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Home › Articles › Toilet Training › Toilet Training Your Child

Toilet Training Your Child

Motivating and Rewarding

By Jessica Williams

Pages:  1  2  3  

But a healthy reward system is attainable, and could be very beneficial. Here are some things to remember when considering the reward system:

  • Your child will not benefit from a reward system unless she has shown that she is capable of using the toilet or potty-chair. Reward systems are better used when a child is having many accidents because she has lost motivation, not because she was just introduced to the concept.
  • Parental praise should never be replaced by a reward system. A parent can become resentful if the reward system becomes abused (for example, the child sits on the potty every 10 minutes and expects a reward, but doesn't seem to actually care about using the potty and still has consistent accidents). If a parent loses control of the reward system, praise is hard to give.
  • Large rewards, such as gifts or trips, should never be offered. Remember, using the potty is something your child will be doing multiple times a day; promising a large reward is unrealistic.

    • stickersOnce you've decided on using a reward system, you need to make a plan. The rewards will work best when everyone who is helping with toilet training is using the same methods. Here are some ideas for rewarding:

    Use a Chart and Stickers.
    This is by far the most popular method used by parents. The chart should be colorful and large enough to place multiple small stickers on each square. Have a packet of small stickers (stars work well) and a container of larger stickers. Each day, place a small sticker on the square for each attempt to use the potty – regardless of the results. Then, decide on whether you will use the large stickers for each time your child actually eliminates in the potty-chair or toilet, or if you will give a large sticker for each day your child goes without accidents.


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