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Potty training rewards - what will motivate your child?
The purpose of potty training rewards is to help your toddler or preschooler connect the dots between his attempts at this new potty game you're trying to teach him and what you really want him to do.
It will really pay off during the potty training process if you take the time upfront to consider your small child's personality and what motivates her.
I mean what really motivates her.
Let me give you an example. I have used potty training rewards with my own four children, two boys and two girls; two strong-willed, one compliant and one stubborn, but not strong-willed.
All but the compliant tired of candy as a reward very quickly. I was not prepared for that and kept pushing the candy during potty training.
One of the children took my growing frustration as a sign that potty training was something her mom wanted very badly. Far more than my daughter wanted it.
That's when the power struggle started. And lasted for months.
You can learn from my potty training advice, Plan out your potty training rewards based on your child's unique personality and have a plan for a variety of rewards that you are willing to be flexible with.
Use some rewards, then put them away. Cycle with something else. Make sure the rewards are appropriate and get more difficult to earn as your child progresses.
Teach your preschooler the joy of achievement using the toilet training process.
Potty training rewards - a short list.
Here are some easy potty training reward ideas. Use them to create even more ideas for your potty training preschooler.
- The ever popular candy. Small candies, such as m&m's work best. Don't overdo.
- Stickers were great with my kids. That's because they were very happy with making cards, pictures and the like from when they were very young. Teach your kids simple and fun ideas they can enjoy by themselves.
- Book time with Mom or Dad. Always popular in our home. We could read 10 books while sitting on the potty training seat and still want more when it came to rewards time.
- A game. If you introduce board games and card games to your toddler, as he grows you will have an avid game player, but more importantly you'll have a child who enjoys spending time with his family.
- A puzzle. Same reasons as previous reward.
- Special underwear for potty training. I know lots of parents use special undies as a motivator for toilet training, but I'm getting more specific here. Sometimes withholding the special undies until there is a certain amount of potty training success can be helpful. However, this only works if your chlid is past the upfront work of training and understands exactly what is expected of him.
- Are you doing late potty training and your child is older? Then your rewards need to reflect that.
Don't insult your older preschooler by offering toddler-type potty training rewards. Treat him with respect and expect respect out of him during the training process. Find out what he wants for an appropriate potty training reward. Don't go overboard!
Explain that adults reward themselves for obtaining a goal and he is definitely working towards a goal.
Engaging an older child in this way - consistently - can help overcome potty training regression or obstacles.
- If the potty training process is at all frustrating for you, it's possible you need more than just potty training rewards, you need straightforward instructions. If that's true, this potty training guide can be an astonishing help for you.
- By all means, praise your child when she pees or poops in the potty chair; especially at first.
However, as time goes on, become more matter-of-fact in your praise. Even small children know when they're being overly praised and they didn't earn it. Praise loses its value when it's not earned.
- Potty training reward ideas can include tickets or coupons. Fill out some note cards with a variety of enticing things for your toddler. A hug, a book read, making pizza with Mom or Dad, playing ball with a sibling, dancing to a favorite song, coloring a picture together, playing Simon Says, you name it.
When your child has a successful potty event, let her pick one of the potty training reward tickets. Now the key to this is that you must do the reward immediately. No waiting. Waiting to a toddler means to her that she essentially did NOT earn the reward. Nothing will kill her motivation faster than not getting her earned rewards.
Potty training rewards - keep thinkin'.
By staying creative with your potty training rewards, you will stay one step ahead of your fast-growing and fast-thinking toddler. Plus you'll be much more likely to actually enjoy the potty training process, which is a good thing, considering this is simply the first of many training processes you'll be doing together throughout the years.
Popular potty training topics.
Potty Training Child
A list of all of our articles to help you while potty training your child.
Toilet Training Tips
Many times just one new piece of toilet training advice that I hadn't considered before was just the help I needed to help my child over a potty training hump.
Potty Training Boy
Additional tips to help if you are potty training a boy (I've trained two boys myself).
Potty Training Girls
Specific tips to help potty training for girls move smoothly (I've trained two girls myself).
Colleen Langenfeld is a mother with over 29 years of parenting experience and helps other busy moms around the globe at www.paintedgold.com.
Note from Colleen: Remember, I earn my living making excellent recommendations to you, Mom, so when you choose to click any of the links on this website and make a purchase, I may earn a commission.
Naturally, that means I care about what you think! If you try a product or service I recommend, I'd love to hear from you. How else can I keep my recommendations top notch for all my visitors?
And thank you, for stopping by.
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