5 Public Potty Pointers

Back 1  2 3 Next

Sure, your child is a whiz at using the potty at home. But if she's still afraid to "go" on the go, use these public toilet success tips.

If you have a recently potty trained child, you can probably relate to the following scenario: You have your three-year-old use the potty twice before you leave the house. You get to the grocery store. Your cart is loaded. Suddenly your daughter looks at you, grabbing at her pants uncomfortably before announcing (loudly and in the canned food section where it echoes), "I've got to pee, Mommy. Now." You look around for the nearest bathroom—even track down a store clerk to find it. You abandon your overflowing cart, race your child into the bathroom, and fling open the stall, only to have her say, "I don't like that potty, Mommy."

I've been there with each of my three children. You think that your potty training days are over when you finally get kids to use the toilet at home, only to discover that you have to retrain them to use unfamiliar potties.

But with a little preparation and some know-how, you can help your child overcome his or her fears with these public potty success tips.

1. "Go" Before You Go

"I don't make it a question," says Dr. Ari Brown, MD, a pediatrician and author of Toddler 411: Clear Answers and Smart Advice for Your Toddler. She says when her children were preschoolers, she would insist that they use the bathroom before they left the house. "I would make it a natural consequence, 'We're going out, go use the potty.''' Make using the bathroom before you leave home part of your routine for getting ready.

If you do want to pose it as a question, Dr. Brown advises that you make it something sequential, such as, "Do you want to put on your shoes first or go to the potty first?"