3 year olds not potty trained

[floridaminnie]

I printed something off the internet that had a chart for potty training. A smiley face for when she was dry and used the potty and the sad face when she soiled herself. We looked at it everyday and counted how many happy and sad faces we had. Each day that went by we had more happy and less and less sad.

 

[Stimpy]

I'm a little late to add to this discussion but wanted to add something. My 3 1/2 yr old is currently training. We're using the sticker chart. He gets a sticker for peepee and 2 for BM. After he finishes the chart he gets a small toy or gets to go somewhere special (ie. park, beach, mini golf). He's been doing much better since we made up a paper "chain" to countdown our days to the cruise. He knows he has to been completely trained for the clubs and pool so as the chain gets shorter, he's been going potty almost everytime.

If you need a chart, you can print out free ones at http://www.ablebaby.com They have a few cute ones. Good Luck!

 

[Scott5150]

We are going on the Jan 31 cruise and our son (turns 3 this month) is not potty trained. I am hoping that he will be in the next 6 months so that he can go to the clubs.

Did they ban swim diapers?? I was in the pool with him in 2001 and he used a swim diaper and we had no problem.

Scott

 

[Griggle]

From kmc33
Which was a little bit of a stress for me since my son wouldn't wipe himself.

ROTFLMAO - I thought I was the only one that had one of these!!!*whew*

Mine also has to get completely naked.....LOL

 

[ncligs]

Originally posted by Stimpy
He gets a sticker for peepee and 2 for BM.

 

[zbuddy]

I personally would be more concerned that my child would not be able to use the pools, rather than the kids clubs. I mean, he won't even know about the clubs unless you take him, but he WILL see that pool and want to be IN it.
You are a brave person to book a trip in the hopes that your small child will "maybe" get through toilet training in time for the cruise. What if your child doesn't train himself by then? Will the cruise be a miserable time if you can't let him swim?

Sorry to be negative...I just remember having one at that age that never seemed to do what I "thought" he'd do.

Hope it all works out for you!

zbuddy

 

[elemusing]

Yes- swim diapers are banned. They do have one Mickey ear open in the kids' pool for toddlers. It is more like a little fountain of water squirting up in the middle with less than 2 inches of water constantly flushing out the drain. There were lots of mommies sitting on the edge and babies playing in it when I was on the Wonder 3 weeks ago.

Angie

 

[crisi]

My daughter just mastered the whole thing at 3 years 9 months.

(This is a very smart little girl. But one who is amazingly stubborn and has a baby fetish. She doesn't want to be a "big girl" and is much happier as mommy's baby).

We tried stickers, m&ms and peeing for presents. We tried vinyl training pants and just letting her run around naked. We promised her a cruise and a trip to Disney (I knew I'd promised too much when my four year old told her "Mommy will buy you a yellow bug car (a VW Beetle) if you potty train"). We put her on the potty every half hour. We didn't bug her once for two weeks. We sang songs, watched potty movies, pushed peer pressure, We tried EVERYTHING.

You can't potty train a child - they need to decide its time. You just get to provide the motivation and instructions. If you get lucky and stickers work, its because your kid decided it was time (and stickers helped motivate). Its always the last thing that works.

I took her to the peditrician for pink eye and her doctor talked to her and set some rules. Only big girls wear underwear. Babies wear diapers - not pull ups but diapers. If she went potty she could wear underwear, but if she had an accident, it was back to a diaper until SHE decided to put the underwear back on. At the same time, Mom started talking about how she really didn't LIKE babies. We avoided babies. I didn't hold babies if my friends brought them over. I praised the big kids in the neighborhood and talked about how much fun I had with them.

We went through half a pack of diapers and it took about two weeks. But she did it. Boy did she throw a fit when the diapers went back on. Now whether the incentive was what did it, or it was time, or it was a combination of things, it was done.

So now I'm over here because NOW I feel I can start exploring the Disney cruise. Didn't want to do it until she was potty trained.

 

[Cruise]

Originally posted by Griggle

Mine also has to get completely naked.....LOL

Haha... we call my nephew "George Costanza" because he HAS to take off his shirt to use the bathroom... children are odd....

Julie

 

[aprilgail2]

I had finally had enough of diapers with my 3 year 4 month old and I tossed the remaining diapers up in the closet and told her that was it, I was out of diapers and didn't have money to buy any more that week so her response was "ok finethen I will just wear underpants" she had an accident that day because she forgot but not a single one since then!

 

[mobetsy]

Ds#1 never has been impressed by any sort of external motivation, like M&M's, and he got up one day at 3.5 and put on underwear...never looked back. Ds#2 is much more susceptible to the lure of stickers and the like, and we did that routine with him, but still he was 6 weeks past 3 and it took only a few days. No one approach works with every child, which makes it much harder on parents. Perhaps we are the ones who should get sticker charts and M&M's for each episode of successfully negotiating life with our kids

 

[Buckaroo's Dad]

No one approach works with every child, which makes it much harder on parents.

Very true, mobetsy.

I showed my son how to pee into the toilet and he eventually got it right. (He even said "Wow, Daddy, yours is BIG!" Gotta love it).

I showed my son how to poop into the toilet and he eventually got it right.

<Gulp> Any recommendations on the topic of sex...

 

[lruggiero]

Everyone can flame me, but I was the one that told my son last year that Mickey would not let him on the ship with diapers or pull ups. My suggestion is the same to you-it worked so well for me. If your son really wants to go....keep showing him the video and the brochure, now it's the summer and it will be easier since not too many bulky clothes.

Don't keep talking about the potty. Just keep showing the Disney stuff, then what I did was one day I took the paperwork that we had received and told him that Mickey sent us a letter and heard that he still wore diapers. I told him your not allowed on if your over 3 with diapers. He went right into the bathroom and I never used, M&M's or Cheerios or anything. He was 3 years and 4 months old and it definitely would have taken me longer if I didn't have the cruise to dangle over his head.

Good Luck

Lori

 

[ncligs]

Originally posted by Buckaroo's Dad
Very true, mobetsy.

I showed my son how to pee into the toilet and he eventually got it right. (He even said "Wow, Daddy, yours is BIG!"...

.........................

 

[crisi]

lori,

One question, what would you have done if that didn't work? I'm not flaming you, just wondering. We struggled for a year and a half with my daughter and I would have hated to leave her behind for a cruise or Disney trip (you can't just leave out food and water for them and have the neighbor stop by like you can with the cat), and would have hated to bring her along after telling her she couldn't (since she is a manipulative child at three, and would immediately call my bluff from then right through her teenage years. I love her dearly, and she can be the sweetest child in the world, but she has her faults - and stubborn and manupulative kind of sum them up).

In fact, I think the delay was in part because she would eventually get the thing bargained for regardless of potty training. So she didn't go on the potty, but eventually someone gives her candy (grandma). She got to move rooms in daycare (thanks daycare) even though she hadn't trained yet. That sort of inconsistancy didn't help her motivation, since what she learned was that the diaper didn't hold her back from getting what she wanted and Mom was bluffing.




Friends had their daughter train shortly after she turned four. And one of the daycare moms had her oldest train at four and a half! (A real type A mom too, you could see it driving her nuts). You seldom hear about late trainers (since everyone is eager to say "my eighteen month old trained in a day! and few people want to say "my four year old is still in diapers and if I push it too hard, she retailiates by smearing poop on the walls"), but they are out there. And despite what they say about girls training early, being a girl is no guarentee of trained by three.

I believe in potty karma. My cousin's first was a dream. Trained himself at two and she bragged. Her second trained at eighteen months and she readily gave advice on potty training to everyone - she was taking full credit for having two wonderful early trainers. Her third was a four year old poop smearer in diapers who seemed targeted on teaching her mom that, in potty training, pride goeth before the fall.