Potty training is tough! No two ways about it.
As a parent of two that's done a Center Parcs break not long after starting potty training here are my tips for dealing with a new potty trained toddler at Center Parcs.
The Lodge
Let's start with the lodge. Your lodge will have a toilet and whenever I've been to Center Parcs they usually have at least one wee step in the lodge to help little ones reach the toilet or sink.
What won't be in the lodge is a toilet seat insert. For my family we packed for our trip to Center Parcs (after a thorough clean!) the toilet set insert we use in the house. It makes sense right - nobody is going to be using it in the house. The down side of this is the insert we have is quite bulky but luckily we could fit it into the car.
Note depending on your lodge type you might have an en-suites per bedroom (Executive and up typically). We found keeping a dedicated 'kiddy' toilet worked best where we could keep the seat, step and baby wipes.
Out and about
Center Parcs has great changing facilities but what about toilet for toddlers? Overall good news. Theres disabled toilets which have changing facilities for nappies which in my opinion are still fair game for newly potty trained kids to use.
These are mostly 'big people toilets' so this where a portable seat insert is useful (I've got suggestions down below). There are some smaller toilets dotted around the villages I've visited but they aren't in all the facilities so don't rely on them or assume there will be one.
For my kids the biggest problem with the public facilities at Center Parcs is the hand dryers. They're all air blowers and my kids don't like the noise. Not a complaint, its just a quirk with my two but something to be aware of.
Caught short
What about if you're caught walking about the park and nature calls for your toddler? I guess boys are a bit more fortunate here... but let's assume we don't want to encourage peeing behind a tree what worked for us was travel potties.
The key here is something small enough to bring with you but also comfortable for the kids to use. To be honest this also comes in handy for the drive. A few times we've had to pull off the motorway with no services in sight just to stop an accident.
What to bring
I feel we went a bit too far with potty related products but here is what we bought and what worked for us.
As a parent of two that's done a Center Parcs break not long after starting potty training here are my tips for dealing with a new potty trained toddler at Center Parcs.
The Lodge
Let's start with the lodge. Your lodge will have a toilet and whenever I've been to Center Parcs they usually have at least one wee step in the lodge to help little ones reach the toilet or sink.
What won't be in the lodge is a toilet seat insert. For my family we packed for our trip to Center Parcs (after a thorough clean!) the toilet set insert we use in the house. It makes sense right - nobody is going to be using it in the house. The down side of this is the insert we have is quite bulky but luckily we could fit it into the car.
Note depending on your lodge type you might have an en-suites per bedroom (Executive and up typically). We found keeping a dedicated 'kiddy' toilet worked best where we could keep the seat, step and baby wipes.
Out and about
Center Parcs has great changing facilities but what about toilet for toddlers? Overall good news. Theres disabled toilets which have changing facilities for nappies which in my opinion are still fair game for newly potty trained kids to use.
These are mostly 'big people toilets' so this where a portable seat insert is useful (I've got suggestions down below). There are some smaller toilets dotted around the villages I've visited but they aren't in all the facilities so don't rely on them or assume there will be one.
For my kids the biggest problem with the public facilities at Center Parcs is the hand dryers. They're all air blowers and my kids don't like the noise. Not a complaint, its just a quirk with my two but something to be aware of.
Caught short
What about if you're caught walking about the park and nature calls for your toddler? I guess boys are a bit more fortunate here... but let's assume we don't want to encourage peeing behind a tree what worked for us was travel potties.
The key here is something small enough to bring with you but also comfortable for the kids to use. To be honest this also comes in handy for the drive. A few times we've had to pull off the motorway with no services in sight just to stop an accident.
What to bring
I feel we went a bit too far with potty related products but here is what we bought and what worked for us.
- In the lodge we brought the seat from home, we bought this one on Amazon. It managed to squeeze into our boot
- When out and about with access to a toile we have this "Duckie" seat that folds up small and easily into the changing bag, this is a winner for us. Other animals are available but our girls loved the duckie
- For travel potties we tried two models. I'll link both, give them some consideration but we definitely had a preference/one that worked better for us:
- My Carry Potty are colourful animal inspired travel potties. For our kids we got the pink dragon. I've seen a lot of parents walking about with on attached to a backpack with a bungie cord. They fold out, give a nice little seat and will contain pee or poo. However we found them a tad too bulky and a bit hard to clean (thankfully we never had to clean out a number 2).
- The Potette Plus 2 in 1 is what worked best for us. It folders really flat so can go inside the backpack, sit under a pram or even go in the door pocket of a car. It uses single use liners, simply add a new liner after every use. I guess not so great if you want to avoid single use items but it makes clean up and reuse really straightforward. This worked best for us.
That's just a personal take on what to expect as a parent with a newly potty trained child at Center Parcs. It worked for us but each child is different so be prepared to adapt to their needs.
