Linking up with This Ain't the Lyceum for 7 Quick Takes.
Yeah, I know I said I was going to talk more about our Texas travels today, but I had the *brilliant* idea to potty train my 2 year old once we got back from this trip and now I really need to talk about why potty training is the WORST.
1
It's Not Intuitive
Nearly every milestone of sorts in these early years involve working with some sort of instinct. Barring some other issue, the kid is pre-programmed to walk, crawl, hop at some point. Pee in a potty? Not a given.
2
So Many Steps!
Have you thought about how complicated it actually is to use a toilet? How to sit and not fall in, how to wipe, how to flush, how to pull down your own pants...so many things to express to a toddler!
3
Clothing Becomes the Enemy
Deciding to potty train in winter was a stupid plan. Stupid plan, past Kirby!
Now I have to figure out how to keep her warm enough AND simple enough clothing to make for easy removal.
4
Overthinking, overthinking everything!
How much water should she have? Is using a pull up going to make it easier or just prolong it? When do we give up and try again later?
It's my blackhole of parenting thoughts.
5
To night train now or wait until a mythical "later"?
Part of me thinks it's easier to do it all in one go, but I also suspect this kid sleeps like a rock and just wouldn't care to get up.
She's a teenager in a two year old body.
6
Being. Stuck. In. The. House.
Hands down the worst part. You see, we live in a little 2 bedroom apartment. Leaving is not just a goal to have or a nice thing to do, it's a mental health necessity. When we get outside, even for just 30 minutes, everyone is in a better mood, eats better, naps better - it's a good thing.
Not leaving is ok for a day, maybe two, but by day three everyone is getting less cooperative.
This is why I'll probably never do a three days or bust potty training thing. I've only got two days at a time in me!
7
I actually don't mind diapers
Yes we cloth diaper, but we have a diaper service to help with the washing and it really doesn't slow me down to change diapers. I think if I hated diapers more it would be far more of an incentive for me to suck it up through potty training.
She WILL eventually train, because they (generally) do, but I hate the process.
With a passion.
I'll probably never write a post about how to potty train and how easy it is, because it's not, but if you're also walking through the fire of potty training I'll have some coffee and a glass of whatever you're having. Unless it's vodka. Then no.
Got some awesome potty training tips? I'm all ears! Just not the three days or bust thing (because, see above.)
Heh. I have *no* advice for this issue! I took the route that I was going to follow my son's lead. He likes to do everything perfectly before he shows anyone he can do it. So, knowing that, if he expressed wanting to go, I'd encourage it. We had naked-days, we had the potty in the living room, we had books, etc.
ReplyDeleteI didn't push it. A week after he turned 4, he said he wanted to go potty in the potty chair, did it on his own, and has been potty trained since. We still put him in pull-ups at nighttime, but even thiugh, he still gets up to go potty in the middle of the night.
Best of luck to you!! (I'm dreading the second round of "doing it on my terms" my daughter displays!)
My son was very easy in large part because he loves rules and structure - tell him the plan or explain the finished product and he will carry out the plan!
DeleteMy daughter is way more distractible, and struggles with stopping what she is doing to go to the potty. I'll give it maybe another day or two than I might wimp out until it warms up a bit!
I've come to the conclusion that some kids are easy to train and some are pre-programmed to not care about diapers/pee/messes at all. None of my kids were ready much before 3 yrs old. And any earlier attempts were mild to spectacular failures. I still don't understand how a parent is supposed to "train" anyone about their personal inside bladder.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't worry about night time - for my kids, once they had daytime down pat, and knew what their body signals meant, then night time was easy - they were in charge of it. (Except for two - but their bodies weren't able to handle all night until 5+ yrs - but that's a physiological problem, not an obedience or training issue. So we just used pullups at night or washed sheets inthe morning, whatever the kid preferred.)
So I feel your pain - I hope it gets easier.
My first essentially night trained himself at 3. I just kind of rolled with it.
DeleteI think I'm going to hold off on it for this one until she's at least better about daytime training.
Ugh. I have no advice. Nothing worked for our Moe. Schedules, bribes, timers-- the only thing we didn't officially try was letting him just run around outside naked until he figured it out. Eventually we just gave up and a couple months later he kind of just did it all at once. \_('~')_/
ReplyDeleteI feel like that's probably what's going to happen here. I think big brother is more excited for her to train than she is. She DOES want those big girl panties though, so there is some incentive there.
DeleteWhen I am training my kids I just pit the potty in the back of my van after the initial days of potty training. We are going to every potty otherwise. Good luck and prayers!
ReplyDeletePotty training IS the worst!
ReplyDeleteYeah, me too. No tips at all. Oddly enough, my daughter can be bribed to do almost anything *except* use the potty for #2. We're still waiting on that one. But I'm hoping that when that one (finally) kicks in, then the night training should kick in too. Yes? Maybe? *sigh*
ReplyDeleteOh potty training. The first three weeks were especially dramatic for me. I thought she would be in diapers into high school, and I cleaned up so many accidents. It remember me of the mercy and sacrifice of parenthood.
ReplyDeletehttp://thesaltstories.com/an-inconvenient-mercy/