# Potty training?



## Puritan Sailor (Jan 11, 2005)

OK. This may be a silly question to ask, but anyone got any pointers on potty training? My first born 3 yr old boy is rather stubborn. He can go on the toilet but doesn't like to do it. We keep trying to encourage him when he does it right, but then the rest of the day he's back to hiding and letting loose. Then he tells us later on he's wet. 

John V, you had 11, you gotta have some pointers on this!


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## LadyFlynt (Jan 11, 2005)

not silly and depends on if your wife stays home.

I stay home and so here's my personal method (laugh now...you'll be rolling later)

I have them run without pants...if a girl, np...they wear dresses...if a boy, an oversized shirt.

Keep one or two potty chairs around. I used to keep one in the bath and one in the living room (in a secluded corner). Since I was home I could empty it right away.


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## ANT (Jan 11, 2005)

With my 2 youngest boys, I pretty much trained them the same way you would a puppy. (I know that sounds bad, but really, It's not.) 

I would take them to the bathroom and remove their diaper every time I noticed I hadn't changed them for a while. Most of the time I caught them before they went potty (sounds funny using that word on PB  ) Then I would tell/ask them to try to go. Most of the time it worked. It's just a matter of being consistant (just like a puppy - every 15 to 20 minutes.) Except with the children you can wait for longer intervals of time (depending on how much they have been drinking.)

Just my 



[Edited on 1-12-2005 by ANT]


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## ChristianasJourney (Jan 11, 2005)

I have a friend who has 10 children and she did follow Lady Flynts method for one. She had him running around in a long t-shirt without anything on underneath. 

Personally, it sounds like you ds knows what to do, it's just that he gets distracted (or doesn't like to as you say.) Personally, I'd do it like a puppy too.  Twenty minutes after they had something to drink or eat I'd take them to the bathroom. Every couple of hours I'd sit them on the toilet. Until they got used to being dry. I'd also discipline him when he "chose" not to tell me that he needed to go.

FYI - I really am an expert on child training...but I'm not an expert at all on potty training.



[Edited on 12-1-2005 by ChristianasJourney]


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## Augusta (Jan 12, 2005)

I did the book "*Toilet training in less than a day*" with all of my children even my autistic son. It really works. The only child it took more than a day with was my youngest daughter. She knew just what to do but didn't want to. I relented with her because she was getting a horrible rash. Once she decided she wanted to be like her older siblings she just stopped going in her pants. She remembered everything from the potty training day and just started going. It works really well with young children and disabled adults or children.

With a three year old boy like you have I think Lady Flynt's idea of no pants is a great one. I hadn't heard of that one but it's genius.


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## govols (Jan 12, 2005)

> _Originally posted by ANT_
> With my 2 youngest boys, I pretty much trained them the same way you would a puppy. (I know that sounds bad, but really, It's not.)



You would actually rub your child's nose in the spot (accident) on the floor and swat them with a rolled up newspaper??

Oh, the humanity.


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## govols (Jan 12, 2005)

My wife and I too let our 3 children run around in long shirts for the boys and a dress, per se, for our girl.

My oldest son still has accidents at night sometimes, even when we limit his drinking before bed and have him go to the bathroom right before bed. He is such a heavy sleeper. You can actually hold him upside down and it will take a while for him to wake up.

For boys, pouring warm water where you need to while they are sitting on the potty helps with the sensation of going to the bathroom.


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## JohnV (Jan 12, 2005)

> John V, you had 11, you gotta have some pointers on this!



Right now I have teenagers, and I need aimers, not pointers. 

What we did, (mostly my wife) was to note carefully the regularity of each child. They did not all potty train at once, but rather one at a time. So keeping a clock on them each is quite easy. This way you know about what time they usually go. That means keeping a regular routine in the house yourself so that the children go by that for themselves. If you can pinpoint the time to the nearest half hour you're doing great, but usually its the nearest 3/4 to 1 hour each way. Put them on the pot during that time, and watch for results. But if you don't get results within, say, an hour and a half, don't push it more than that. That would work against your plan. But make their time on the pot interesting, not drudgery. A puzzle, or a book, or some toys, will keep them occupied for a while. Then they need something new added to the mix. 

When they do it, praise them and reward them. I even gave my first one her own potty chair, hand made by me, as her own personal "throne". She thought it the greatest thing; at least for as long as we needed her to. 

If they're not ready, they're not ready. But boys are security conscious. They like things the way they are, and don't like change. So you have to be a little more diplomatic with them. No, I didn't say "lie", I said "be diplomatic": there's a difference, you know. You have to re-form their security onto in-between things, and work them over into the things you want them to do. 

My one son refused to walk, though he surely had the capabilities and strength. So I manipulated, I mean diplomatized his security onto a set of supports, with which I walked him around the room. He loved it, and looked forward to it each time. One day he noticed that he was the only one holding the supports, not his father. By then his security was in his walking, no longer in his crawling. So he adapted to that rather quickly, and became a very walkative boy. 

I used the same stragedy for his potty training later on. (Stragedy is strategy that doesn't work, or even backfires. Kind of like 
"confuscation" being purposeful obfuscation. ) In this case, it worked. We used the time approach, and gave him things to do that really interested him. For him is was time with me, and looking at farm machinery books and brochures. So I got a bunch of them. It took his mind off what we really wanted him to do, and made it easier to get results. When we got them, he got to keep his favourite book or brochure as his own. Eventually they were all his. Too bad, I like them too, and I was already trained.


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## ANT (Jan 12, 2005)

> _Originally posted by govols_
> 
> 
> > _Originally posted by ANT_
> ...




No, Of course I never rubbed their nose in the spot (accident) on the floor. 
Nor did I ever swat them with rolled up newspaper. 

Everyone knows puppys respond better to praise than punishment, and so do children. So, in a stern but loving voice, I would say "No" then rush them out to the back yard to finish their "potty" in the back yard.

    

J/K


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## govols (Jan 12, 2005)

> _Originally posted by ANT_
> 
> Everyone knows puppys respond better to praise than punishment, and so do children. So, in a stern but loving voice, I would say "No" then rush them out to the back yard to finish their "potty" in the back yard.
> 
> ...



That's how I learned. Aim for the dog son, said my dad. Still get the urge.


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## Scott Bushey (Jan 12, 2005)




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## VirginiaHuguenot (Jan 12, 2005)

Our family is going through this too! 

[Edited on 12-1-2005 by VirginiaHuguenot]


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## fredtgreco (Jan 12, 2005)

I'm firmly convinced that the desire of the child to be potty trained has a huge effect. Our third boy started later than the other two, even though we started sooner with him, did the no pants thing, took him to the bathroom constantly etc. Then one day, he seemed to decide it was time (after a few weeks of struggle) and he was trained within 2 days.


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## Puritan Sailor (Jan 12, 2005)

Well, we're trying the no pants thing today. So far, he's shown improvement, though he has christened the kitchen floor once. We'll keep trying.


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## LadyFlynt (Jan 12, 2005)

lol! That is to be expected...


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## VirginiaHuguenot (Jan 12, 2005)

> _Originally posted by puritansailor_
> Well, we're trying the no pants thing today. So far, he's shown improvement, though he has christened the kitchen floor once. We'll keep trying.



I hope it was just a sprinkling and not a full immersion!


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## Augusta (Jan 12, 2005)

> _Originally posted by VirginiaHuguenot_
> 
> 
> > _Originally posted by puritansailor_
> ...



He is a presbyterian child after all. 


Scott, is there a larger version of th potty picture. It looks like there is writing on the toilet. I can't make it out. Very scary by the way.


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## Scott Bushey (Jan 12, 2005)

Traci,
I don't know; I really do not want to know what is written below that toilet!


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## Augusta (Jan 12, 2005)

You are probably right, I think we are better off not knowing.


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## JohnV (Jan 12, 2005)

I know: Veni Vedi Veci, or something like that.


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