Potty Training During Family VaCay

Potty training is hard enough at home, envisioning how to continue making it work on vacation is difficult for some. Fortunately keeping up your potty training while on vacation may be easier than you think. In fact, some experts say that it is even easier to potty train away from home. Other moms agree that potty training away from home is easier for some children. This could be because a new setting is an easier place in which to begin new habits. On a vacation, the family tends to be in a more laid back mood, making potty training less stressful for your toddler. If vacationing with family or friends, your child may want to impress those he respects by being a big boy for them and showing that he can do grown-up things too.

The key to keeping your potty training up while on vacation is to prepare ahead of time. Do all that you can before you go on your vacation to ensure that your child has everything that he needs to continue the routines that you have established for him at home. Make sure that you continue to stop and try to put your toddler on the toilet with the same timing that you used at home and make sure that you have the toilet cover, special soap, or other materials that your child find helpful and associates with going potty in the toilet. If you are taking a long car ride stop at least every two hours and discourage your child from drinking excessive amounts of water and do not allow them to drink soda.

Allow your kids the time that they need to become comfortable using the bathroom in a foreign place. A good way to prepare for this is to practice using a friend or neighbor’s bathroom before you leave on vacation. Continue to encourage your child just as you would at home and give him plenty of praise. Although the possibility of having accidents on vacation is still present, you must not let that discourage you. Potty training is a big step and you need to prepare yourself to be there emotionally for your child. Simply clean up the mess and move on. If you are really concerned about accidents in the car or plane, bring towels and fabric freshener with you. Being prepared alleviates much of the anxiety of the unexpected.

Stick with what your children are familiar with. If you use a sticker chart to mark your child’s successful visits to the bathroom, bring it with you and continue to use it. Make a list if you have trouble remembering all of the different things that you use in your potty training method. Although you cannot magically change your setting to exactly match the look of your bathroom, you can do things that come close. As long as your child has some sort of routine that they can depend on, the change of location does not have to be something that parents fear.

Communicate clearly to your child what they are to do if they need to use the bathroom when they are on vacation. When there is a toilet nearby let your child know where that toilet is so that in case they need to use it they will not become confused because it is not in plain sight. Always practice good hygiene when it comes to swimming in pools while on vacation. If your child is not consistent enough for you to guarantee that there will be no accidents in a pool, make sure that they wear swimming diapers and if they have diarrhea or another contagious condition keep them away from the pool area all together. Dangerous contaminants and even parasites can be contracted as a result of having an accident in the pool and the last thing that you want is to ruin someone else’s vacation by making them sick.