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On page 44 of the new issue, Annette Crosiar addresses Toilet Training. It's a great article and even though I have been through this once before I love getting another mom's take on it. My daughter is in the process of potty training, looking back to when I was training my son. . . wow, did I feel overwhelmed.
He was just not into it. Part of that was readiness and part of it was that I was honestly clueless about how to make it fun for him and create an environment where he could succeed. Thought I had everything I needed. . . a little potty that I picked out at the store, a motherload of encouragement, and a little kid who I thought was big enough. And I failed. Again and again.
Off to the library we went to check out toilet training videos, four books filled with tips and tricks, including one about elimination communication or as I like to think of it the X-treme sports version of toilet training and finally I turned to friends and family for advice.
We ended up using a combination of techniques and tried out a reward system. Pee in the potty and get one M&M, Poop in the potty and the reward is two M&Ms! When he was able to do the whole doo-doo on his own, including wiping, flushing and washing his hands - when he finally really had a handle on it all, we gave him a remote controlled car. Some of you may call it bribery and I say to you, ok. You are probably right but it worked.
My daughter is simply, more motivated. She wants to be like all the other people in the house. But I am smarter this go around, too. She chose her potty at the store and as far as using the thing. . . she was genuinely excited about it. In fact saying, "Peeing in the froggy-potty is my favorite game!" If she wants to wear a diaper, I let her and I don't feel like a failure. Fingers crossed that it all keeps going in that direction.
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