Somewhere in the first few years of your child’s life you suddenly go from carrying a diaper bag to carrying a Potty Preparedness Bag.
The transition can be quite daunting if this is your first experience, but I’m here to help you avoid unnecessary inconvenience with a handy list of must have items and friendly tips to help you prepare yourself for this journey.
Potty Preparedness Bag Must-Have Items:
- Several pairs of underwear
- An extra outfit… or 5
- Extra shoes
- Wet bag
- Wipes
- Changing pad – makes cleaning up messes much easier
- Disinfectant wipes and spray
- Hand sanitizer
- Small toy – in an effort to keep their hands off of everything else
- Stickers or other reward
- Potty for the car
- Bags to discard potty waste when needed
- Cloth diaper insert or other absorbent material to put in car seat and stroller, without interfering with seat safety ((plus extra))
- Backup training diapers
Be Prepared:
- Once your child figures out that you’ll drop every thing in half a second at the word potty, they will use it to their benefit. Don’t want to lay in bed, “POTTY!”, don’t want to be in the car seat, “POTTY!”, you get it. You will catch on quickly, until you don’t… you think it’s a false alarm when indeed it isn’t and a mess ensues.
- Potty training is messy but not just because of the accidents. You will find a whole new level of public restroom filth that you’ve never known before. Things that should never come in contact with each other do such as hands and heads, yes heads, in toilets, tongues on toilet seats, entire bodies on bathroom floors, the list goes on. This is where those disinfectant wipes, spray and hand sanitizer come in handy.
- Potty parties will transpire. They’ve always been present for your potty breaks and now you’re invited to attend theirs!
- Boys take public potty training to a whole new level. Unless you’re at a super family friendly location, which are few and far between, toilets aren’t short enough for boys to stand and pee in and regular toilets don’t protect against the naturally awful penis aim. You will experience the urine spray eventually… pee all over your son, the stall, yourself and any siblings until the aim is perfected.
- Private part exploration has just begun. “Hey Vagina!” “Hey Penis!” Oh the things you’re about to embark on!
Smile through the madness and you’re sure to come out laughing. Do you have a potty preparedness bag? What would you add to this list?
#4 made me laugh…at our last Gymboree playdate, my son peed ALL over the bathroom. I was so embarrassed that I just had to laugh while mopping up the floor and praying I could find some disinfectant!
Seriously Erin, the struggle is real! My son has also peed all over the floor at the Pavlov Cafe in the Science Museum as well as the library… on purpose! Like you, I cleaned it up but had to tell the workers too haha!
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