Venting about potty training...

Dana - posted on 12/29/2009

I agree Julia!If the parent wants their child to be broke of something,Than parents you have to do the hard work & teach your child what to do,how to do it,& stick to it,teach your child,thats one of the resons why we are parents to teach our child how to learn.A child should be out of diapers & able to learn responsibility with goin to the potty & its a sign of growth!A child should be without a pacifier because it can/will damage there teeth & make problems with there speech!I've got 3 children,A 7,3, & 2 year old all 3 that I potty trained within a months time at age 2 years old.All 3 of my children got off the pacifier at 15 months,with me & the child takin it & feedin it to the dog & they never cryed for it.Everything can be done with work!

Crystal - posted on 12/26/2009

My child is 3 and a half years and only potty trained now. I've been potty training since age 2 and it's been very trying for me and hubby because we thought this would be quickly over but it just didn't work out that way. I mean, we put on the big girl panties but it was constant accidents. She's ahead in a lot of areas like word and number recognition, counting items, colours etc at age 2 and walking since 10 months and jungle gyming at 1 but oi, the potty training was forever!!! I aint a hippie and had to accept that she was taking longer than every one to use the toilet. It took team effort to get this girl to use the bathroom. LOL Hope you are winning and good to vent!!! It will happen.

Maire - posted on 12/21/2009

Amen! My son, now 3, was showing an interest in thge potty at 1, but i stupidly listened to Grandma and others who said he was too young. By the time he was 2, I had just had another baby and was dealing with digression from my first. I buckled down and potty trained him in a month! If I can do it, anyone can do it! My son was potty trained before his 3rd birthday.

Julia - posted on 12/21/2009

Quoting Dawn:

Ladies, sometimes it is just not that simple. Perhaps it would be best to keep in mind that every child is different and that your personal experience is not the ONLY valid experience.

My son was very simple to potty train and took all of a week...but my daughter was a nightmare and about 3.5 years old before she was really, truly, fully potty-trained without having multiple accidents a day. And it was NOT from lack of trying on our part or laziness. She was also 3 years old before we insisted she give up her pacifier. She only used it at bedtime for a few minutes to fall asleep, but she is a very oral child (and I'm not just saying this!) and sometimes there are bigger, more important issues to deal with while raising a child.

It is easy to decide that you know how to raise a child...but keep in mind that you may know how to raise YOUR child and that every child is different, unique and special.

You want to talk about bigger more important issues?  How about when I potty trained my daughter I as ACTIVE duty Army, sent home early from Iraq because I was pregnant with my second daughter, the father of my second daughter was deployed and Infantry so I only got to talk to him every couple of days praying in between that he wasn't dead, my ex husband was one of those hippies that wanted to wait until she was ready, he lived with his mother who was the same way and I had to fight with him to get on board with me and training her in a way that would work.  And my one daughter IS NOT my ONLY VALID EXPERIENCE!  I am the youngest of 5 children, I am the Aunt to 15, Great Aunt to 3!  I have watched and helped potty train at least 6 of those kids.  ALL AT THE AGE OF 2!  What I am saying is that it CAN BE DONE!  Oh and the pacifier, in my 18 days that I was home from Iraq I broke my daughter of that habit as well who only used it at bedtime.  So what I am saying is if you want the potty training to be done it can be you just have to set your mind to it. 

PS My daughter was potty trained with me not seeing her from 0530 to 1730 everyday.  So don't tell me how difficult it can be.

@ Lizelle, By the way I understand what you are saying about the day care situation.  I luckily had my daughter in an at home day care and the woman taking care of her understood and worked with me.  But that was only when I had her, my ex and I switched off weekly with custody of her, when she was with him his mother took care of her and would put her in diapers all day.  So finally after about 2 weeks of me having her and trying and getting set back every time she would come back after being over her fathers house I had it out with him....a 2 hour argument over the phone telling him that we needed to be doing the same things to have the training work.  After that it was a cinch!

Michelle - posted on 12/21/2009

I agree with a bit of what evryone has written on the subject of potty training and that every child is different. When my son was 6 months old and could sit up unaided I introduced the potty to him. He would sit on the potty, sometimes with nappy, sometimes without,I would out his toybox inf ront of him and he would pull his toys out and I'd put them back in again. This was purely so he got used to the idea of sitting on a potty. If he did do something whilst he had no nappy I clapped and praised him. Once he could crawl he had no interest in it at all but the potty was always around. He had basically trained himself by the time he was 15 months old, obviously with accidents, but the bulk of it was there. Whatever happens you have to stick with it and remember children love praise and rewards!!!!!!

Lizelle - posted on 12/21/2009

I too agree that children should get potty trained by the age of 2 but try and explain that to a full-time daycare when you are a working mother. The one time I tried to train him over a long weekend but it didn't quite work because there was simply not enough time and the daycare wasn't prepared to carry on and work with me to get it done. They were wining on about children having to be ready for it and training nappies, which I don't quite believe in, and would defy the whole purpose of getting off the nappies in the first place. I think it was just plain lazyness on the daycare's side.
My son is just over 3 years old now and I believe I'm having a much harder time with him now than I would've had if it was done by 2. It is only now that I don't have to work anymore that I finally have the time to train him. He is a very strong-willed little boy.
No child is just miraculously going to be ready to go to the potty by themselves, like the childcare "professionals" seem to think, they have to be trained and it is not easy!

Dawn - posted on 12/20/2009

Ladies, sometimes it is just not that simple. Perhaps it would be best to keep in mind that every child is different and that your personal experience is not the ONLY valid experience.

My son was very simple to potty train and took all of a week...but my daughter was a nightmare and about 3.5 years old before she was really, truly, fully potty-trained without having multiple accidents a day. And it was NOT from lack of trying on our part or laziness. She was also 3 years old before we insisted she give up her pacifier. She only used it at bedtime for a few minutes to fall asleep, but she is a very oral child (and I'm not just saying this!) and sometimes there are bigger, more important issues to deal with while raising a child.

It is easy to decide that you know how to raise a child...but keep in mind that you may know how to raise YOUR child and that every child is different, unique and special.

Rickita - posted on 12/20/2009

well i do agree with that but i am having a hard time with my 3 year old son. Now he was tested as having a developmental delay ( learning disability) so what shall i do. Do you think that has anything to do with it or maybe he is just being very stubborn?

Julia - posted on 12/18/2009

I know the excuses get tiresome! I read on one of these posts about a mother who didn't have her son potty trained until his first day of kindergarten!!!!!! That is just ridiculous and LAZY!!!!!!! I can't believe there are people in the world who would actually do that to your child!!! In my opinion that is a form of child neglect!

Jamie - posted on 12/18/2009

I have to agree with you on this one. My son was potty trained at 2 1/2 (dr. didn't recommend me do it so soon, whatever). It seriously only took 3 days. Of course we have had accidents. We went straight from diapers to underwear. Once when he was sick and had diarrhea (sp.), he cried more because he had to put on a pull up than him being sick. I am sure there are cases where the kids are defiant and wont do it, but give me a break on the excuses.