An industry-leading scheme launched by Busy Bees to support its parents with toilet training is helping the childcare provider while also reducing its nappy waste by an estimated 26%1.
The UK’s leading provider of early years childcare introduced the nationwide initiative across more than 400 nurseries throughout the UK and Ireland late last year to help parents and children achieve successful toilet training earlier.
Its scheme aims to support children to move out of nappies earlier and more quickly by giving practitioners and parents the skills, resources and confidence to recognise when a child is ready, and help them successfully make the change first time. This includes providing new and engaging toilet training activities, including fun games, vocabulary-focused play, songs and role-play suggestions, while improving communication with parents on the topic.
Following the launch of the Busy Bees Toilet Training initiative, the childcare provider has reduced the number of nappies it uses by nearly 26%, driving a significant environmental impact as well as cost savings.
Research of nearly 500 Busy Bees parents2 found that 79% of those who have successfully nappy trained their child since the scheme launched said they received valuable support from their child’s nursery or keyworker, and 45% felt their child came out of nappies earlier as a result. Of all the support provided, parents said they found conversations with nursery practitioners, advice on ways to spot readiness and talk to their children about toilet training most helpful. This is followed by activity suggestions to build excitement and understanding about using the toilet.
According to Busy Bees’ research, over half (54%) of those who are yet to potty train their children feel apprehensive about it, and the vast majority (88%) of parents think their nursery and keyworker should play an important role in helping to toilet train their child.
The programme was developed after Busy Bees’ practitioners found that children were being toilet trained later since the pandemic, a trend confirmed by Ofsted reports3 which also highlighted the likely impact of lockdown on children’s independence and confidence.
Deena Billings, European Quality Director and Safeguarding Lead at Busy Bees, said: “Toilet training is an important part of a toddler’s development and early success has a clear impact on a child’s confidence and independence, which are vital in preparing them for school.
“We have seen that the pandemic and subsequent change in working patterns has led to more families leaving it later to train their child, and felt we had an important role to play in leading the charge to provide support and guidance for our families.
“Using our 40 years’ experience in childcare, and a team of experts across the business, we came up with a strategy to help educate and inspire parents and practitioners – bringing together resources ranging from printable tip sheets, rhymes and reading lists to refresher training for our colleagues – all focused on recognising the signs and helping children transition more quickly and successfully.
“Six months on, and we’re thrilled with the results across our centres, with almost half of parents saying they believe their child had come out of nappies earlier because of our support. Not only does this reduce the number of nappies our centres use by a quarter, but also those used by parents at home – benefitting their pockets and the planet.”
According to the NHS4, toddlers in the UK use an average of 6-8 nappies per day, or three billion nappies used across the UK each year5.
Kelly Maskell, Centre Director at Busy Bees East Malling, added: “The initiative has given colleagues the confidence to bring up the subject of toilet training with parents whose children are showing signs of readiness.
“As well as using the learning resources to plan activities in our toddler room, we were also encouraged to create a display in our reception area which I know prompted a lot of conversations with parents. From there, we were able to help children develop the communication skills to support toilet training and share specific advice about readiness with our parents. Myself and the team were able to shed some light on some of the non-verbal cues that can sometimes cause confusion, including when toddlers start to take their nappies off.”
Suzanne Buchan, parent at Busy Bees Stowmarket, added: “We had always openly spoken to our daughter about going to the toilet to lay the foundations for future potty training, but Busy Bees’ support of both us and her has been incredibly helpful.
“We had a conversation with our daughter’s keyworker who confirmed our instinct that she was ready and, when we decided to tackle it, they were so encouraging – giving out potty training bags with information and pull-ups, having nappy training reward sticker charts, and even reading a toilet training book to Emelia’s group that she brought in from home. In our case, we were able to crack toilet training over the long Easter weekend and have only had the odd accident since then.” To learn more about the scheme, visit https://www.busybeeschildcare.co.uk/toilet-training.
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An industry-leading scheme launched by Busy Bees to support its parents with toilet training is helping the childcare provider while also reducing its nappy waste by an estimated 26%1. The UK’s leading provider of early years childcare introduced the nationwide initiative across more than 400 nurseries throughout the UK and Ireland late last year to
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