The Ultimate Potty Training Kit: Potty Training Must Haves

We’re celebrating potty success with help from our sponsor, Pull-Ups Training Pants! Find our potty training must-haves to help you succeed with potty training below.

Potty Training Kit, Potty Training Must Haves

Three weeks ago, my daughter was getting ready for the day and decided to take her Pull-Ups off. Instead of reaching for new Pull-Ups to put on for the day, she wanted to hang out without anything on. What can I tell you? My kids like her freedom.

All of the sudden, 5 minutes later she comes running to me telling me she has to go potty. So we go to the bathroom and she pees on the potty. Woot! Success!

After this potty success, she put her Pull-Ups back on and went on her way. We had a few more successes followed by a few minor accidents but for the most part she would stay completely dry during the day.

This continued throughout the day and into the next three days. There was an accident here or there but nothing major. The next week she woke up, asked for underwear, and told us when she had to go just like when she wore her Pull-Ups except for this time she didn’t have any accidents and stayed completely dry in her underwear.

In no time, she was running to the potty alone, pulling down her pants, and going. So now she goes like a big girl on her own, with only a little help from mom or dad when she can’t get her pants all of the way up.

You guys… when they’re ready, they really are READY.  So make sure you have the tools you need to succeed on this potty training journey with your toddler!

Here are our potty training must-haves for success:

Potty Training Kit, Potty Training Must Haves

Potty Training Must Haves

Small Portable Potty

A small potty seat is a must for any potty training household. Not only is it convenient to move throughout the house as needed, you can even throw it in the back of your car for much-needed potty breaks on the go. Going camping? Or taking a road trip? Avoid icky public restrooms by bringing along your small potty!

We keep ours in the bathroom and take it with us when we’re going places we know won’t have restrooms (or if the restrooms are dirty or hard to find) like the beach and park. I’ve found that my daughter is now starting to show an interest in using the potty so we’ll be keeping this around for a while until she feels comfortable on the big potty.

My daughter also loves her potty seat that goes on the potty that we purchased online. What I love about it is that it includes a small step up so we don’t have to have a stool and a potty seat. It stays on the side of our toilet and she pulls it out whenever she’s going to the restroom.

Potty Training Kit, Potty Training Must Haves

Potty Cover

For those times when you’re forced to use public restrooms, make sure you have a few disposable potty covers with you! They’re individually packaged for on-the-go ease and fit nicely in a diaper bag or purse. Plus, with children who like to touch EVERYTHING, these will keep your kids clean and sanitary.

Pro Tip: Find the type that covers the whole potty, not just the top of the seat.

I’ve found these to be helpful when we’re at a park or another location where seat covers aren’t easily accessible. And they’re great for wet bottoms because they won’t fall apart or rip on you (ever get out of the pool or ocean and try to use the restroom? Not fun!).

Disinfectant Wipes

My little one still sometimes rushes to the potty a little late. With that, there are a few potty clean ups at home and on the go. We had quite a fun time on our recent road trip in the back of the car… We needed these in to-go wipes too!

Since disinfectant wipes can be easily stored in the bathroom cabinet or close to the toilet, we can just grab one, wipe up, and throw out. I even threw a pack in the car for on the go needs.

 
Potty Training Kit, Potty Training Must Haves

Pull-Ups

This is a given. Whether it’s for night-time or daytime use, when our daughter started showing signs of readiness to potty train, we ditched the diapers for good and introduced Pull-Ups and she caught on quickly! Once she got the hang of sliding up her own pants, she was ready to use these on her own too and loved the independence she felt when using them.

Pull-Ups really are more than just a training pant – Pull-Ups.com has tons of simple ways to make potty training easy and fun for parents and children to start together, with tons of guidance on how to tailor the journey based on your child’s unique personality. In fact, 3 of 4 moms prefer Pull-Ups©!*

Pull-Ups provide award-winning design specifically to help teach potty training skills like they did for my daughter. They also provide consistency for any learning style throughout their potty training journey. What does this mean for you as a parent? Less frustration and definitely more fun together!

And last but not least…

Potty Training Kit, Potty Training Must Haves, potty training rewards

Rewards!

We are currently using stickers, lollipops or small chocolate candies as a potty reward. And you know what? This kid love rewards. She is constantly telling friends and family that she goes pee-pee on the potty so she can get her treat.

After a full week of no accidents and filling her potty rewards chart, she was able to pick out two packs of her favorite character underwear as a Big Kid reward. A lot less expensive than the $50 toy my son picked out when he went a week without accidents! But that’s what she chose. And let me tell you, they will not let you forget their reward!

Potty Training Kit, Potty Training Must Haves, potty training tools

Tools to Keep Them Engaged

We also recently discovered that you can give your favorite characters a call on Pull-Ups.com, which my little girl LOVES! It’s so cool, you can get your child excited about potty training and keep them engaged by receiving a call from one of their favorite characters. This is a great way to keep potty training fun and exciting for your toddler.

Has your child begun potty training/learning? What’s in your Potty Training Kit?

*Pull-Ups offering includes product, packaging and in-pack prizes and activities vs. Pampers© Easy Ups©.

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Top 5 Tips for Surviving a Long Road Trip with Kids

These top 5 tips for surviving a long road trip with kids will help keep you and your family sane on your next fun road trip!

This summer has been full of fun memories for our family. From days at the beach, to drives up to Disneyland and Great Wolf Lodge, to a road trip to Washington State, we’ve seen quite a bit of excitement. But being prepared for traveling with kids in the car has been something we’ve worked on. And surviving a long road trip with kids takes a bit of planning. 

Since my daughter is newly potty trained the one thing we worried about when on the road with her is that she’d have to go #2 and not be able to tell us until we were too late and she got out of the car. Also, with the long 2 day ride to Washington State, we worried about how many stops we really needed to make and how many stops were just “fun” stops.

In preparation of our trip we decided to bit of research to make sure that we had a successful journey with three kids in the back seats. Since we’ve made this trek once before with our two older kid,s we kind of had an idea about what to expect. In an effort to make our next trip successful we wrote down a few things that helped us along the way.

Top 5 Tips for Surviving a Long Road Trip with Kids

Top 5 Tips for Surviving a Long Road Trip with Kids

Here are a few ways to keep your road trip fun and successful with young children:

1. Make sure to pack a potty –

We simply placed our Joovy Loo in the back of the car. That way if we needed to stop and there wasn’t a place to do so, we could just use the back of the van. This helped us a lot when my son was working on things and just needed to sit on something other than his car seat to help him along when he was little and it worked perfectly for our daughter as well.

It also gave us peace of mind when on long stretches of road. We didn’t have to worry about not being able to find a sanitary place to stop (my husband isn’t as adventurous as I am and doesn’t approve of a 2 year old relieving themselves on the side of the road unless it’s an absolute emergency… just wait till we go camping!).

Potty Kit Necessities to Bring: 

Top 5 Tips for Surviving a Long Road Trip with Kids

2. Plan out frequent stops –

This won’t just give your child a chance to “try” to go potty but it will also give them a chance to stretch their legs and get a little energy out. By planning out where your next stop will be you might be able to quickly answer your children when they ask how long it will be until you arrive at your next stop. That’s much easier for them to handle then to say, “Oh, about 12 hours!”

You can also use pre-planned stops as points for conversation. By letting your children know what the next stop is, or giving hints to where your heading, you might be able to create a sense of excitement and adventure as you make your way through the trip.

We had fun picking out where we stopped and made sure to mix restaurants in with quick pit stops at gas stations. I also allowed the kids to pick out one “surprise” at each stop to make it more interesting to them as well. They sure did love the huge gas stations we found along the way filled with everything from fidget spinners to snacks to souvenir t-shirts. 

Pit Stop Checklist: 

  • Did everyone try to go potty? 
  • Do we need to re-load on snacks or water?
  • Did we take all of our trash out? 
  • Do we need to change clothes?

Top 5 Tips for Surviving a Long Road Trip with Kids

3. Create a fun pack filled with games and activities –

By creating a fun pack filled with new-to-you toys, activities focused on the age level of your child, and games the children can play in the car you can create distractions and, hopefully, reduce the amount of, “Are we there yet?” questions from the back seat. Surviving a long car trip with kids is no fun when they don’t have anything to do IN the car. 

Figure out some fun games you want to play with your child on the road. Consider simple ideas like finding an object of a certain color, finding a certain letter of the alphabet, or, depending on where your driving, looking out for different animals! By making the ride fun and entertaining itself, your child will be less likely to complain about being in the car and more excited.

We brought our fun activity backpack and filled it with the following:

Another great distraction for the older kids is a portable DVD player or tablet that already has their favorite games and movies downloaded. We grabbed a copy of The Lion King and Disney’s Star Wars Rebels: Season 3 (both out on Blu-ray August 29th) to keep our kids entertained on the trip. it helped to have both a movie and a tv series because we could switch from the longer movie for longer stretches of travel and the shorter episodes of Disney’s Star Wars Rebels while we went through smaller stretches or in between playing other games in the car. 

Top 5 Tips for Surviving a Long Road Trip with Kids

Pro Tip: Finding fun crafts to go along with the movies you select are also fun! Check out these awesome Lion King crafts by clicking the button below: 

Download The Lion King Signature Mask Craft

4. Find a great local attraction to visit –

Take a look at a map and find a great middle point between your home and your destination. Are there any fun, quirky activities you can stop and do in between? Maybe a museum or a historical monument. By maping out a spot or two on the way to your destination you can talk with your children about what you might see, what they would like to do, and how you will spend your time at the next spot.

You can also use these stops as teaching opportunities. By learning a bit about the spot beforehand you can tell your child about the history behind the attraction as well as why it’s such an interesting stop on your journey. Surviving a long road trip with kids takes a bit of planning when it comes to local attractions but there are sure to be some gems along your route! 

Local Attractions Do’s and Dont’s: 

  • Do – take the time to explore and learn about where you’re stopping
  • Don’t – spend all day unless already scheduled
  • Do – consider free or in-expensive pit stops that take an hour tops
  • Don’t – forget that delicious bakeries and restaurants can be considered local attractions too! 

5. Make Sure The Kids Are Safe And Comfortable

When traveling with young kids, it’s important to remember that while we want our kids to be comfortable, we also need them to be safe too. I have 3 kids in 3 different types of car seats right now. My 2 year old is in a 5 point harness, my 6 year old just transitioned out of her 5 point harness into a high back booster, and our 8 year old has now transitioned into a regular booster seat. 

To make things easier on us and allow all of these car seats to fit, we brought along the new mifold we received so that our son could easily transition from our van to my family’s car up in Washington State when we arrived. mifold is more than 10 times smaller than a regular booster seat and is just as safe. The foam padding technology provides extra comfort and stays cool, even on hot days. And since it was averaging about 80-90 degrees our whole trip, this was a huge relief for my son. 

The mifold is convenient for parents for travel and road trips but it’s also great for carpooling, taxis/ubers, etc because it can literally fit in my son’s back pack. how awesome is that? 

In addition to car seats, check out our Road Trip Safety Kit:

  • first aid – includes bandages, first aid ointment, tweezers, scissors, and an ice pack
  • every day medication – includes indigestion medicine, acetaminophen, ibuprofen, and allergy medicine
  • flash light
  • jumper cables
  • roadside assistance kit
  • 1 gallon water

What are your best travel tips for surviving a long road trip with kids?

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Top 5 Tips for Surviving a Long Road Trip with Kids



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