How to Keep a Toddler From Flushing Toilet
Preventing a toddler from flushing the toilet can prove to be difficult. While your toddler revels in excitement with each flush, you see dollar signs as your water bill increases. Flushing unnecessarily may also lead to a watery grave for a beloved item flushed away. Patience and persistence are essential in winning the toilet-flushing battle.
Other People Are Reading
Instructions
-
-
1
Purchase and install a toilet seat lock on each toilet in your home. This device will not prevent your child from flushing the toilet; it will prevent him from flushing toys and other items. A toilet lock also serves as a safety device. Toilets are a contributing factor in some toddler drowning cases, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission reports.
-
2
Provide consistent discipline when your toddler flushes the toilet. Tell him that he may flush only after using the potty. Be firm but do not yell. Soft words will convey your message without being negative. Provide a form of distraction to take his mind off pressing the lever. Allow him to play with a favorite toy, read him a book, or choose any activity that will occupy his mind. Toddlers have short attention spans, so distraction at this age is relatively simple. Telling a toddler "no" is appropriate, but replace it with a proper activity to engage his mind. Within moments he will forget about the toilet.
-
-
3
Toddlers naturally follow their parents into the bathroom. Use this time to explain to your toddler that when you use the potty, you may flush. With repetition and time he will understand. Each child is different, so be patient. There is no magical timetable.
-
4
Shut the bathroom door. Instruct other family members to do the same. Simply denying your toddler access to the bathroom eliminates several dangers, including the sink and bathtub. It also prevents him from flushing the toilet.
-
1
Tips & Warnings
Be patient. Your child will grow out of this phase. At this age toddlers test everything.
