Days out diary - child friendly and family activities

Family days out Magna Science and Technology Centre Family days out childrens farm Family days out Baby Elephant at Twycross Zoo Family days out Swing ride at The Big Sheep Family days out Avoncroft building museum Family days out fun with boats Family days out butterfly farm

Our daughter has now reached the age for potty / toilet training. She had shown an interest in using the potty some time, which I think is at least partly due to watching other children use the potty at nursery. We waited until the New Year as this gave a good point to start the training with minimal disruption, avoiding problems with traveling to visit relatives over Christmas etc.

She has taken to the potty training very well. Apart from a few accidents at home when she has been too distracted, or not quite made the potty in time, she has taken to it very well. This is great whilst at home (or nursery), but the next challenge was taking her outside of the house and how to maintain consistency of using the potty. We didn't want to just use nappies / pull-ups as we wanted to maintain the attitude she has developed towards using the potty. So I bought a Portable Potty or Potette.

There are a few shop brands around of Potette, but these appear to be identical to the Tommee Tippee one, and are about the same price. The result of this is that you can buy the same liners from any of the stores. The ones I know that sell liners (and Potettes) are Boots, and Mothercare.

The potty is a basic potty seat with fold down legs, which click into place. The liners then fit into place over this acting as a bag, and including an absorbent pad. You can fit 3 liners on at once, so you just take of the top one to dispose of it and you are left with another one ready for next time. The potty also comes with a carry bag for convenience and hygiene reasons.

We try and use the potty in a baby changing room, which gives the privacy warmth and somewhere to dispose of the used liner / bag. When these have not been available then we've used a friends house, a toilet cubicle, a lay-by at the side of the road and even a sheltered area amongst some market stalls.

I'd definitely recommend a portable potty to anyone involved in potty training a toddler.