I’m so unmotivated to get Alex to potty train. I’ve got to find some motivation some where, because he’s going to be 3 in a couple weeks. Drew was potty trained at school in a matter of days! As for Alex, he doesn’t have the structure from his teacher that Drew had, so I guess I’m forced to take on the task all by myself. I just hope that when I find the motivation that they back me up at day care.
So bring it on people. What can I do to kick start this thing called potty training?
I think each child is so different in terms of PTing. Little Man was nearly four and it was a terrible battle of the wills. Busy Bee was a month shy of 3 when she trained and all I did was tell her no more dipes and that was it. I’m in the midst of another battle with Rolly Polly, she’s actually just over 3 and screams for her diaper all the time. No interest and she fights it the whole way. I try to be a believer that when they are ready they will lead, but jeez, I’d really like to get this house free of dipes. We’ve been held hostage by them for over 6 years….
Anyway, I’m definately going to be watching this thread for some tips!
I wish I had a good helpful tip. After training the Prince ( he was almost 4 & had to because he wet to school) & still failing miserably with the Princess I am tapped for new ideas. We have until the fall to really worry about the Princess since we are sending her to preschool. I guess I’ll give her more time to figure it out (with LOTS of help from me). They don’t tell you how hard it is to convince your kids that it was “their idea”!!!
ok, so we were talking about potty right!!! I meant to type WENT not wet to school!!! duh…guess it’s time to go watch hockey!
I’m not sure how you’re going about potty training, but here’s what we did. We started using the pull-ups and after only a few successes we went directly to regular underwear. The important part of this was to tell the kids, “You’re a big kid now. Diapers are for babies. You’re not a baby anymore . . . You’re a big kid.” I have a boy and a girl. It worked great for both of them. They loved using the “big kid” potty and then graduated to the “real” potty. Targets in the potty will make it fun for your son. We bought some that were shaped like fish and dissolved after a few minutes in the potty.
We also used a potty ( the “big kid” potty ) that essentially went with us regardless of which room we were in at home. I know that this may be difficult to work out with a day care, but I thought I would mention it so you can try when you’re at home. That way there’s no worries about getting to the potty in time. If they make it to the potty – a little praise goes a long way. If not, try try again. Even if they only go sit on the potty and there’s no results – shower them with praise for trying.
The only catch is . . . when you’re at the store ( groceries, whatever ) they will inevitably decide they want to use the potty. Since you’re always looking for an opportunity for success, of course you want to take them. Keep that mental maps of all the bathroom locations handy.
For us, we had two children two-and-half years apart. We didn’t want to have to diaper two kids at the same time. That’s way too expensive. So it was really important that we got one out of diapers by the time the other arrived.
Don’t get me wrong – it didn’t happen overnight. There were huge successes and mistakes along the way. However, both of my kids were using the potty by the time they were three. We did use the pull-ups at bedtime for a while – just in case.
I hope this helps.
If your happy with the way things are, and he is happy too, then perhaps you don’t need to worry about it juts yet. “Let it be..”