So, I'm considering starting potty training Emyri and I'm realizing this is another one of those "I have no idea what I'm doing as a parent" types of thing. And although I have had plenty of these dumb founded situations, believe you me, they still always seem to jump out of the bushes of nowhere and leave me stumbling around blind for a good week.
So I've heard, "Wait until their ready", which I totally agree with; there's nothing more humiliating than being forced to control your bodily functions when you're bodily functions have no intention of being controlled.....we'll I'm assuming.
I've also heard "Wait until they show interest" which makes sense.
Then in talking with one of my fellow softball teammates, mother of five successfully potty trained girls, she said that with her girls there seemed to be a window of opportunity when they were really interested and if she waited too long or until she was ready to take the task head on, she found it was almost always too late, and the process was a lot longer and harder.
Great!
So I guess what I'm trying to say is I'm feeling the pressure of this small window of opportunity that may or may not have already passed and wondering how you really know if you're child is truly ready for and truly interested in the big "plunge"; pun intended. Emyri showed interest in pottying a long time ago, but at the time I was thinking she was way too young for the real thing. Now, I'm sitting here asking the girl if she wants to potty as she's telling me "No, I'm fine" and wondering if her toilet attraction has long been gone and if she's going to end up at her Jr. Prom sporting a fashionable dress, jewelry to kill, and.......a pull-up.
Okay, so I know it's not that bad....and honestly, despite my continual dazed and confused parenting states Emyri has survived and even thrived in her two years of life. I know in the end we'll master this phase as well, but I guess I just need some help to know where to even start.
Do I just keep asking her all day if she needs to potty? Do I periodically put her on the john throughout the day to see how it goes? Should I just straight up get her pumped about big girl panties and let her pick her own out and go cold turkey with the diapers? Are pull-ups better? Should I use behavior-mod and give her potty treats? Is she really ready or should I just bag the whole thing and wait another six months?
What have you experts found to work best for you? Any advice would be greatly appreciated: )
8 comments:
I wish I would have potty trained Parker earlier. My one piece of advice is to check out "Toilet Training in Less Than a Day" and follow it to a T. Park went from refusing to even sit on the potty to peeing in the potty successfully in probably 4 hours. The secret was to keep it REALLY positive, and never go back to diapers or pull-ups once you make the switch. Honestly, get the book! It goes through a list of cues to know they are ready, and then walks you through the whole thing minute by minute. My sisters have all used this book and haven't had any troubles potty training. Good luck! It is SO nice once they are done! (unless they think it's funny to poop outside and hide the evidence in your mom's bushes... that's not fun.) :)
Sheesh, sorry about the novel!
I am by all means not an expert, but I would start now with all of the ways you just listed & see which one works best for her & get the ball rolling. What I've found with my nieces & nephews is if your excited, they are excited. Good luck with that & I hope you don't have too many accidents.
Kaylee did great when it was a positive experience, and when other kids told her things like, "wow, you're almost as big as me now." I would, of course, ask the older kids to say that (i.e. Alyssa). But the idea of being bigger than oneself is huge for little kids, so maybe try and have Bailey tell her how big she is when she sees her trying to potty.
I'm going to pass on some very valuable advice given to me by my cousin who has 5 boys..... just don't worry about it. ;)
I tried EVERYTHING with Kadan. He showed interest and was even going in the toilet up to 4 times a day just before he turned 2. Then... he stopped going at all! And bribing with candy worked for awhile, then it stopped. And constant reminding helped a little, and then it didn't. Really... I tried every trick in the book. Bottom line? A couple months ago when I had given up, he started going to the toilet on his own without even be prompted. Within a week or two, he wasn't going in his pullups at all, he went complety on his own with no accidents and he usually goes all night without and problems. I know there are lots of books and lots of strategies and systems, and they may work for some kids.
But my advice (from my one experience of course) is to do nothing. Offer it as a choice, maybe even by her some cute underwear as an incentive (we kept Kadan's in sight by the bathroom toilet so he would see them often), but don't stress about it. There will come a time when she's done wearing diapers. at 4, I may begin to worry, at 2, don't sweat it.
I'd like to tell you what to do and wish I had all the answers, but apparently I am missing a big clue to the potty training puzzle. We started Parker at about 25 months because we knew we would be moving soon and have the baby coming. The "experts" say not to try after a big change, so we decided to try before the big changes came. He did pretty well with it for a while, and then we moved and it's been like starting all over but worse. I think there's definitely some truth to the idea of doing it when there is stability in their lives, cause the change really did make it hard on him. It has been almost four months and we still have plenty of accidents, and I feel like we have wasted a lot of time and energy--it's exhausting! Girls are supposedly easier and ready sooner, and you probably will know what you are doing better than me, so you'll probably have more luck than me. So basically i have no advice for you at all, cause i have no idea what i'm doing! Let me know how it goes.
YOU ARE MY FAVORITE PERSON EVER! :o) Every time we drive by the apartments Lexi asks if Emyri is home...We all miss you. :o) I know that has nothing to do with potty training...I say hand her over to a friend one afternoon, that's what did it for Lex. :o) Bring her on by, skittles are always better when they are given by someone elses mom it seems like. :o) I just love ya! PS I did have to stalk you a little to find your blog, a little creepy. :o)
Can't say I can help you out much, since I have no kiddo's at the moment. But good luck with it!!
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