We really wanted to have our almost 2 1/2 yr old potty trained before the end of the year, but I dont think it's gonna happen...so now we're hoping to have her potty trained before she turns 3.
Do y'all have any potty traning tips? I work FT & go to school 3xs a week, however DH is home w/her when I have school. My mom also has her during the day 2xs a week and every chance she gets she lectures me on how she already started potty training her when shes there. I'm thinking about buying another potty for her babysitter that she can practice on when she's there the rest of the week (MWF).
So far she's been on Easy Ups for a few months and only uses the potty when I do.
Recently she's become interested in looking at what other bathrooms look like, so at least she goes when we're in a restaurant or a friend's house. Other than that, she'll just go in her diaper. I really want to stop buying diapers!
is there a reason why you want to have her PT by year's end? (i.e. must she be PT to attend school in january?)
it is my feeling that children are ready when THEY are ready and not a minute sooner. we set up an environment for our son that simply encouraged using the potty. we asked frequently if he had to go, but never pushed him to try. i put a blank sheet of paper in each of our bathrooms and an envelope full of stickers. each time he sat on the potty and tried, we'd let him choose a sticker to put on the "chart". if he actually went potty we'd let him choose a sticker AND reward him with 5 m+m's (and cheer enthusiastically, of course). it was great positive reinforcement.
at one point we thought he had it down. he was wearing underwear and hadn't had an accident in a couple of days in a row — even overnight. it was short lived and he reverted back to pull ups. it was another 3 months or so before he was fully ready. one night at 3am he came running into our bedroom telling us that he had to go, we were completely shocked, but that was it. he was ready! (i certainly wasn't ready at 3am, but HE was) he was a little over 3 years old. it took a while of steady patience, but it worked awesome. when you work on their timetable, there are less "accidents" during the process and the nighttime training is part of the process. i know a friend of mine did the whole "PT your child in one weekend" thing and while her son was PT for the most part, he had many "accidents" and the whole nighttime thing came later.
keep encouraging her, if you do use a reward system make sure it's consistent from caregiver to caregiver so she doesn't get confused or frustrated.
I agree with hotcocoa and letting your DD tell you when she's ready. My daughter is almost 3 and pretty much refuses to use the potty. She's not scared or anything, but she'll just sit on it for a really LONG time (once over an hour) and she won't go, but the second we put a pull up on her, she decides to go. We've tried rewards and encouragement, but I guess she's still not ready to use it so we'll just have to keep trying unilt she is. (Which I hope is soon! ) Good luck!
hotcocoa wrote: is there a reason why you want to have her PT by year's end? (i.e. must she be PT to attend school in january?)
Not really, I think its just my mom and MIL pressuring us, they both tell us we were all potty trained soon after we turned 2 and that we need to put more effort, etc. So I thought it was the norm to quickly start potty training as soon as she turned 2.
Thank you for the advice, I think the sticker rewards chart is a great idea, she loves stickers and that would probably make it fun for her.
I don't know if this will help you, but when I was little Mom basically bribed me to use the potty by telling me that if I did, I could go to school. That was that, and I started using it that day and never looked back (I REALLY wanted to go to school)
With my sister, they were having some problems, but eventually realized that it was because she was afraid if she used the potty she wouldn't be their baby anymore. So they let her know that she always would be, and they promised to get her a treat from the toystore when she was ready. They didn't pressure her, but she really wanted one of those little tykes cars so she strated trying really hard to use the potty so she could get that.
I think it probably has a lot to do with getting her to the point where it's something SHE wants to do (and not something that she's afraid of)... either by flat out bribing her or by letting her understand that even though it means she'll be a big kid (yay!) it doesn't mean she'll be too big to sit on you lap and get hugs.
that's funny... my mom kept saying the same thing to me, "you and your brother were PT when you were two blah, blah, blah" she also told me that i could tie my shoes when i was two and i could ride my bike before any other kid on the block. i just want to scream when she says that s***! so what? is it a race? every child has his/her own timetable for achieving goals, milestones and everyday little things. i personally don't see why there has to be such a push to rush through everything. (although buying diapers is no fun, i do understand that part of it!)
let us know how it's going!
BargainQueen wrote:
hotcocoa wrote: is there a reason why you want to have her PT by year's end? (i.e. must she be PT to attend school in january?)
Not really, I think its just my mom and MIL pressuring us, they both tell us we were all potty trained soon after we turned 2 and that we need to put more effort, etc. So I thought it was the norm to quickly start potty training as soon as she turned 2.
Thank you for the advice, I think the sticker rewards chart is a great idea, she loves stickers and that would probably make it fun for her.
I really want to stop buying diapers! 
) Good luck!
