We're planning to devoting the whole weekend to potty training our unmotivated and noncompliant (sweet, adored) rooster. He'll be 4 in May and he's outgrowing size 7 diapers, so we're not a moment too soon... wish us luck.
ALL TIPS AND TRICKS WELCOME.
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Two kids, two full time careers - lots of people do it gracefully, but for me it's a challenge, particularly as I struggle with my boy, the rooster, and his "constellation" of health and developmental issues. Medicine so far fails to cure what ails us, so I'm trying a self-prescribed intensive dose of blogging to see if that does the trick.
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8 comments:
No advice...still in size 5's here. But I'll be rooting for you!
strip him down, protect the floors, and let him run around au naturel. Diapers enable him to ignore the issue...
M&M's are a great motivator, but not going to work in GFCF world... Didn't you say he loved strawberries? Two every time he goes where he's supposed to?
"Potty Power." Your library might have it. Worth renting a portable DVD to play it in the bathroom.
Have a bowl of M&Ms (or other favorite candy) in the bathroom. Positive result=positive reinforcement. He only gets one for POSITIVE results.
Have choices ready (do you want to wear your underwear today, or your diaper?) If you are using Potty Power, that is already reinforcing that wearing underwear is cool, and something big kids do, so you don't have to hawk on that. Just present the choice in the morning, and respect the choice he makes, while noting the positives of being potty trained throughout the day. Cheer if he chooses the underwear, even if he doesn't make t through the day in them.
Joey potty trained at 4 years old almost to the day. Once he showed interest in the video, it took about four weeks for him to choose the underwear, and then he never looked back. He has some classmates who are still fighting the potty battle. Best of luck to you guys!
Oops, JoeyAndyDad wins another bet- it was 4 years 4 months when Joey potty trained. :P I think my point was you're doing fine for time; Joey was still considered "in normal range" for a boy.
Good luck!
J was almost 4 by the time we were done.
Find something to use as positive reinforcement. We used skittles or jelly beans at first and used a sliding scale. 1 for sitting on the potty, even if nothing happened. 2 for peeing. 5 for more. Once he was consistently peeing we dropped it down to 1 for peeing and none for sitting. Every time we changed the number of candies, we changed the type.
Pooping on the potty was a bigger challenge and took another kind of positive reinforcement because he was bored with candy. We used Go Diego Go episodes. Then as we got closer to success we made a sticker chart and for 10 days he got a semi special trip, 10 days more a better field trip, and after 30 days he got a 1/2 day trip to a rainforest/aquarium place. He took great pride in counting the stars every day.
Some friends have had success with the printable Chuck e cheese reward charts. they get free tokens for turning them in.
Oh and when we first started, we did the nekkid from the waist down method. Diapers and underwear were all the same to him, and Little J too.
Again Good LUCK!!!!
You can find some free downloads for motivational certificates, stickers and charts at www.PottyTrainWithBabySigns.com. Good luck!
Linda Easton
Director of Product Development
Baby Signs, Inc.
It'd help tremendously if you told us more details, i.e. if he's interested at all; if he keeps dry at night; what motivates him; does wetness in his diaper bother him; does he poop at a particular time of day; etc. I think it helps to collect that information. Also, once you start, you have to be sure that everyone around him is on board the exact same way, so it's best to talk with providers ahead of time.
I pee trained Noah later than some, but I wanted it to be easy, because our lives are not! So I pee trained him at 4.5 - I waited until summer, and set a potty outside, and lo & behold, he peed in it! So having potties around for him to use, esp in the nice weather that LA has (most of the time), is a great thing. I poop trained him at age 5.5 (last summer) and he really didn't want to do that - it took two or three long days because he was stubborn, but we prevailed. :)
My greatest advice to you would be this:
a) don't do it until you feel mentally ready for this. It's a lot of work. very rewarding, but a lot of work.
b) one thing that worked is that we got him new cool books, but he could ONLY read them sitting on the potty. Again, it's the motivator that speaks to the rooster.
c) figure out what you're going to do when the accidents happen (towels? what cleanser? paper towels?) and get them ready so you don't have to hunt around your house when someone just peed or pooped on your carpet. (I also am a fan of a home carpet cleaner, they have mini ones)
And I leave you with a quote. Good luck & let us know more details and when you start! :)
Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any one thing.
-Abraham Lincoln
How did it go?
our guy, who will be 6 this week - was pushing 4 before he decided to be "trained"...we'd attempted several times prior with little success....
it seemed odd to me that this little boy who was so very, very, particular about being messy - who cringed at the thought of fingerpainting with chocolate pudding and insisted on changing his clothes when they happened upon the most minute of stains.... found no discomfort in walking around in poopy diapers....
I'm afraid I have no words of wisdom - for us it just needed to "click" for our little guy....
I remember the day oh-so-well....it had been almost 2 weeks of undies....(we'd tried many of the previously listed helpful hints & after being met with constant frustration we just decided to go for it!)
...and at first our lil guy seemed so very enthusiastic about picking out his new big boy underwear and wore them proudly - especially his Bob the Builder ones, of course. He had used the facilities a quite a few times - even independantly, but didn't seem to find much interest in being consistant - regardless of the bribes involved. So after two long weeks of cleaning up the carpet...his clothes....and numerous surfaces throughout our household....I was in tears...
My husband, supportive and lovingly intended, insisted that we not buckle...but I was the one tirelessly involved in what seemed like the most ridiculous battle...
So I snapped...one Tuesday afternoon I did what I would definitely NOT recommend...(not claiming good parenting here..only exasperation)....knowing that he needed ot go to the bathroom (moms sometimes know these things...) I insisted that he not come out of the bathroom until he did....after almost 2 hours of melt-down I went into the bathroom in tears...(it had been a very long day) and I gave him this choice - you can go to the potty in the toilet or you can put this diaper on.
15 minutes of meltdown followed and then all was silent. I felt my heart thud like a rock into my stomache when he came out proud as a peacock in his diaper! I cannot express to you the intense discouragement and anger I felt when I saw him - I truly think I felt like the worst mom alive at the moment.....
But something kicked in...I like to think a dose of God's amazing peace....sometimes when I least expect it it sneaks up on me...
I didn't say anything right away - a bit later I just simply stated that when he was ready to use the potty he could have his underpants back. -
and to my amazement that was his last diaper...
not words of recommendation so much as a war=story...:) We all have them, don't we? We make it through... "the days go slow but the years go fast..."....knowing that each tedious day is part of a short season helps me sometimes...
Blessings!
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