Sunday, July 31, 2011

On potty training


In the midst of potty training there is always a moment when you feel like it is never going to happen, this child will never learn this new skill.  What you need is a little perspective.  I remember when I was potty training Kylynn and I had been cleaning poop out of underwear for two weeks asking my bible study group to pray for me and for her to get through this stage.  The leader of the group turned to me and gently told me that everything was going to be okay, Kylynn would learn this skill, she would not still be wearing diapers when she went off to kindergarten.  Which was of course my fear: that this stage of my life would never move forward that I would be stuck potty training forever.


So it was when Jack was walking around the house in his 12th pair of underwear in week three of potty training that I decided I needed some perspective, I needed someone to tell me everything was going to be okay.  I needed someone who could look in from the outside and give me some advice.


I called my friend who as a special needs pre-school teacher has potty trained many children, she is as far as I'm concerned a potty training expert.  I told her what I was doing and how it was (obviously) not working.  She gave me a new plan: set a timer for 10 minutes, every 10 minutes reward Jack for dry underwear (since that was our problem) with candy (don't forget you can cut up one piece of candy into four pieces), repeat until he's got it down.   Then move onto setting the timer for 30 minutes, and so on.


After only a couple of days he had an accident free day, earning a trip to the "movie eater" to see Cars 2.  After a couple more weeks we're down to having about one to two accidents a week.  Suddenly life is normal again, my baby boy is potty trained, he's not going to get kicked out of pre-school, I'm not going to lose my mind, and I've never been more grateful for a friend like her.

5 comments:

everythingismeowsome said...

Way to go, Jack! We were lucky with potty training at our house. Matthew came home trained and Isaac followed suit quickly. But there are so many different phases of parenting that make you feel like you really, really are never going to get past them. Glad you made it past this hump!

Walsh Family said...

Great job Jack! and mommy :D :D :D

Yvonne said...

I have been following your blog for awhile - I think I got her from Elizabeth's blog. Anyway, I am trying to potty train my youngest with mixed success and this idea is awesome. I will be trying this one!

TheLudlows said...

Yay Jack and mommy!!!!

Blogging at Tiffany's said...

Aww, yay! Go Jack! My son is almost 2 and I am dreading the potty training stage!