Saturday, July 26, 2008

All You Potty Training Veterans..HELP!

OK, we have been trying to potty train the kids for the last week or so(for the second or third time)and we are SO frustrated! Katelynn has taken to it pretty well. Emma is about half and half, but Michael is hardly interested at all. Once in a while things seem to be flowing (no pun intended), but then other times I feel like all I do is clean up wet & poopy underwear and wash clothes. I have never felt more incompetent than I do with this whole potty training thing.

We've done the 'candy when you go' thing, the 'diapers are only for bedtime' thing, and now we are trying the 'go swimming at the park if you go' thing. I don't want it to just turn into a game of bigger and bigger bribes as they get uninterested in the last one, but I'm getting to the end of my rope here. I've read a couple of books about it, but they both suggested doing a party sort of thing, and you spend all day just checking them over and over for dryness.
A) I don't have time for that. We are moving in a month or less.
B) I don't have the money to buy all these stupid toys and decorations and dolls
C) They suggest having the other siblings gone all day you are training. I don't want to make my sisters watch the kids all time time now that we are home from the hospital. Plus, we are going to Arizona for a week during which they will have to be watching the kids as well. And they have things they need to be doing, rather than just watch my kids everyday the whole summer.
D) I don't have the patience for all-day marathon sitting next to the toilet. Come on!

SO, those of you who have gone through this, or are going through it...HELP!! What worked for your kids, what didn't work, tips, etc. Please! I am desperate here!

5 comments:

  1. Xander didn't start potty training until he was 3 1/2. What worked for us was a sticker chart. I just used a big paper and drew lines to make boxes. Whenever he peed, he got a sticker, poop got 2. At the end of a few of the rows there were toys or a movie. When he filled the whole chart he got a party at Chuck E Cheeses. Granted it took a year for him to not have poop accidents, but now we are finally done!
    I wouldn't push Michael, if he doesn't want to, he won't. I would just gage it by each child. And if after a week nothing has changed, then maybe wait until after you move to try again.
    It definetly is a process. Don't give up.

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  2. I still don't know how my first two boys trained. I'm afraid I have no good advice for you, but I can commiserate. I tried lots of stuff with the boys, but nothing seemed to work. Eventually, the accidents lessen; don't stress out about it. I do think potty training multiples introduces tons more variables. With a move so close, I'd probably wait to focus on potty training after you've gotten settled in the new place. The stress of a major change can make kids long for the familiar, so they may resist potty training until there's a new "normal."

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  3. I'd vote for waiting too - with all that has gone on lately and is about to go on, you'll probably just have to do it again once you get settled after the move. All 3 girls had to retrain after their younger sibling was born and it was just a nightmare to have to start over again. For the most part, once they were ready, there was a look in their eyes one day, like a lightbulb goes on and they just get it. Until then, you are just training yourselves. I mean, show them how so they have the basics, but until they GET it, they won't GET it. lol.

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  4. I would wait until your moved and the kids are comfortable in your new place. Also talk to them about it make them know how proud you would be of them if they were to go potty in the toilet. Explain to them that they are getting too big for diapers and that diapers are for babies. And then when they do go make it a big deal by telling everyone (you know like Scott or the other sibs or call Grandparents). That has been the trick for my three boys I make it a big deal and tell them how happy I am of them. Then when they havent had an accident for about a week we go and let them choose a toy.

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  5. Potty training, in my opinion, is the hardest thing for me to deal with (do date- i can't wait for the teenagers!) What I've done is start a routine. First thing out of bed is take them right to the potty. Do morning and night(right before bed). After they get that down, add naps. After that, do in betweens. Once that is done, let them gauge it- just ask them all the time if they have to go potty. If things stressful, or they revert, back off. I don't buy the potty training diapers, they hold like a diaper, so what's the point. If you're washing undies so much, I'd maybe go back to diapers. Charts are great- like the first comment a lot. Good luck- I'm working with my little guy too, but I only have one-not three!!

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