I'm glad I'm medicated (parenting woes)

[Mighty Girl]

We're going through a few "transitions". And it sucks.

We just now put our three year old daughter in a toddler bed. We're also trying to get her potty trained. And I just am at wit's end. :(

I'm not too concerned about the toddler bed, although her hysterical screaming does tear me apart, I know this will pass. She's sleeping now in it.

The potty training? This is going to be the do-or-die accomplishment for me. I have given birth to the single most stubborn drama queen to ever set foot on earth. We have a little potty, we have toilet transition seats for the adult toilet, special wipes for her, m&ms and stickers as rewards. One day I put her in a pair of panties to see how she would do- well she did fine- peeing and pooping in the panties.

I don't get it. I just don't get it. She's so bright, and such a wonderful child in so many ways, I don't get why she is resisting so hard.

And on a side note- when she was 2-2.5 people were telling me "Oh give it time, she'll do it when she's ready, there's no hurry". Well now that she's three, you know what they're saying "You probably should have started younger" :eek: :wtf: :hairpull:

[One-Fang]

Ha ha. Sorry, that's just funny. :)

Maybe just give her time? She will no doubt suffer from peer pressure, even at that age, of still being in nappies when she's playing with other kids her age. She'll eventually want to learn.

Does she really value M&Ms and stickers? Maybe the reward just isn't speaking to her. More TV time instead? With a reduction every time she goes in pants/nappies instead of waiting and doing it properly.

[Kiwi]

maybe shes just not ready, now Im not a parent but have had to help toilet train 2 toddlers.
one was ready at 2 years old and the other was in night nappies until he was 4. the boy toddler, took alot longer because his parents just decided one day that he was going to be toilet trained and that was that. he came to HATE his potty because they would make him sit on it for 20 minutes at a time and then told him off everytime he made a mistake.

so he actively began misbehaving in that area, holding it in then wetting himself because he had waited to long.

however, the best piece of advice I can give you is, She is YOUR child, you should be deciding when she is ready or not, stop listening to everyone else and just do what works best for you.

by the way, my mum trained me VERY quickly, she simply stopped putting nappies on me. she made a huge fuss over me buying my very own big girl underwear with the strawberry shortcake on it (i got to pick) and from then on I had to wear big girl underwear. apprently it took 2 weeks for me to stop wetting and messing myself completely. even at night.

sure my mum had lots of puddles to clean up but when a kid wet a nappy, its still relatively comfortable for them. when a kid wets underwear it gets cold and icky FAST. she didnt tell me off if/when i made a mistake, just a "oh no thats a shame, next time tell mum when you need the potty ok" and then asked me every 30 minutes.

hope that helps at all

[Barefootgirl]

I know you don't want to hear this, but kids DO pick their own time to be potty-trained. Annoying, but true.

Are you taking her to the toilet with you every time you go, and talking about it? Did she get to pick out her own "big girl knickers"? I found this worked spectacularly well with my daughter. She wanted some Cinderella knickers from the Disney Store, so I got them for her, with the proviso that princesses don't like being wee'd or poo'd on, so she'd have to remember to tell me when she needed to go. I think from that point it took about two weeks. She still has the (very) occasional accident, when she's so engrossed in playing that she forgets to go, but its very rare these days. She'll be four in October.

[digilight]

Both of our kids are potty training right now. Our son is 4-1/2 and just about there and our daughter is 2-1/2 and still has a way to go. She loves to sit on the potty but usually will go in her pullup first, she is getting better though. The most important thing I've learned though is to do it with a relaxed attitude. If you are stressed about it, it will make it harder for them. The rewards can be good (but only if it is something they want to do). I've found that lots of praise when they do go allways works, and when they have an accident never repremand them allways tell them that you know they are trying and accidents happen. If you don't make a big deal out of it its usually easier.

Good luck. Also have you thought about trying those cool touch pullups. Supposedly they get real cold and yuckie when they pee in 'em. It helps give them a boost in the right direction.

[Jpurple]

Good luck- and I'll send you any extra patience I happen to have handy. (ha!) We found it pretty easy to potty train my daughter- we started when she was about 2 and were very casual about it until she was used to the potty, then got a bit more serious about it. Our problem was, living in a tropical country, she routinely went naked at home most of the time. She could go to the potty all by herself withour having to tell anyone. So when she started nursery school, after I got her convinced that she did, in fact, have to wear clothes to school EVERY day, she had some issues with having to ASK when she needed to go potty and remembering to take her panties off first....:rolleyes:
We did find that being able to choose her own panties really helped, and keeping the potty in whatever room she was playing in made it faster for her, and led to less accidents.

[NightAngel]

We battled my youngest son forever on the potty training issue. I don't know WHY but he just did NOT want to give up pull-ups. We read article after article, used rewards, punishments, everything we could read or think of I tried.

He got to a point where he'd begrudgingly wear underwear during the day- at home. If we went out he had to have a pull-up. He also had to have one to sleep in- though he didn't need it as it was always clean/dry when he got up. I think they were like his 'security blanket' or something.

Then, FINALLY, one day he simply took off the pull-up, put on some undies and announced, "I'm done with diapers." He was 4 yrs. old.

Haven't had a single problem since.

[RavenStarr]

Ah yes, potty training. I remember those days. Having your child sit on the potty with nothing happening, then letting them get up. Of course less than 5 min later they pee or poop in their pants. :hairpull:

I wish I could say that there is a easy way to potty train your child, but there's not. Oh sure some parents luck out and get that easy child that's a breeze to train. For the rest of us I can only offer this bit of advice.

1. Do make sure your child is ready. Some of the signs your child is ready would be: Taking the diaper off, when it is soiled, telling you their diaper needs changed,taking an interest in the toilet are just some of ways your child is starting to show an interest in the potty.

2. Find an incentive to help with training. There are many possibilities here. One thing you can do is buy one of those dry erase boards and make a "potty training calender". Just like a regular calender but you put down whether she stayed dry or not. For example if you start the calender on Sunday, you could put a smiley face if she stayed dry the whole day or just an x if she didn't. Tell her if she has no more than 2 x's then you will take her to the store to pick out a treat, or take her to go get ice cream. Of course you can adjust the calender according to what you feel is best for your child. I wish I had thought of this when I was going through this with my kids.

3. Once you start training don't stop. I know it's easy to get frustrated and just throw your hands up in defeat. However if you give up and wait till later it will only be harder. Trust me, I knew this all too well.:(

4. You will get through this, even though you feel like you won't trust me you will.
She will be trained and then you will have many more things to look forward to, like when she starts driving:eek: ;)