How on earth do you potty train a kiddo while you’re adventuring? What if it is during a pandemic and bathrooms aren’t open? Or, even if you have access to public bathrooms, how do you keep your little kid from touching EVERYTHING?
Well let me tell ya—potty training while you’re out and about is no simple task. Here are some tips we’ve learned along the way:
1. Make a rule: we go potty before we leave the house
No exceptions (unless they just went potty five minutes ago). Parents and other family members should model this behavior to keep compliance higher. It is just what we do!
If you’re met with some resistance, what’s helped us has been to convince our daughter that her stuffies also need to go to the bathroom before we leave.
2. Bring a travel potty with you (in the car, in your backpack, E-V-E-R-Y-W-H-E-R-E)
Portable potties are great while you’re traveling, but also for everyday outings to the park/beach or backyard gatherings. We have used three different versions:
The Primo 4-in-1 potty is kept in the car for those “MOMMY I HAVE TO PEE NOW!!!!!” moments when you’re on the freeway or nowhere near a bathroom or a safe place to go.
Our daughter has used this potty in the car, in the trunk, on the floor, and the seat comes off too if you’d like to put it on top of an adult toilet to create a child seat with handles (so your little does not touch the nasty public seat).
We started potty training at home with the BabyBjörn smart potty. Since it is small, compact, easy to clean, and my daughter’s preferred color, we started bringing it in the car as well.
It is small enough to be used between the captain’s chairs in our Subaru Ascent, small enough to be stashed in the trunk and used in the back when needed, and has a removable tray you can take out and rinse.
This potty has become a standard in my go-bag. I bring it everywhere and only use the disposable bags if it is going to be a #2. But sometimes…you just don’t know!
The OXO Tot 2-in-1 Go Potty has come in handy many, many times, especially at the beginning of potty training when your little one is not as good at giving you plenty of lead time before things turn into a real emergency and a pants-wetting situation.
I’ve read that you can put this foldable potty on top of an adult toilet seat to create a child-size seat. I have attempted this once but found that the seat was not sturdy and slid around on the top of the adult toilet. I would not recommend it for this use!
If you’re the parent of a vagina-owner, you may consider using a stand-to-pee device like the simply-designed and one-size-fits-all pStyle. When I first helped my kid use this on a hike, she was nothing short of AH-MAZED. To use, just drop the front of your pants or skirt, place the device under your vag, and lean forward to let things flow. It helps to practice into a toilet.
I love that the pStyle comes in a variety of colors, can be stashed away in a purse/diaper bag, is easy to clean, and—best of all—doesn’t require us to flash our bums while we pee. A device like the pStyle obviously can’t help with #2, but so far it’s all we’ve needed in a pinch (thank goodness!).
3. Practice "nature pee" (if you're ok with it)
I’m a big supporter of the ‘nature pee’ if you’re in a space where that is safe, allowed, and as long as it is not poop.
No pooping in the sand at the beach, okay? That is just gross.
But seeing as little ones have a hard time knowing what is coming, the nature bathroom trips always make me a little more nervous. Maybe that is just because I have girls and they have to squat…
If your kid rocks a penis, you’re good on this one. If you’ve got a kid with a vagina, try the pStyle (listed above). Or, just bring a travel potty with you everywhere and you can “nature pee” into a potty.
4. Pay extra attention and look for signs
PAY ATTENTION – this is where potty training gets tricky. You have to be ON IT! You need to be VIGILANT!
Keep track of 1) how much your kid is drinking; 2) when they went potty last; 3) how often they normally go during the day; 4) how are they acting- are they showing signs they need to go to the bathroom? All of these things you must be aware of for them until they can prove they know when they have to go to the bathroom.
Life is too exciting and no one, especially your toddler/preschooler, wants to take a break from the fun to go potty. So, you have to be hyperaware of their situation and preemptively remind them when it is time to go potty.
Don’t make it a power struggle though – if you force potty training too much or too early it may be a battle that you can’t win…so play it cool.
5. Keep things clean
Always have wipes! Just because your child is using the potty does not mean the diaper bag idea goes away; it just becomes a potty bag complete with a change of clothes, wipes, and hand sanitizer. We love Water Wipes for all things face, bum, armpits, high chairs, you name it!
We also just bought a Suds2Go, which has changed my outdoor game. It seems like something you could just do with a water bottle and some soap…yeah, ok, true. However, the design allows for water regulation, with a slow water drip that provides little hands more time to scrub and rinse. Also, you don’t have to sacrifice your personal water bottle and the water you’d rather save for drinking for washing hands.
Best of all, you get to skip the hand sanitizer, which is nice when we are constantly lathering up with that stuff these days…
Where is the wildest place your kiddo had to go potty? I would have to say…in the parking lot between cars at a shopping center (good thing I had a travel potty!).
Puerto Rican & Indigenous mama of two. Bay Area native. Salsa dancer. Backpacker. Doula. Angel (she/her/hers) is a co-founding member of the Beautiful Brown Adventures team. She has traveled to over 30 countries and loves to explore the world with her two daughters & partner - one ice cream shop at a time.
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