Potty Training

[AtomicCEO]

As mentioned in the thumb sucking thread, a reward system could work. My wife set up a potty chart, and every hour she would have my son sit on the toilet. Whether he went or not, he would get a sticker for "trying". He got ot put the sticker on his potty chart, and every 8 stickers, he would get a potty prize. We did this last summer (he turned 3 in October) as he needed to be potty trained to go to preschool. It didn't seem to be working, then one day, or it seemed like pretty much one day, it just clicked with him. Pooping, well, that took a little longer to get him to go in the toilet but he is a pro now.

 

My wife uses the sticker system now.

 

My idea was that every time he uses the potty I'll stop hitting him for a few minutes. He'd like that.

[T_bone65]

My son was 2 1/2 years old and he new darn well how the toilet worked, but he was lazy. The last time I changed a poopy diaper I held it up to his face and said this is the last one I change. I almost pushed it in his face.

 

He was now potty trained.

 

We are talking about kids here right?

[Hugh 0ne]

We are talking about kids here right?

 

I apply many of the same training techniques on my children that I use on my dogs, including the shock collar.

[wiegie]

My son just turned 2 in late January, so I'm not expecting much out of him yet. We are not actively trying to potty-train him yet and I don't think he will actually be potty-trained before he is three or so, but we have been doing the sticker thing for when he goes in the toilet. He is sort of funny, the past few days there have been several times when he will just come to a complete stop in the middle of whatever he is doing and start yelling "PEE-PEE". Then we run to the bathroom and get him onto the toilet and he goes--after he is done he looks at me like he is the proudest kid in the world. He doesn't like to use the potty-seat that we got him, so he just climbs onto the big toilet and holds on for dear life while going. He likes to look down and watch the action as well. Then he likes to flush. He also tries to go poop frequently, but mostly I think he just likes to sit on the toilet and look at his books because the "poop" sessions are only productive about 10% of the time. What is funny is that after these non-productive sessions, he gets off of the toilet and then takes some toilet paper off the roll, wads it up and then wipes himself.

[Ziachild007]

Just don't put them in a pull up. Buy a waterproof sheet for over the mattress. Kids don't like being uncomfortable, he'll probably piss the bed a few times, which will require some extra laundry work, but he'll also probably learn that he doesn't like it pretty quick, motivation to stop. Also make sure you cut the fluids long before bed time, and make him pee right before he goes to bed.

 

 

Good info here. My daughter who will be 3 next month, just started going consistanly in the past month or so. The main thing she responded to was the sticker chart.

 

My twins, (who will be 2 next month ) have seen their sister working on it and have started trying to go too now. Hopefully they will get it down a little quicker though.

[montster]

I'm a night owl, so I wake my kids up around 1am and take them to the bathroom before I go to bed. That helps them make it through the night.

 

i do this, too -- same time, around 12:30 or 1 am. i know a lot of parents who go to bed only about an hour or two after the kids, though, so it may not work for everyone (ours goes to bed around 9). when i take her before midnight, i notice she wakes up earlier.

 

Just don't put them in a pull up. Buy a waterproof sheet for over the mattress. Kids don't like being uncomfortable, he'll probably piss the bed a few times, which will require some extra laundry work, but he'll also probably learn that he doesn't like it pretty quick, motivation to stop. Also make sure you cut the fluids long before bed time, and make him pee right before he goes to bed.

 

i admit we got lucky. at around 2 years, 3 months, we noticed she was waking up with dry diapers. so we switched to underwear during the day and diapers at night. we put the training toilet in the family room. some people thought it was gross, but the family room is where we spend most of our time, and we didn't want her to have to go far when it was time to potty. (we had wood floors, so accidents were easy to clean.) after a month or so, she was sleeping in underwear. we never put her in pullups; our feeling was that there comes a point when the undesirable feeling of soiled underwear is enough of an incentive to hold it. she has had some accidents -- i've had to throw away poopy underwear a few times -- but all we tell her is accidents happen.

 

one thing i've noticed is that she tends to copy older kids. she never goes potty by herself, but she has a 4-year-old cousin who can go by herself, and our daughter will go by herself if she sees her cousin do it. a few other things we learned from other parents: if you have a potty chart, sometimes it works better if you tape the reward (like a lollipop or small toy) to the chart, up high where they can see it but can't get to it. it gives them something tangible to work toward. also, one mom who has two boys said she puts cheerios in the toilet for the boys to aim at.

[McBoog]

Hey. Kids are different. With my twins (boy/girl), he was the first one “day trained”, but has taken longer to get the “through-the-night” thing down. He is almost 6 and makes it about 5 out of 7 nights. My office mate has three girls. Her youngest at almost 8 still wears a night time protection, but her youngest was just under three when she was “good” 24-hours.

 

I recently had back surgery and was at home for 4-weeks. I took it upon myself to get my 2 ¾ year old daughter trained before returning to work (I figured it would help the wifey out). She had the poop thing down and she hated a wet diaper so I knew she was ready.

 

The first thing I did was take her to WalMart and buy some thick construction board. She chose yellow. Then we got some glue, glitter, pipe cleaner, plastic eyes and a couple packages of stickers (her choice. She chose Animal and Dolphin stickers).

 

We went home and sat down to our first daughter daddy project. I wrote her name in glue and she sprinkled the glitter. Made some fuzzy bugs (three dimensional, man) out of “poofy balls” and pipe cleaners. All-in-all, it took about an hour and we hung it next to the toilet. I bought her some of the thick “big girl” panties and five pair of sweatpants. You also need some hair scrunchies (ask the wife) to put around the ankles so the pee doesn’t free flow out of the bottom in case of error.

 

Basically, you act disappointed FOR THE UNDERWEAR (not at the child) if there is an accident (“Poor big boy underwear with yucky pee all over them”). Throw it in the pile and put on fresh AFTER you let them get that uncomfortable feeling of cold, wet pants and undies. Give them plenty of juice/H2O and take them to the toilet every 15 minutes. Yup… Set a timer. Eventually, and it is more your fault in the beginning than theirs if they wet themselves, they will go in the toilet. CELEBRATE. Hoot, holler, dance, do the “peepee in the toilet” conga for God’s sake. Then let them choose a sticker and place it ANYWHERE they want on the peepee board.

 

After three days… DONE! She had that sh!t down! We left the peepee board up for a month and let her fill it with stickers, but she is not even three yet and has peed her diaper at night only twice in the last 2 months! Like I said, they are all different and boys are harder to get through the night because of the extra plumbing.

 

With boys, you can add an extra “game” called “Shoot the Cheerio”. I showed him how the first few times. When you take him to the toilet every 15 minutes, toss a Cheerio (or some other non-clogging target) in the water. This to him was better reward than the stickers and taught him about “aim” from the git-go.

 

Good Luck!

 

Edit to add: We got the mini seat that fits in the big toilet seat (Dora) and a step stool instead of a separate toilet seat . She takes care of most of it by herself now.

Edited March 11, 2008 by McBoog

[untateve]

It worked. He knew better and my actions, though aggresive, solved the problem.

 

I applaud this technique. Sometimes when my children don't listen, I put cigarettes out on them. My children almost never misbehave.

[Jimmy Neutron]

A. Wait until the kid is ready - otherwise your efforts will be largely in vain. Major

 

B. See what encourages the kid - some like simple verbal praise - others respond to prizes or other bribes.

[Codwagon]

I applaud this technique. Sometimes when my children don't listen, I put cigarettes out on them. My children almost never misbehave.

 

 

I'm not really sure how it is any different than making them stand at a sink and get sh*t all over their hands.

[untateve]

I'm not really sure how it is any different than making them stand at a sink and get sh*t all over their hands.

 

Really? You don't see a difference, both in attitude and presentation? You don't see the difference between expecting a child to learn responsibility and clean up after his mess vs yelling at him and putting a diaper full of schit almost in his face? I guess we'll just have to disagree.

[NSab]

I paid $1 to each of my 4 kids each time they used the potty, it worked like a charm.

[Egret]

My son is a month younger than your son. I offer no help. Everything we have tried has failed. He tells us that he just likes his diapers. We'll try again during spring break and again when summer break starts.

[yo mama]

I paid $1 to each of my 4 kids each time they used the potty, it worked like a charm.

For a $1 a pop I bet they were willing to go any time, any place.

Edited March 13, 2008 by yo mama

[NSab]

For a $1 a pop I bet they were willing to go any time, any place.

 

I saved more on diapers, it was worth it.

[chiefjay]

For a $1 a pop I bet they were willing to go any time, any place.

 

I got it Yo.

[Egret]

My son picked out some dinosaur underwear last night. He wanted to wear it this afternoon. I printed off a Dora potty chart and told him he gets to put a sticker on it every time he sits on the potty. No reward, just a sticker. He thinks that's the greatest. We also told him he could jump higher in underwear. He's jumping all over the house, and we're making a big deal about how high he's jumping. So far he's trying.

 

When I told him he could put a sticker on, I assumed we had stickers in the house. Nope. The only ones we had were from my Guitar Hero game. I never put any of the stickers on the guitars. He gets to put black stars and skulls on his Dora sheet.

[Chief Dick]

We also told him he could jump higher in underwear. He's jumping all over the house, and we're making a big deal about how high he's jumping.

 

This made me laugh out loud.

 

My son didn't want to put on his PJ's for about a week, so we told him they were his supersonic, superfast PJ's. So now he puts 'em on and runs around the house screaming "Superfast PJ's"......

 

[Puddy]

This made me laugh out loud.

 

My son didn't want to put on his PJ's for about a week, so we told him they were his supersonic, superfast PJ's. So now he puts 'em on and runs around the house screaming "Superfast PJ's"......

 

 

Maybe he'll wake up one day on a Saturday and get ready for work.

[Chief Dick]

Maybe he'll wake up one day on a Saturday and get ready for work.

 

[Puddy]

I almost didn't post it because it sounded so mean. But sometimes I can't resist.

[Chief Dick]

I almost didn't post it because it sounded so mean. But sometimes I can't resist.

 

You can't offend the offensive.

[sunysteelfly76]

My son is a month younger than your son. I offer no help. Everything we have tried has failed. He tells us that he just likes his diapers. We'll try again during spring break and again when summer break starts.

 

My youngest refused to potty train and kept telling us he would potty train when he was four. On his fourth birthday he stopped going in his pullup and started using the toilet. He just wanted to do it on his terms. Sometimes there is nothing you can do because it really isn't our decision. It will happen, it just may not be as soon as you want it be.

[Sox]

My memory must be fading.I can't remember how I did the potty training at all.

 

[geeteebee]

This article made me think of this thread.

 

Looks like you can send your kid to school.