I was sooo happy when my 2-and-a-half year old was trained. Who would have thought that “daddy, I have to go poo” could be such sweet, sweet music?
Now, at 3, he’s at the stage where he pushed mommy and daddy out of the bathroom to do his business in private.
Really, it increases your shared quality of life 100%.
I think the really difficult part of training, for us at least, was this: saying ‘no more safety of the diaper - he’s going with underwear in our house, accidents be damned’. Without taking that risk (and putting up with the occasional clean-up of a mess), I think training would take a lot longer.
Thank goodness he wasn’t resistant - some kids are, I know.
You’ll probably notice the clues when it’s time. Each kid is a little different, but there will be obvious signs if you’re paying attention. As a general rule girls tend to be ready earlier than boys. I trained my son at 26 months old. One key thing for potty-training is consistency. I used the exact same words each time to ask if he needed to go, and/or to encourage him to at least try to go. If you’re with the kid all day for a few days in a row it’s much easier to be consistent, because the other parent, or the daycare workers will invariably use different words, or a different tone, and that makes it more confusing for the kid.
Also, whenever mine was successful at using the potty there was a huge wham-bang celebration. His mommy (me) was super impressed, clapped wildly, said “YAY!!!” and “GOOD JOB!!!” a lot, high-fived, jumped up and down, the whole shebang. He wanted to go more, and be successful, just to see me celebrate him again. He really had fun with it, and felt very impressed with himself. Still it took at least 10 loonnnnng days. That’s actually relatively short, but it seems long when you are the only one training, and you have to keep at it and be consistent for 10 long days. But after those 10 days we were home free.
Also, take any mishaps as no big thing, show no disappointment, just matter-of-fact, ho-hum, no biggie. Then make a big show of the success.
And do NOT flush it, especially in the first few days, at least not while they are still in the room. Those wee ones are VERY emotionally attached to their poopie. It’s their personal and most precious creation. Wait a while until they’ve forgotten about it. I forgot one time and absentmindedly flushed it out of habit. There was the look of horror and lots of tears that time. He genuinely thought I had flushed a part of him down the toilet.
After 2 weeks of celebrating the poopie I was ready to stop. But he kept at it, peeing and pooping and clapping and yay-ing, for himself every time he did it. Although he did seem confused and disappointed when he noticed I had stopped joining in so much.
Well, now that you ask;
Has anyone else ever noticed that when you gotta piss (men don’t pee) and you’re out and about, you can usually hold it okay. But upon arrival at your front door you gotta go NOW. Nothing else matters but to get to the throne.
And I have no idea why it happens, but it’s annoying the hell out of me. Am I so relieved to get home that I have to relieve myself? Is there someone stomping on my bladder with both feet? I dunno. Emotions and physiology are just a very weird mix. Well, it’s nice to know I’m not the only.
Oh, but then you must be doing it all wrong. First you have to spend a couple of years dropping a stinkin’ load into a diaper, that someone else has to clean up. Then when you start using the potty the clean-up person will celebrate, guaranteed.
Of course the celebrations are likely to die down once the novelty wears off. In that case you’ll have to start the process all over again. maybe every few years.
Is your daughter by any chance angry with me? Because she may be trying to kill me.
I was lying on my back the other day with the laptop on my stomach, and when I read that little story, I just cracked up. Which, since I’ve got a respiratory infection, led to a coughing fit, which expelled a huge wad of lung ick. Which, given my position, immediately flopped back across my airway. I couldn’t breathe, and for a few seconds, I honestly thought I was going to die.
And then, today I was telling someone about that incident, and goddamn if the same thing didn’t happen again.
Frankly, I’d prefer it if she and I could talk these things out instead of resorting to such violence.
Nine kids! Don’t see that much anymore. Wow!
BTW; I was curious about the weather there. Here’s what I got for Twin Cities Minnesota.
Fess up. You live on Mars, doncha?
