Thank you from the bottom of my heart of all of your kind comments, tips, suggestions, funny stories and words of warmth and encouragement regarding my post on travelling with a toilet learning toddler.
As I mentioned we weren't only travelling, we were travelling last minute, I was travelling with the boys without my husband (therefore feeling extra vulnerable) and we were also grieving for member of the family who is no longer with us. Gosh, I'm having trouble holding back the tears now. So how did we go?
We left home at about 4.30am. I consider this to be nighttime so I kept Otis in a nappy. But from the plane we went straight into the car and I decided to keep a nappy on. Although he may use the potty at home he wouldn't indicate in time for us to stop the car. It was well into the afternoon until he was out of a nappy. During our stay Otis in was in a mixture of training pants, underwear and nappies. He rarely made it to the potty. Overall we didn't make much progress. Now we are home the nappies are gone again (except for nighttime).
During our travels I learnt a few things that I want to remember.
- You don't have to be a great or even a good parent all of the time.
- Consistency is important. Children need consistency to behave consistently.
- Children need to know (very clearly) what is expected of them.
- A flexible and relaxed approach will help to keep you calm..
I hope my next toilet learning post is full of success and high fives. It may be a while coming. But I'm not putting pressure on myself or Otis. Now we are back to our own home environment and a familiar routine we can continue toilet learning with that highly sought after consistency.
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