Potty training

[bartleby1]

I totally agree. I told my 25mo. old "you are going to use the potty like a big boy" and that was that. No diapers, no pull-ups, and he only had one accident. I used to be a pre-school teacher and my one pet peeve was we would work so hard all week potty training these kids, and I guess on the weekends the parents diddnt want to be bothered because on Mondays we would have to start all over again. Consistency is also key, I would set the timer on the microwave for every 15min. and as soon as it would go off, my son would sit on the potty, if he went we would set it for 20-30min. if not, it would be set for 10min. and it really worked! he got so the second that timer went off he was running to the potty.

I'm curious how long did you find that you would need to use the timer before they "got" it and learned to go on their own. My kids are all trained (well, except nighttime for my 2 yr old) so it won't help me, but it sounds like an interesting method. I've heard of the 15 min thing, but never about extending it if they succeed and shortening it if they don't.

I realize that some kids learn quicker than others, but on average, how long did you find it took to train kids this way?

BTW, my girlfriend had the same experience with her first DS as you did with yours. She told him one morning that today they were going to learn how to use the potty and that he was not going to use diapers anymore. He was a little over 2 at the time. He had 3 accidents over the next two days and was fully trained. At the time, she couldn't understand what all the fuss was over potty training since it was so easy for her son. My oldest was fairly easy to train as well so we had a few conversations about how easy it was. Well, fast forward a few years to her second DS and my DS (they were born one day apart). The two of us were pulling our hair out trying to train the two of them for preschool! We tried it all, read every book we could find, and NOTHING was working and the boys could not care in the least. Amazingly, both of them daytrained within a week or so of each other and didn't night train until around 4-1/2 but did so within a few weeks of each other. We also each have 2 year old DD's who both almost trained themselves. After such a horrible time trying to train our DS's, we both agreed that it was a whole lot easier to wait on our youngest. However, our youngest DD's both decided they weren't going to wait and they just about trained themselves, lol!

If I never had my middle child, I would not understand at all why some people find potty training so difficult and would assume that they were just not "laying down the law" or taking charge. However, my second child sure made me realize that it is not so easy with some children.

 

[toesmom]

I'm curious how long did you find that you would need to use the timer before they "got" it and learned to go on their own. My kids are all trained (well, except nighttime for my 2 yr old) so it won't help me, but it sounds like an interesting method. I've heard of the 15 min thing, but never about extending it if they succeed and shortening it if they don't.

I realize that some kids learn quicker than others, but on average, how long did you find it took to train kids this way?

BTW, my girlfriend had the same experience with her first DS as you did with yours. She told him one morning that today they were going to learn how to use the potty and that he was not going to use diapers anymore. He was a little over 2 at the time. He had 3 accidents over the next two days and was fully trained. At the time, she couldn't understand what all the fuss was over potty training since it was so easy for her son. My oldest was fairly easy to train as well so we had a few conversations about how easy it was. Well, fast forward a few years to her second DS and my DS (they were born one day apart). The two of us were pulling our hair out trying to train the two of them for preschool! We tried it all, read every book we could find, and NOTHING was working and the boys could not care in the least. Amazingly, both of them daytrained within a week or so of each other and didn't night train until around 4-1/2 but did so within a few weeks of each other. We also each have 2 year old DD's who both almost trained themselves. After such a horrible time trying to train our DS's, we both agreed that it was a whole lot easier to wait on our youngest. However, our youngest DD's both decided they weren't going to wait and they just about trained themselves, lol!

If I never had my middle child, I would not understand at all why some people find potty training so difficult and would assume that they were just not "laying down the law" or taking charge. However, my second child sure made me realize that it is not so easy with some children.

Thanks, at least I know it's not just my ds who is like that.

 

[nemonoah]

I'm curious how long did you find that you would need to use the timer before they "got" it and learned to go on their own. My kids are all trained (well, except nighttime for my 2 yr old) so it won't help me, but it sounds like an interesting method. I've heard of the 15 min thing, but never about extending it if they succeed and shortening it if they don't.

I realize that some kids learn quicker than others, but on average, how long did you find it took to train kids this way?

BTW, my girlfriend had the same experience with her first DS as you did with yours. She told him one morning that today they were going to learn how to use the potty and that he was not going to use diapers anymore. He was a little over 2 at the time. He had 3 accidents over the next two days and was fully trained. At the time, she couldn't understand what all the fuss was over potty training since it was so easy for her son. My oldest was fairly easy to train as well so we had a few conversations about how easy it was. Well, fast forward a few years to her second DS and my DS (they were born one day apart). The two of us were pulling our hair out trying to train the two of them for preschool! We tried it all, read every book we could find, and NOTHING was working and the boys could not care in the least. Amazingly, both of them daytrained within a week or so of each other and didn't night train until around 4-1/2 but did so within a few weeks of each other. We also each have 2 year old DD's who both almost trained themselves. After such a horrible time trying to train our DS's, we both agreed that it was a whole lot easier to wait on our youngest. However, our youngest DD's both decided they weren't going to wait and they just about trained themselves, lol!

If I never had my middle child, I would not understand at all why some people find potty training so difficult and would assume that they were just not "laying down the law" or taking charge. However, my second child sure made me realize that it is not so easy with some children.

It took about 2 days before he knew that the timer meant that it was time to go potty, and I also would reward him with candy corn when he went. I know alot of these experts say not to reward them for going, but I feel that thats a major accomplishment and that they should be rewarded. I kept him in those nightime pull-ups for awhile before I was brave enough to let him go without, and he never had one accident at night. When I worked at the pre-school those kids were so hard to train, I thought it was going to be the hardest thing in the world,when DS was old enough, but all in all it only took about a week or so for him to be completely done. I think the best thing I could of done was start on a Saturday morning, and by Monday morning he was almost done.I really do think that consistencey is key, the minute that timer goes off set them on the potty. I know this may sound horrible, but it's a little like Pavlov's dogs

 

[Tikicampers]

If I never had my middle child, I would not understand at all why some people find potty training so difficult and would assume that they were just not "laying down the law" or taking charge. However, my second child sure made me realize that it is not so easy with some children.

Glad to have someone who has seen both sides. I think people who had a fairly easy time training their child assume that it was all in their method. I think the method used does play a part, but sometimes a child is just not ready. We used the same method my aunt used to train my cousin. She trained in days, and was not quite two at the time. I was her part time nanny, so I was very involved in this. I tried the same method with DS, and it didn't work at all. After a couple of tries with nothing happening, he became frustrated. He knew what I wanted him to do, but couldn't make it happen. I hadn't considered that with his personality, trying and not being able to go would backfire. We let him train at his own pace, which suits his personality better. And the end result is the same. Both kids are now fully trained.
All kids are different, some kids are not ready to train before 3. The preschool DS goes to knows this. He was not trained at the end of the year, and they said nothing about it to us. If it were a requirement for next year, they would have mentioned it.