't like me changing your diaper then you need to use the potty." If I'm with a two-year-old who is able to tell me "I'm pooping!" then, I think it's natural to explain that "poop goes on the potty" and offer the opportunity to try sitting on the toilet. No pressure. No forcing. Just simply reading stories and talking about the bathroom and giving the opportunity to get comfortable with the idea (plus they can practice things like pulling up and down their own pants, etc.) [My two year olds at another daycare LOVED dancing to "Potty Time" music.]

Apparently, the policy is that the child needs to be potty trained at home for three weeks before they start working on it in school. I can understand not being allowed to go to school in underwear until they've been dry for three weeks, but not even mentioning the toilet seems a little odd to me.

What's your policy about toilet training? Is it a "don't even mention the potty?" policy until they start at home- even if the kid is with you 50 hours a week?
Many of us won't help in the training until the parents start at home... set guidelines are in place also including the little being able to pull pants down, telling us they need to pee/poo etc. I do up to 18 month only care; unlike a few decades ago, potty training never happens while I have a child because they age out before they can even tell me they need to go most the time. My own children trained by 24 months, but the youngest was 26 years ago & she was cloth diapered - now most kids are in disposables
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Ariana 05:47 PM 08-24-2018
My policy is that parents must start the process at home when they will be home for a considerable amount of time like vacation or Christmas break. Once they are staying dry at home for two weeks they can come here in undies. Otherwise they come with pullups and they use the toilet here. I do not remind kids to go for the most part but get them to go certain times during the day (before we go outside and before nap).

I recommend that parents wait until their child is 2.5 before trying and that when a kid is ready they learn in about 2-3 days in my experience.

What you are describing does not actually help a child learn to use the potty. When a child is ready they will want to go to the toilet and can hold it until they get there. When a child is ready it takes 2-3 days maximum. Nothing wrong with bringing a kid to the toilet and sitting them on it but it is not a necessary part of the learning process in my opinion.
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Josiegirl 02:42 AM 08-25-2018
I'm also a believer in letting the parents start the process at home but once they do, I will help them along with joining in here. I do talk about it beforehand, a little bit. I have a dcg who's turning 2 next month who gives me a funny look as she's pooping or she'll pat her diaper and I'll ask her if she's pooped. No harm in making it part of the conversation at all but I'm not going to drag out the potty and start training her here first. Dcm and I need to be on the same page. My experience has been the same as Ariana's. Closer to 3 yo and it doesn't take nearly as long.
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skipper 04:59 AM 08-25-2018
I follow a low-waste rule and therefore discourage disposable diapers and encourage early potty habits. Most of my families practice elimination communication so the actual potty habits begin well before a year. In my policy however it states that they don't begin routinely sitting on the potty (after snack, after lunch and after nap) until 14 months. Prior to that it's up to me (or the parents at home) to read their cues and whisk them off to the potty when needed. It's more work but worth it in the long run as they are all trained by 2 - 2.5.
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Unregistered 09:07 AM 08-25-2018
It just seems so weird that I am not even allowed to MENTION the toilet. I can understand no underwear until the child is dry for a certain amount of time, but not being allowed to say ”potty” in the room seems so foreign
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mommyneedsadayoff 10:10 AM 08-25-2018
Originally Posted by skipper:
I follow a low-waste rule and therefore discourage disposable diapers and encourage early potty habits. Most of my families practice elimination communication so the actual potty habits begin well before a year. In my policy however it states that they don't begin routinely sitting on the potty (after snack, after lunch and after nap) until 14 months. Prior to that it's up to me (or the parents at home) to read their cues and whisk them off to the potty when needed. It's more work but worth it in the long run as they are all trained by 2 - 2.5.
I hope you dont take offense, but I've never really understood this way of potty training. If it starts before a year, that means you spend well over a year "training" the child. The amount of work and the fact that it seems so adult motivated, as in, not in the best interest of the child or developmentally appropriate just has never made sense to me. If you just wait, it is little to no energy on the adults part and the kid is truly ready, so no negativity is tied to using the potty. As for environmental reasons, there are plenty of environmentally friendly options that dont require a child to accomplish a skill before they are ready. I'm sorry if I sound harsh, but I just really have a hard time wrapping my brain around holding an infant over a toilet trying to catch the pee and calling it normal. I also see very few parents having the patience for it and either not doing it at home, expecting the provider to survive without the diapers. Or, getting impatient and possibly bring negativity to it, so that a kid becomes scared or anxious to use the potty. I have seen that so many time when people start too early, and it can be so tough to deal with, and painful for the child. Anyway, I hope I'm not offending, but I'm just curious as to why a provider would choose and encourage this method. Thank you for any feedback!

Originally Posted by Unregistered:
It just seems so weird that I am not even allowed to MENTION the toilet. I can understand no underwear until the child is dry for a certain amount of time, but not being allowed to say ”potty” in the room seems so foreign
It's odd you cant mention it, but it could be because the amount of confusion and power that word (potty) holds today makes it easier to be left unsaid until the kid is actually trained. Parents start from a young age and it becomes a novelty for some kids, so mentioning means they want to go sit on it, even if they dont need to go. Multiply that by 10-20 toddlers and the staff needed to supervise the potty (as well as change the diapers when they go in them), and they may just prefer the potty stays a non-issue until the kid is actually using the potty. Not sure, but that's my guess.
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LysesKids 11:40 AM 08-25-2018
Originally Posted by skipper:
I follow a low-waste rule and therefore discourage disposable diapers and encourage early potty habits. Most of my families practice elimination communication so the actual potty habits begin well before a year. In my policy however it states that they don't begin routinely sitting on the potty (after snack, after lunch and after nap) until 14 months. Prior to that it's up to me (or the parents at home) to read their cues and whisk them off to the potty when needed. It's more work but worth it in the long run as they are all trained by 2 - 2.5.
Here in the states we can't do elimination communication for sanitary reasons alone; Licensing wouldn't allow it

I have 3 of my 4 daycare babes under a year old & don't have all day just running them back & forth to the toilet. I only take kids to 18 months, so I usually don't have to think about PT.
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