So, I am determined to potty train my one year old and this is quite an adventure. We have had some mishaps, like the time he peed in my bed right after his first successful potty trip or the time I forgot to put a diaper on him before he dozed off and I had to change all of his sheets in the middle of the night. Despite these mishaps, however, we are making progress. We are doing better now, mainly because I gave up.

Yes, I gave up on trying to have potty training success over night. And I want to encourage you to just give up too. Let go of the idea that your child must complete tasks such as this in a certain time frame. Kids will grow and develop as quickly as they need to based on their individual ability and development. I realized that my son can barely remember to tell me when he has to potty. He is very good at letting me know once he is wet, but not before then. So, instead of pressuring him to get it together, I relaxed and went back to basics. I went back to taking him to the potty to talk about how pee pee goes in the potty, instead of staying in the frustrated space of, “why is my kid not over this yet!”
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So, as you attempt to potty train your little one, I hope the tips below are helpful:

1. Stalk their diaper: Once your kid begins to squat or stand still while playing, dash over to take them to the potty and talk to them about how pee pee goes in the potty.

2. Catch them when they start: Once your kid begins complaining of being wet or patting their diaper, take them to the potty and sit them on it. Celebrate anything they get to land in the potty so that they connect praise with pee pee in the potty.

3. Let them get wet: Modern diapers allow our kids to experience hours of feeling dry even after they have an incident, so you have to let them feel the discomfort of being wet to get them to connect wetness with calling you to relieve it. This has helped me get my son to tell me when wetness is about to happen instead of just tapping me once he is already wet.

4. Keep a set of changing clothes: I keep 2 ziplock bags of complete outfits with me at all times, just in case my son has an accident. To keep potty training from becoming a negative, stressful experience for your child, minimize your frustration by planning in advance for their accidents.