3 Common Potty Training Problems and How to Handle Them

Most parents encounter a few potty training problems during potty training. It would be nice if it was an easier process - but with a little bit of knowledge you can get past most potty training problems with just a little effort.

Your toddler is afraid of being sucked into the flushing toilet.

This is a pretty common fear. Shoot, I still have this one sometimes. Most of this fear stems from the child feeling like they have a lack of control. The loud sound of the flushing and things disappearing don't help either.

One thing you might want to consider is starting your child on a potty seat instead of the toilet. Or, if this is happening later in potty training as you're transitioning to the toilet - another thing you can do is let the child flush small bits of toilet paper. This will let the child feel like they are in control, as well as get used to hearing the water and seeing things disappear.

Your toddler is still having accidents.

It's Ok. Accidents happen and they're going to happen and they're going to continue for a while - do you remember having accidents? I had one in first grade. So you can see, even older children are going to have accidents.

So what do you do? Treat them lightly. Don't punish the child or make them feel guilty. These things just might make it more difficult to get through toilet training - but if you continue to encourage them, they'll recover and want to not have any accidents.

Your child will only go potty with Daddy.

If that's the case - enjoy it Mom's! Just kidding. Sometimes the child will only go with one parent. That'd be nice for the other parent, but if you want to share potty training responsibilities, this one is pretty simple.

You just need to start removing yourself from the process. When the child needs to go potty, offer to help him undress, get him ready and walk him to the bathroom. But then wait outside the bathroom. As you do this, the child will feel less attached to the one parent during potty training.