Potty training help - with a toilet seat - yes really! Family seat review

Potty training help – yes, we all need it, but we often haven’t a clue where to go for it! Potty training is a key milestone in your little one’s life. Yet, we all seem to dread it; some go to soon, some leave it as long as they can, but most dread it.

So, we were keen to take a look at the latest piece of kit for potty training help on the market; The Family Seat.

While you go take a look at it, why not see what we thought of it? We’ve given it a bit of a test run, and here is what we think.

How does the Family Seat give you potty training help?

So, The Family Seat is a wee *see what we did there* bit clever.

It is a simple attachment that fits on a standard toilet, enabling your child to use the loo, instead of a potty, making them feel “just like you.”

Both my children, particularly my youngest, didn’t want to use the potty. They wanted to be like me, or in the case of my son, their big sister.

So we thought – why can’t they just use the toilet?

One of the main problems with going straight to the toilet for potty training is that kids have a tendency to get a little bit stuck. And THAT is no way to encourage them to either transition from the potty, or start their potty training going straight to the loo. Two and three year olds have irrational fears, and one of the ones that is much more common that you think is getting stuck, or worse still, falling into, the loo!

Yes – to an adult, this fear might just seem silly, but to a two-year old, it is very, very real.

Enter The Family Seat; which can help alleviate those irrational fears, alongside making a child feel much more grown up. It is a two-pronged attack for you! ;-)

It is simple to fit, with just a few basic instructions (it comes with screws and brackets of course), and VOILA. You and your child are good to go using it. The seat has a reward chart included, as well well door hangers, so you have everything you need to make toilet training a little bit easier.

What did we think of The Family Seat as a tool for potty training?

This is a brilliant idea. Straight-forward, unobtrusive, easy to fit, and perfect for the child that transitions from potty training, or just wants to be a little more grown up.

Retailing at £39.95, it is a good price for the piece of mind that the extra potty training help it gives brings.

Our advice to use The Family Seat effectively is:

Introduce going to the toilet to your child when they show suitable signs they are ready for potty or toilet training,
Add a few books to their bedtime reading routine that introduce the idea – Amazon is a great place for picking these up,
Add The Family Seat to your main family bathroom, and show your child how to use it, perhaps emphasising that they are now being “just like mummy or daddy”,
Encourage your child to use the Family Seat, with a reward chart (the seat comes with one, or you could use ours if you prefer). Make sure you decide what your rewards are going to be, and stick with it once you’ve started to train,
For boys, if you are going to train them to stand up, you might also want to combine The Family Seat with a bit of target practise. We used to put a Cheerio in the toilet and see if our son could hit it! A very simple, but extremely effective idea for encouraging good directional control!

When you think your child is ready, go completely nappy free, and see how you go. Don’t get upset at the accidents, but praise and reward the successes however you have decided to do so! Try not to remind them to go to the toilet too much too, just encourage gently, and perhaps they can go with you – they probably do so anyway, right?!?
If you are simply transitioning from the potty to the toilet, just encourage them all you can to use it, using those rewards are you see fit. They are much more likely to get used to the idea without the worry of falling into the loo, we promise you.

Before you know it, your Family Seat will have become part of your everyday life, and your child will be ready to take on the toilet world ;-) *so to speak*

Overall – How do we rate potty training help with The Family Seat 9/10

The Family Seat is a great idea for giving a little extra potty training help to your little ones. Sometimes the fear of falling into the toilet is a key barrier to transition, and toilet or potty training generally. This removes that, giving your kids more confidence to tackle the toilet with pride! And you can’t say fairer than that, right?

Helen

Helen is a mum to two, social media consultant, and website editor; and this site is (we think) the only Social Enterprise parenting magazine!Since giving up being a business analyst when juggling travel, work and kids proved too complicated, she founded KiddyCharts so she could be with her kids, and use those grey cells at the same time.KiddyCharts has reach of over 1.1million across social and the site. The blog works with big family brands (including travel) to help promote their services, as well as offering free resources to parents of kids under 10.It gives 51%+ profits to Reverence for Life, who fund a number of important initiatives in Africa, including bringing running water and basic equipment to a school in Tanzania.Helen has worked as a digital marketing consultant (IDM qualified) with various organisations, including Channel Mum, Truprint, Talk to Mums, and Micro Scooters. She loves to be creative in the brand campaigns she works on.Get in touch TODAY!