Real Moms Explain How Day Care Helped Their Children Get Potty Trained

Potty training can be one of the biggest sources of anxiety for parents. Every kid is so different when it comes to training, and there's so many different ways to train. It can all get pretty confusing, especially if your child is in day care. Does day care follow your potty training rules? It's something to consider as you debate how to keep things consistent between home and day care.

According to Pediatrics, day cares are invaluable in the potty training process as they're often the first to notice a child's readiness to train, and they're the ones typically around the child for a large part of the day. They are the ones who will help teach your child proper toilet training practices, too.

Bright Horizons, a nationwide child care provider, noted that parents and teachers should work as partners in the process of potty training. Potty training can often be easier when your child is in day care — your child seeing other friends visit the bathroom can encourage them to try as well —and early childhood teachers are usually very experienced in potty training (they do it all the time, after all), and they can guide your child (and you) in a method that works for your child.

When you're beginning to potty train, it's important to have communication. Keep your child's teachers up to date on potty training progress at home, and let them know when you're ready to move on to full-on training mode, and how you'd want to proceed, Parents noted. The transitions for your child will be a lot less confusing if everyone is on the same page.

As a general recommedation, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) encourages day care centers to inform parents about their experiences and established practices for toilet training in a group setting. But it's still vital to learn about parents' views, goals, and preferred methods on toilet training for their child. If you're not as experienced with potty training, or don't know much about it, your day care provider can be a great resource as to when and how to start.

"I had no idea when to start potty training my oldest son," Neela, mom of two boys, tells Romper. "When his day care teacher told me that he seemed to be ready, I was honestly shocked, because I wasn't considering it. But she totally took the lead, and I kept it consistent at home. He's doing so well with it. It was such a relief to have her help with something I was truly dreading."

Of course, as the AAP mentioned, your day care provider should be sensitive to your family's specific needs or desires when it comes to potty training, and you should be sensitive to what sort of practices they can manage in a group setting.

Rebecca, mom of twin girls, tells Romper, "I was really anxious about the girls being potty trained at school. I felt really out of control by having them go through something so big developmentally without me being there all the time. But of course I knew that their school would know best how to handle this, and I know they had to approach potty training in the classroom in a way that considers all of the children, not just mine." Rebecca adds that the girls were fully trained in a week, and they've been doing great since.

Your child's day care center likely has their best interests at heart. To be honest, they're going to approach potty training in an effective way for one big reason — a successful potty training protocol means less diapers to change, and that is huge when you have 12 kids in the class.

Of course, if your child has special needs pertaining to potty training, make them known to your child's day care provider, and their teachers, and work together to come up with a plan that can be put into place by everyone involved. The last thing parents or teachers want is for there to be miscommunication regarding potty training. As we all know, extra, accidents, clean-ups, and laundry is not fun for anyone. Consistency is what your child needs when it comes to potty training and with you and your child's day care working as a team, that's exactly what they'll get.

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