Sunday, October 7, 2007

Potty Advice

Maya seems to be getting past this "evil" phase and now I feel the need to focus on potty training. No pre-school around here will take the kid until she is potty trained. What is that about? Doesn't it matter that she knows how to count to 10 and say her ABCs? Just because she's potty-tarded doesn't mean she shouldn't make the cut.

So, does anyone have any nifty tricks, ideas, methods for potty training???

3 comments:

Deena said...

Obviously I'm not qualified because I don't have a potty-trained child. (Unless Jeff counts) I do know that it is important that she is ready.

Does she tell you when she needs to go? Does she want to use the potty?

I know there are multiple tactics: putting her in regular panties, sitting on the potty every hour even when she "doesn't have to go," all manner of bribery (candy, one finger nail painted for each time she goes on the potty, etc).

For your own sanity, I would suggest only using pullups for nighttime and in the car until she's pretty good. They are just like diapers and some kids are lazy and just go in the pullups. Sure it's easier to clean up, but there's no motivation for the kid to stay clean.

And when she has accidents, she needs to help clean them up. My mom would put my sister (the stubborn one) in the empty bathtub and take off her clothes and clean her up. Then my sister had to wash her panties out in the toilet and then rinse them in the sink. Mom said anything to make it more unpleasant than to use the potty. If she was just wet, she had to change her own clothes. I hope that doesn't sound mean. It wasn't. It just allows her to be accountable.

So there are my ideas. There's tons of info out there though. Good luck!

tessa said...

Not a single bit of advice; my boys are so far from ready but I'm excited to hear about you documenting it for Maya for all of us:)

Fauna said...

We started when Ian was 2 (thought he was ready) but he just wouldn't do #2. We used the chart and toys for incentives...he wasn't ready to dispose of everything in the potty. Later, we heard this one lady say that she made a big deal about "no underwear once you turn 3" and that worked with Ian. The month leading up to his birthday at every diaper change we reminded him and tried to make it sound really great. Before the big day he picked out underwear (Be ready with carpet cleaner because accidents are going to happen especially those first couple of weeks). #1 wasn't an issue (gave him a smartie every time), but #2 was. He couldn't wear underwear until he did #2. Then there was the trifecta of potty training incentives...play with the train set, piece of chocolate, and choice of McWane Center, Zoo, or Park. He was fully on board after a couple of weeks (and could wear underwear all day). We didn't go to any of those places or get to eat candy or play with the train set unless he did those things...no matter what. We never used Pull-ups except when we went camping one weekend during that first month and at night until he stayed dry for a month straight. Just figure out what Maya likes the most and use it as a reward. As you can tell we had to pull every trick we could imagine to get him to do anything. Good Luck!!