Comments on: Pardon me while I feel sorry for myself

By: Amelia Sprout

Amelia Sprout — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 04:11:12 +0000

We gave M the choice of the potty in those situations, but setup bribes BEFORE she had to go for going in the potty. For us, on the potty bribes never worked, just the ones we built up for.

By: Penny

Penny — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 02:35:56 +0000

Ooooh, yea. Not looking forward to the day that my daughter starts asking the Coral question.

By: firegirl

firegirl — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 23:36:09 +0000

Delurking to say:
Potty training is sucky. whine all you want.
Love the therapy journal, now that’s funny.

In my old job, we helped many a parent off the potty training ledge. Consistency is the key. Like Amber said, take a long weekend and do nothing else. However, be consistent with when/where/how/why so she knows what to expect each time.

Also, she sounds like she’s a smarty who is going to out-think you at any chance. (:-D Lucky you.

Oh, and if you do the reward kind of potty training, it is an unspoken rule that Mommy gets a reward too. hahahhaa

By: Marie Green

Marie Green — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 23:14:55 +0000

I think, along with the therapy fund, we should all keep journals for the future therapists. It will save us cash in the long run, because the therapist can just look through all the neatly-dated fuck-up we put our kids through and get right down to business. Example, for today you could write: “Dec 3 2009:Tried to make Maddie poop on the potty while she wailed and begged for a diaper. Later explained death to her.”

My own children’s journals neatly chronicle all the times they’ve walked in on us having sex, among other things.

By: Amber

Amber — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 20:17:08 +0000

When I potty trained my two, all they wore was a shirt. No pull-up pants or diaper or anything. Just bare bottomed. I had them sit on the potty every chance I could, lol. I think a couple of times it came out on the floor and they were surprised but I just said next time we’ll do it in the potty. And they got pretty excited about that. Took one long weekend each time; we didn’t go anywhere, just stayed home doing Naked Time until they figured it out. But they were two, not three, and they didn’t have a history of not liking the process. Still, it might be worth a try, maybe? Just a thought! Trying to be helpful here. Every child is different. Regardless, she’ll figure it out eventually.

By: Jana

Jana — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 18:45:05 +0000

When Syd (now 6) potty trained, she got the pee part down pretty quickly, but I remember that it took about a month for her to get over the whole poo thing. She’d wait for a diaper (nap time, bed time) or just hold it in so that she got constipated, it hurt when it finally did come out and then she was even more scared. Sucked big time. We just had to wait it out and bring her in there with us when we pooped (so gross – never thought I’d do a little dance and get excited about my own poop). Now Liam? One huge battle – poo and pee. I’m beyond frustrated with him. But that’s another story.

By: Sarah

Sarah — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 17:03:49 +0000

Ha ha ha! I am totally waiting to actively train Eli until he’s like, headed for kindergarten.
No, seriously, pooping is scary. I totally remember that the whole family had to join in on helping my youngest sister overcome her fear of pooping on the potty. No joke- we’d all INVITE HER TO JOIN US while we went, and then rave on and on about how much BETTER we felt now!
And she still ended up having to be bribed with quarters.

By: Fiona Picklebottom

Fiona Picklebottom — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 15:45:47 +0000

Sounds like she’s not quite ready for the potty. Don’t sweat it; it’s really not a big deal. She’ll do it when she’s ready or when the reward overcomes the fear. For one of mine, it was telling her that the preschool had a rule that the kids in the three’s class had to go on the potty. She really really wanted to go to preschool, so she started going on the potty. For another, once she showed an interest in the potty and it was obvious she had bladder control (as it seems Maddie does), we used M&Ms. The others I don’t remember, but in any case, they all eventually did it. I subscribe to the whatever works philosophy along with the whenever they pretty much do it themselves with minimal effort on my part philosophy. I do think, however, that if you really want her to do it, an external reason (like the preschool one) helps a lot. Then it becomes less about who’s in control (unfortunately potty training tends to happen right around when toddlers are becoming mini control freaks) and more about doing it to accomplish a desired goal. Good luck!

By: bitchy mcbitchesalot

bitchy mcbitchesalot — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 15:43:10 +0000

I have no advice because I’m not even trying yet. But I’m thinking of you.

By: Shelly

Shelly — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 15:42:58 +0000

Pooping is SCARY. I don’t have any idea how to make it not be. Smooches!!