Going in public
Written By Jessica Freilich
This blog includes the generalized transition from Block 2 (going commando) to Block 3 (longer public outings, including using public toilets) information and tips that have worked for children in the past. If you would like advice specifically for your child and your situation, head to https://www.the-potty-nanny.com/book-session and fill out the pre-consultation form.
Struggling with using a toilet other than the one in your home is a very real thing. So much so that in my online potty training course for parents I cover this in a case study:
Being afraid of the automatic flusher in particular is a phase. While a sometimes baffling and challenging phase, it doesn’t usually last for very long.
Here is a list of things to try to acclimate your child to using toilets that are not in your home:
Bring your small potty with you everywhere for a week or two. Allow your child to use it in the back of your car - SUVs are wonderfully helpful here - with the trunk [boot] open
It is advisable to: bring along extra diaper wipes, plus antibacterial wipes to clean out poop from the potty, grocery bags to store any used wipes and a small blanket to lay on her lap for privacy
If you have a backyard and have some semblance of privacy, take your little potty to the back porch or backyard [garden] and let your child know that while potty training it is absolutely okay to stop playing outside and use their potty
For a few weeks treat everywhere you go like a bathroom field trip. Going to Publix? Take a tour of the bathroom. Bring the little potty with you. You yourself can use the ADA accessible bathroom and have your child sit on his potty in front of you. Headed to pick up food at Chipotle? Visit the restroom first and do the same thing.
Many children are afraid of automatic flushers. Stash a stack of PostIt Notes in your bag and cover the flusher with a PostIt before your child approaches the toilet. Allow them to use the restroom and once they are safely away from the toilet, remove the PostIt and ask them if they would like to flush the pee and poop away.
{Note: This is for kids who are sitting on a regular sized toilet or doing so with a seat minimizing insert}
Even more upsetting are the automatic hand dryers. Skip them. Add a burp cloth to your bag and dry their hands after using the sink. Drying with a towel or cloth is actually far more sanitary than using any of those hand dryers.
Have a child who doesn’t want to use the toilet at grandma’s house? Or at a friend’s house? Bring his little potty with him OR if this is a house you go to often, purchase the exact same little potty and leave it there to be used at grandma’s!
Bringing a little potty with you may sound strange, but it is really not much different than lugging around a stroller or heavy diaper bag.
If your babe is having a meltdown over using a public toilet, use the bathroom yourself and talk about how it isn’t scary, it’s merely something all human beings do when out and about
Then offer them their little toilet, either in the bathroom or in the back of your car. Some children prefer to use their potty outside of the car, while it is parked. Use your judgment about if this is safe wherever you currently are.
Have her sit backwards on the toilet as if it were a horse and hang out to her midsection for stability. Some children are far more comfortable seated on a large toilet this way.
Buy a foldable toilet insert and carry it with you to use in public!
Consider purchasing my children’s eBook “See Yourself Go!”. It includes the topic of using public toilets and how absolutely everyone, from firefighters to the President of the United States uses them whenever they feel the urge to go.
