Potty time
Betsy of Fluffy Windover's Diary discusses potty training in this week's Toddler Thursday:
The potty is a hot topic at our house. Edwin is two and a half now, and I would love to get him fully potty trained. He, however, has gone back and forth on the issue for the past couple months. For a while he was using the potty all the time, so we went out and bought some Thomas the Tank undies to really get down to business. He was so excited to wear them, I could barely stop him from stripping down in Target. But once we got home and put them on, he said, “I don’t like these. I want my diaper.” So I backed off a little bit. Sometimes he asks to use the potty, and other times he… doesn’t. We have a chart for him, and he gets stickers when he goes. But if I see that he’s about to go and I suggest he try sitting on the potty instead, he gets all upset. Sigh.
I don’t want to push him, but it’s hard to know how to proceed. At daycare, he happily asks to use the potty all day long. His diaper stays dry all day over there, because he uses the potty instead. So I know that he can do it, at least physically. But there is some resistance at home for some reason. I don’t want to force the issue, but I have this terrible fear of missing a crucial window of potty-training enthusiasm and ending up changing a 4-year old’s diapers.
Every kid is different. I don’t think there is one sure way to get your kid potty trained, even though other parents will tell you, “Here’s what you gotta do…”. Should I spend a weekend letting him run around naked? Should I let him decide when he’s ready to stop wearing diapers? Should I hire someone else to take care of this for me? (I’m kidding, of course, but I have read that there are places you can send your toddler to get potty trained in a day. I sure wouldn’t want to work in one of those places.)
I think what’s so confusing to me is that I keep reading that you don’t want to push your child into potty training if he is resisting. I know that he’s ready, but I also know it will take a little pushing from me to convince him to stop wearing the diapers. So what to do?
Comments
Wait until he's three. It's a huge waste of time and energy to push a kid that isn't quite ready.
My son trained himself right after he turned 3 and my daughter did it a couple of months before 3. Both were trained within a week and we never used pull ups. It sure beat other methods.
Posted by: Kayris | March 10, 2011 8:17 AM
I had all those problems in potty training, too, except my child never ever told us when she had to potty. She was fully trained at day care, but not at home. One day, I looked at the day care schedule - breakfast, potty, activity, potty, lunch, potty, nap, potty, etc. They were putting her on the potty almost every hour. So we set a timer for ourselves for every hour. We wouldn't ask her if she had to potty, just told her it was time to potty. She would potty and then not have any accidents. After, literally, a couple of days, she started telling us that she had to potty, and she was officially "trained." That's what worked for us. I had the same anxieties that you do, was afraid of pushing her, thought that diapers were easier, etc. Having her potty trained has been wonderful!! She was almost three, and I wished I had done it a year earlier!
Posted by: Margaret | March 10, 2011 12:11 PM
2 1/2 may be old enough (it was for my younger son), but it may not be. My eldest was a little older than 3 when he completed potty training.
I recommend (1) being consistent - once you change to undies, it's undies all the time (except nighttime pull-ups for bedtime), (2) pick a day to do it, tell him about the change coming and talk about it ahead of time in positive terms ("on Monday, we're going to wear your choo choo undies!) and (3) frequent small rewards for small steps (stickers*, balloons, M&Ms, whatever). It sounds like your son has many signs of readiness. I would tell him straight out that the diapers are gone if he asks for one.
We need to work on ditching the pacifier soon, and I'm not looking forward to that.
*my son likes stickers on his hand or shirt, rather than on a chart.
Posted by: MadCow | March 10, 2011 12:58 PM
With both of my kids, I had to wait until they were almost 4 before they were ready to really be potty trained. It was annoying...but then again, they were both potty trained in a week, once they were mentally ready to go.
Posted by: AnitaK | March 15, 2011 12:11 AM