3 yr old in Anthem Kids Club

We are cruising on Anthem (RCI) in October with our 3 yr old. I am hoping we will be able to use the kids club for him if he is willing but I am just a bit concerned about the toilet training issue!

He is fully toilet trained but I do still go to the toilet with him and help him get on and off the toilet and to sort his clothes out. I am possibly a bit controlling as he is just a bit lazy about sorting his own clothes as I will do it for him but he is too short to get up on the toilet on his own. Will the staff be willing to help with this or does he need to be able to be completely independent for them to accept him in the club?

I am also pretty hot on making him go if it looks like he needs it as if there is a lot going on he will insist on holding it until the last possible minute!!

Please tell me I am worrying too much and he will be able to go to the kids club occasionally?!

I believe the toilets in the kid's club space are shorter than normal, so getting on and off shouldn't be an issue. I'd put on shorts he can simply pull up, rather than zippers, buttons and belts! If their clothes are not all the way on, the staff will help them "straighten out"!

Just have him "go" before you take him to the club...and he should be fine...they don't stay all day long!

He'll be fine....you'll be fine! No worries!! Mention your concerns to the staff when you go to orientation on the 1st night...they'll be on the lookout for any problems he might have!

You can try your son in shorts for now, and later in sweatpants. My son always wore sweatpants since he likes really soft clothing, and the daycare teachers said it helped him potty train faster since he could easily put on and remove his clothing by himself.

Is your son excited about the kids club? If so, that might be the reward you dangle in front of him - if you learn how to put your clothes on and off, you will be able to go to the kids club on the ship. This isn't going to help if your son is nervous about attending though.

On the first night of camp, if you are allowed into the kids club, I'd take him into the bathroom and make sure he is familiar with the layout (someone started another thread that talked about how their child had difficulty since he didn't know where the stool was and it was a full sized potty on Celebrity). I've only seen the potties on Princess, and those were toddler sized.

Also, you can check with RCI to see if they issue pagers to the parents of young children. HAL didn't have them, but NCL gave us one since they noticed my son didn't do a great job wiping himself. The staff understandably couldn't help him, but they would have been able to page me if he needed help again.

Thank you both for your assurances and suggestions :-) I have spoken to his nursery about this today and they tell me that he mostly manages on his own anyway - obviously it's just mummy that he cons into doing things for him ;-)

They're not allowed to help, but I always just put my daughter in the easiest clothes to pull up (elastic shorts or pants) and made her do it on her own the couple weeks leading up to the cruise (I was also guilty of helping too often because we were so often in a rush).

As cb suggested, we also would use the potty right before kids club so that it hopefully wouldn't be an issue.

Best,

Mia

Thanks for everyone's replies. I have since realised my son is lazy when I am around and can manage no problem when I am not there!!

But I have another question about AO, we have travelled with P&O before and used the night nursery which was great. Do AO do anything similar? I know you can leave them there until 10pm if you want but I don't want my son shattered every morning for going out and about. But equally it would be nice to have a couple of evenings of adult time! Will they let them sleep at AO or not?

Thanks

AO is open to 1 or 2 am, but after 10pm you pay an hourly fee to keep the kids in there. Not sure if they let kids sleep in there or not - I don't see why not.