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Facts and Advice for Potty Training Toddlers

Outsourced Writing Blog — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 05:31:00 GMT

When you keep in mind a few basic facts, you can overcome many of the challenges in potty training toddlers. Find out if you’ve been addressing some of these simple toilet training considerations.

Here’s some basic information that is useful to consider as you undertake to process of potty training toddlers.

FACT:

Expect that your toddler will master the feat of going ‘Number One’ before fully mastering the task of ‘Number Two.’ This is simply because:

The physical process takes more time and requires your child to sit still longer than his or her attention span generally lasts;
Sometimes discomfort or pain occurs during a bowel movement, and this might temporarily discourage a toddler from trying again because he or she associates the discomfort with sitting on the toilet.

POTTY TRAINING ADVICE:

When your toddler becomes too fidgety and won’t sit still long enough to have a bowel movement, try sitting alongside him or her while reading a book about the potty training experience. Many children’s books have been written about growing out of diapers, such as “Bye Bye Diapers” by Ellen Weiss, which can be found in most book stores and online.

If your child has been avoiding the task of Number Two, it may be due to some previously experienced discomfort. Why not try letting him or her use a different potty? If they’ve been using a potty chair, then let them give it a shot on the ‘grown up potty’ … or vice verse. This may help in providing him or her with a sense a sense of control over the circumstances.

FACT:

Disposable diapers and training pants might be convenient for parents and child care givers, but they actually delay the toddler’s natural inclination to start potty training, and prolong the process because they do not experience much discomfort when they are wet. Children raised prior to the advent of disposables were generally potty trained by age two. These days it’s not uncommon to see four years olds still in the toilet training stage.

POTTY TRAINING ADVICE:

Switch to cloth diapers around age two and you’ll be amazed how your child begins to notice and complain about a dirty diaper. If your child is already older and you’ve been in the potty training stage for awhile, you may notice that the switch remarkably hastens his or her interest in using the potty.

FACT:

Children under age two are only just beginning to understand what a potty is, and what it’s for. It may not really interest them. They often need a reason to be attracted to it as something other than just a fixture in the household.

POTTY TRAINING ADVICE:

Tell your child that you need to go to the bathroom and invite him to come along and watch. This is a perfect opportunity to explain that he will be expected to do the same when he notices he needs to “go potty.” You can also invest in something a little more exciting than a potty seat that covers the toilet. Many colorfully designed potty chairs are available, some which even include music or even personalized recordings for the toddler to hear when they flush, such as the Flush & Cheer Potty Chair™.

FACT:

Children around two years of age have often not yet made the connection between the urge to urinate and the sense of accomplishment. Realizing this connection is a major milestone and it usually takes a parent’s help.

POTTY TRAINING ADVICE:

When you notice your child making that funny ‘grunting’ face, or heading off to her favorite quiet place where she frequently goes to fill her diaper, quickly whisk her off to the bathroom. If you make it there in time before the diaper is filled, she will experience not only the sense of accomplishment in successfully using the potty, but she will also achieve a better connection between the urge to go, and the act of walking to the bathroom. In addition, this will give you an opportunity to point out how much better it feels to have a dry bottom, as opposed to feeling saturated or grimy.

Tips for Potty Training Girls

Outsourced Writing Blog — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 04:29:00 GMT

Is it time to start potty training your daughter, but you’re not sure how to begin? Use these helpful tips for potty training girls.

Some experts say that potty training girls is easier than potty training boys. Maybe it’s because girls develop control over their bowel and bladder muscles before boys do. Or maybe—since mothers typically do the potty training—girls have the advantage of mimicking their trainer’s actions. Whether this is true or not, it is important to realize that every child is unique. Some girls will be ready to begin potty training as early as 20 months. Others won’t be ready until 3 years or even older. However, you can use the following guide for potty training girls at any age.

Is she ready? Signs That Your Little Girl is Ready for Potty Training:

Pulling or tugging at the diaper and expressing discomfort
Mimicking parents’ behavior by trying to sit on the toilet
Repeating key words such as “pee-pee” and “poo-poo”
Asking to wear grown-up underwear
Keeping dry for a couple of hours at a time during the day
Waking frequently from naps with dry diapers

Important Things to Remember:

Girls may experience increased risk of bladder or other infection during potty training. Remember to teach them to wipe from front to back to reduce the risk of infection. If she experiences abdominal pain, frequent or painful urination, or frequent urges during potty training, contact your family physician.

10 Tips for Potty Training Girls:

Establish a system for rewarding or praising your daughter when she is successful.

Remember that potty training requires patience. It may take weeks or months before your daughter is fully potty trained.

It will be easier for your daughter to potty train if she is wearing loose-fitting clothing like dresses or skirts.

Turn potty training into a simple game. There are some great products available which are designed to make potty training fun, like the Flush & Cheer Potty Chair from Varsity Baby.

Keep the potty chair in the bathroom instead of the child’s play area so she learns where she is supposed to use the potty.

Establish a routine. While your daughter is potty training, take her to use the potty after meals, before leaving home, before bathing, at bedtime, and as soon as she wakes up each morning.

If your daughter has an accident, take her to the potty chair to try again before cleaning up and changing her clothes.

Stop using disposable diapers or other undergarments that are designed to keep her clean and dry. The more discomfort she feels when she has an accident, the more successful she will be at potty training.

If she has a younger sibling, she may regress during her potty training as a way of resisting growing up. Be sure to praise her when she acts like a big girl.

Remember to emphasize the behavior you want to see. Instead of saying, “Don’t go potty in your diaper,” remind her that you want her to “pee-pee or poo-poo in the potty chair.”

Ten Simple Tips for Potty Training Boys

Outsourced Writing Blog — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 04:23:00 GMT

Desperate to find some suggestions for potty training boys? Here are ten simple and helpful tricks that can help you speed through the toilet training process.

It is often said that boys are more difficult than girls when it comes to potty training. Whether or not this is really true is a matter of debate. What does seem to be the case, however, is that boys often physically mature a little later than girls. They also experience a disadvantage in that their physical characteristics allow them to feel less discomfort than girls when they wet themselves, thus making boys slightly less motivated to hurry through the potty training stage.

These factors are important to keep in mind as you begin the potty training process with boys. Parents who have already gone through this experience with a daughter may recognize certain behaviors which seem to indicate their son is ready to begin this journey by age 20 to 24 months. But when you actually start the process, you may notice that your boy has a more difficult time acknowledging and controlling the physical urge to urinate or move his bowels than your girl did. In addition, older boys may already understand and seek the sense of accomplishment and recognition that comes when they are successful, but they might not be able to consistently manage all of their physical skills just yet.

Therefore, you will want to continue your encouragement and focus on providing constant support and a pattern of positive reinforcement. Listed below are ten simple tips designed to help you and your son persevere through the sometimes lengthy potty training phase.

Establish a reward system that lets your child earn a treat or badge of some sort when he successfully ‘accomplishes his mission.’ Chocolate always seems to be an appreciated reward, but some parents may prefer giving stickers and small toys, or using a chart.

Remember that your son’s first milestone to be rewarded will be that he has learned to equate the soiled diaper with the potty. Specifically, he might communicate to you that he needs to potty after he already used his diaper. This is an important first step!

Turn potty training into a simple game. Indulge his emerging interest in music, football or basketball by using a musical or sports-themed potty chair. There are some great products available which are designed to make potty training fun, like the Flush & Cheer Potty Chair from Varsity Baby.

Continue the games to keep his interest as he matures. When he reaches the point where he has successfully ‘gone pee’, let your son experience the innate masculine pleasure of aiming at things floating in the potty. One or two rings of cereal from a box of Cheerios always make a handy target, and they won’t plug up your plumbing.

Consider the act of ‘flushing’ the potty to be a reward in itself. This not only motivates your child to actually ‘go potty’ on the toilet, but also reinforces the importance of only flushing when necessary. It is never too early to begin taking steps to prevent the misfortune of a plumber’s expense if your son flushes something inappropriate down the commode.

As he progresses through the training phase, your little boy should no longer be sleeping in a crib, but should be in a toddler bed so that he can climb out and use the potty when he needs to during naps and overnight.

Stop using disposable diapers or disposable training pants. These products are designed to make your child comfortable after he soils himself. This is exactly what you do not want during potty training. Instead use cloth diapers or traditional plastic training pants that cover his ‘big boy underwear.’ The more uncomfortable he is when he forgets to use the potty, the faster he will work through the toilet training stage.

Have your son spend time with an older child or another toddler who is already toilet trained who can encourage him to ‘be a big boy’ by using the potty. Peer learning and mentoring concepts are very effective for potty training boys.

In the summertime, let your son ‘pee on a tree’ like his dad or older brother does when they are outdoors. Few things can make a little boy feel more ‘manly’ than this, and he will enjoy the satisfaction of knowing that he can do this instead of using his diaper or pull-up.

To get your child sitting still long enough to ‘go Number Two,’ sit beside him and read him a book about potty training. Many books have been published for precisely this purpose and children love them. Try something like Too Big for Diapers, which is perfect for boys and features the Sesame Street character Ernie.

Additional information concerning potty training tips and milestones is available at www.PottyTrainingAdvice.org where parents and babysitters can go for further reading, or to post questions and comments.

Improperly Installed Clothes Dryers are a Fire Hazard

Outsourced Writing Blog — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 14:53:00 GMT

If you purchased a new clothes dryer recently, find out if your life and your home is at risk of fire. Having the clothes dryer professionally installed actually makes it more likely that a fire could occur.

Because you paid top dollar to have your new clothes dryer installed, it is only fair that you should feel confident that it will function as it should, and you will be protected against product failures or fire hazards. Unfortunately, this is not the case.

When purchasing a new clothes dryer, most people make arrangements for delivery and installation through the appliance retailer while at the store. If you're lucky, the issue of dryer vents will be discussed, but you may the one who has to bring up the subject. Usually, the retailer will sell you an off-the-shelf flexible dryer vent so that their installer won't have to mess with hard-to-handle steel pipes that frequently need to be cut and fixed in place.

More often than not, when you make arrangements with the appliance store to deliver and install the new clothes dryer, they will hire a subcontractor who may or may not bring along an extra dryer vent. Generally, they assume that they will simply reuse the old vent. If they do attach a new vent, you can bet your net worth that they will pull out a handy flexible vinyl or aluminum vent because they're cheap and easy to fit.

The flexible vents are nothing more than a coiled wire surrounded by a thin skin of inflammable vinyl or aluminum. If the vent becomes clogged with lint, it can ignite. Because the vinyl or aluminum is not fire retardant like the steel rigid vents, it will quickly be engulfed in flames. So imagine connecting your new, high-powered dryer to an old flexible dryer vent full lint. How long will it take before it becomes a bonfire? Even if you use a new flexible vent, it doesn't take long to fill up with lint because the ridges from the coiled wire make perfect little lint collectors.

This is a dangerous problem that few people ever consider until its too late. Over 15,000 fires a year are caused by these dryer vents and there is now an effort underway to change the standard dryer installation practices.

If you are someone who purchased a new clothes dryer on or after August 1, 2006 and had it professionally installed, you may qualify to join in a class action lawsuit designed to prevent the ongoing tragedies caused by improper dryer vent installation. You can find out more information about the lawsuit by visiting www.ProtectingTheConsumer.com or writing to info@outsourced-writing.com.

How safe is your new clothes dryer?

Outsourced Writing Blog — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 04:47:00 GMT

Are new clothes dryers a fire hazard? Probably not, but the dryer vent most likely is.

If you purchased a new clothes dryer in the last couple of years, you probably expect that you've got the latest in safety features for an appliance that you never really thought might be a danger anyway. In reality, you probably got exactly what you expected - a safe new clothes dryer. And you also likely spent a fair amount of money making sure it was properly installed by a professional.

However ... when it was installed, did you have the retailer arrange and/or perform the installation? If so, did you read the dryer's instruction manual to make sure it was installed according to the manufacturer's specifications? Probably not, because we all assume that the paid professional knows what he (or she) is doing.

The fact is that very few professional clothes dryer installers ever bother to read the instruction manual before they place the appliance in your home. Moreover, the common industry practice is for them to either re-use your old dryer vent, or install it with a new flexible vent because it's easy, cheap, and less time-consuming to place than the type always recommended in the instruction manuals - i.e., the rigid steel vents.

It is important to understand that the common dryer vent installed in most homes is the flexible vent which is basically a coiled wire around which a vinyl or aluminum coating is placed. This creates a ribbed interior surface onto which lint can and does collect. When the inside of the vent become stuffed with lint over a period of time, this allows heat to build up and creates the situation where the lint acts literally as tinder when the overworked exhaust system of the clothes dryer begins to emit air at an extremely high temperature. Every year, over 15,000 fires result from lint-clogged dryer vents - something which no one ever expects.

The hidden hazard of dryer vent fires is demonstrated and discussed in the links provided below. Hopefully, you'll watch the videos and take action to prevent such a tragedy from ever occurring to your home or family.

Dryer Vent Fire Demonstration

Dryer Vent Fire - CBS News Report

Always Read the Instruction Manual for Your New Clothes Dryer

Outsourced Writing Blog — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 03:51:00 GMT

Did you read the instruction manual for your new clothes dryer? Are you protected against a possible tragedy - resulting from a dryer vent fire?

Lucky for me that I'm a total geek. I always read the manuals that come with appliances, electronics and other types of equipment. That has probably saved me a tremendous amount of anguish, and it's a good thing that I'll never know how much. Of course, even when I follow all the instructions, I still end up have some type of frustration ... but that's probably just due to my amateur skills at doing anything technical ... and the fact that I'm a wimpy-armed woman. And the frustration is usually only because I end up doing everything myself, rather than pay the extra money hiring someone to do it for me.

Anyway, I was certainly glad I did my nerdly duty when I found out about the dangers of improperly installed clothes dryer vents. My Roper Heavy Duty Extra Large Capacity clothes dryer (purchased around 2004) specifically stated on the front cover that a flexible dryer vent would be a fire hazard and would void the warranty. So I went through the extra effort of buying the recommended rigid steel dryer vent and performed the required acrobatics of leaning over the back of the dryer (up against the wall) in order to get it screwed securely into place. No big deal, really.

Of course, I'd be really ticked if I had paid a professional to install the dryer and then later found out that I still had to go out and buy a new vent, and go through the acrobatics of installing it anyway because they hadn't followed the appliance manufacturer's instructions - thereby voiding the warranty.

But how mad would I be if my whole house burned down because of a ridiculous $8 dryer vent? Or how dead would I be?

This is why I not only recommend reading the appliance installation manuals, but I recommend reading them while your professional installer is at your home doing what you've paid them to do - properly and safely installing your appliance!