PRESCHOOL

Done with diapers? Here’s how to teach your preschooler bathroom skills

PRESCH O OL

IT’S A PRETTY big moment when your kid can finally recognize the need to go and hold it until they make it to the washroom.

But even once you’ve kicked daytime diapers to the curb, toilet-trained kids will still need an adult’s help to get through all the elements of the bathroom routine. Working toward bathroom independence—where your kiddo can handle the whole process from beginning to end without assistance—is a good and necessary step for kids as they enter preschool and kindergarten.

Here’s how to help them master those skills—and get yourself on the other side of the bathroom door. BREAK DOWN THE STEPS As adults, we’re so used to the typical series of bathroom events—using the toilet, wiping, f lushing, washing up— that we don’t even think about it. But for a preschooler, it can be tough to remember all the steps and to do them in the right order. Suzie Warneke, an early childhood educator at Wind and Tide, a preschool in Langley, BC, recommends affixing a visual representation of each step of the process on the bathroom wall. Draw your own pictures if you’re artistically inclined or look online for a printable. ASSESS YOUR BATHROOM Look at the space from a preschooler’s point of view. Is it easy to reach the toilet paper, the soap and the towel? Is there a stool that’s both sturdy and easy to move from the toilet to the sink? Some parents even redecorate a bit to ensure the room feels kidfriendly. “I made the bathroom look calming and inviting,” says Danielle Fitzgerald, a mom of two in Thunder Bay, Ont., whose sons, Darius and Silas, are now five and 10. “And since they were into racing, I bought a soap dispenser that looked like a car.” DRESS FOR SUCCESS Stacey Cham-Klein’s girls, Olivia and Elaina, are all about the party dresses with long, f luffy skirts and sashes. But when each one was four and starting junior kindergarten, the Thunder Bay mom made a point of taking the frocks out of rotation for a bit, since hiking up all that extra fabric could pose a problem. She also put the jeans away, offering leggings and sweats instead. “Why make them fiddle with buckles and zippers?” she says. ZERO IN ON WIPING First, show them how to get toilet paper off the roll and how to scrunch or fold it. Don’t get too hung up on the amount of paper they take, as long as it’s not so much that it could clog up the plumbing.

Show how a pee wipe is more of a gentle pat at the front, whereas a poop wipe has to be front to back, to prevent skin irritation and urinary tract infections, especially in girls. The poop wipe, of course, needs to be done a number of times, until the toilet paper isn’t marked anymore. As far as positioning goes, here’s another preschool trick: “Tell them to tickle their toes,” says Fitzgerald, explaining that if your child bends forward on the toilet and touches their toes with one hand, that puts them in a more open position for wiping properly with the other hand and then dropping the used toilet paper in the toilet.

Parent hack: To teach your kid about wiping their bum, try smearing Nutella, peanut butter or seed butter on a paper plate and have your child wipe it off with toilet paper. This helps them understand how much pressure is needed and how many wipes are required to get the job done. Bonus: Kids fi nd this fun!

CHOOSE SOAP SMARTLY Hot tip: Foamy soap rinses faster than liquid and helps make washing fun. You’ll have to explain how long to scrub for. “Saying, ‘Wash your hands for 20 seconds’ means nothing to kids,” says Warneke, but having them sing “Twinkle Twinkle” means they’ll wash well. Don’t let them run off without drying—damp hands are more likely to pick up and spread bacteria.

Finally, keep celebrating like you did when your kid first started toilet training. “Darius likes to FaceTime my parents afterwards when he does something big on his own,” she says. Time for the bathroom party dance! —Bonnie Schiedel