Single dad with Pottie Training Problems!!!!

Well for your 2 year old I might suggest you get rid of the pampers. Being wet and uncomfortable often leads to children wanting to find the solution to this problem. You can explain that going to the bathroom is the only answer for this. Make sure to praise heavily the efforts of both girls. Children are always looking for the approval of their parents and ways to please them. A reward system might work for you. Try setting up a little chart on the fridge or something with both girls names and use stickers (let them each choose stickers they like) every time they go to the bathroom properly. Set a goal that after x number of stickers, there will be a prize of some sort. It could be something as small as a gift from the dollar store that they get to choose. I hope that helps xoxo Cyne

Well I am just finishing the potty training stage in my almost 3 year olds life. He picked it up pretty quickly, which I am glad for. However I did notice he had a bigger problem with the pooping in his pants than the peeing. It seems he was afraid to go poop in the potty. I have read and heard that this is normal, but still unsure as to why. I think if you just encourage the 3 year old, then maybe she will oversome that. Not sure how much time you have to work with it, but even going as far as holding her hand while she goes can be comfortimg to her. As for the 2 year old, maybe she isn't quite ready? My son was telling me when he was going in his diaper, but didn't have a desire to go in the potty just yet. You can try putting her in underwear, like mentioned above. She might not like the wet feeling. She also might like being a "big girl" like her sister :-)You might even want to try letting her pick out what kind of "big girl" underwear she can have! Give her incentives to going on the potty! Praise and support are the key in successful potty training. Good luck with it, and remember try to be patient and not get discouraged. Don't give up! Have a Blessed Day!

It takes quite a time for children to recognise the signs of an impending need to use the toilet. I am not sure, but I think that children do not even develop the nervous mechanism that allows them to be prewarned for some time. As adults, we forget very quickly that this is something we learned or developed. By the age of two or three, I think, most children will have some idea that something is about to happen but they still may have no idea how to 'hold on' to it (control of the sphincter muscles) or they do not know how long a warning they have, so there are often mistakes! I would say that your three year old is doing pretty well. Many children don't achieve 100% success until they are 4 or 5 or even older. There are, basically, two ways of training - punishment and fear (of what adults might think) and love and kindness. The first (as we might train a dog or a cat) is arguably the most effective and quickest; the second is the way that, as humans, we believe we ought to train: it probably takes longer but, hopefully, leaves the child with fewer emotional hang-ups about anything to do with toilets!

Just because a child can tell you she went to the bathroom in her diapers, it doesn't mean they are ready. I agree with the post that said to get rid of the diapers, at least in the day time. Years ago I had a book about potty training in one day. I used it with my autistic daughter. The idea was to keep the child in one room for the day with the only goal to use the potty chair. I'll be honest, it worked half-way for my daughter. She did start using the potty for number 1, but we struggled with the pooping issue and I had to resort to extreme measures. That had more to do with her disabilities than anything else. Still, the fact it worked for a child who was nonverbal and had all the classic signs of autism, shows how effective it is. http://www.pottytrainingconcepts.com/A-How-to-Potty-Train-One-Day.html As for the older child, stop throwing away her underwear. Keep them, but go out and let her pick out the best "princess" pants ever and tell her she can wear them as long as she never poops in them. If she does poop in them she won't be able to wear them anymore and has to wear the old ones. Make buying the best underwear a big deal. Let her pick them out, praise her for her choice, and act like it's the greatest thing she's ever done. Instill it in her mind how important they are.

hi singledad.. that is sooo cute you pottytrain you kids. I applaud you for that. there are a few people i know that do not give in much effort at all and leave evrything to the diaper. I'm not sure if I am still in the position to give advises on this one as my son is now 14 years old and i somehow have forgotten the tiny details .. but i could remember the Potty training period is one of the hardest and takes a lot of patience to successfully do that..and a lot of consistency too. i could remember sitting my baby at certain times of the day, even if he doesn't go or not..i want to set a regular routine for him..his potty time. and even if it's too late already..i still sit him on the potty so he is reminded that that's where it should be done... eventually he got it.

My suggestion is that you take them to the bathroom 30 min after a meal; this is the way we would do at the Day Care. Sometimes you catch them before the accidents and sometimes you don't. You can clap when they make it and say nothing about it when they don't. I do agree with the others when they say let them both pick out some "big girl" underwear (cartoon or name-brand of toy). Don't use this as a reward necessarily.

Just a thought, but it may be a negative form of attention. As the younger sibling, she may feel jealous of the older and be doing it to have more of daddy's attention, even if it is negative. Take away the diapers.... completely. Tell her she is too big to do that and start making her clean her own mess... that tends to slow them down a LOT. Although most parents don't agree with it anymore because of fear of "traumatizing" their child, which I think is a bunch of hooey... if she messes her "big girl panties", give her a swat on the bottom and make her clean herself, don't do it for her. Children are MUCH smarter than most adults credit them for being and BELIEVE me they get tired of that pretty fast when they figure out it is no longer getting the response they are looking for. Of course you praise her when she does go, but she may also have a fear of losing part of herself as I noted in a reply to another poster, so make the potty less scary by explaining to her what that waste IS. Sometimes that can help if it is a fear issue. My older brother was so stubborn about pooing in his pants eventually my father got tired of it, smeared it on the end of his nose (gross I know, but effective) and sat him on the pot and told him "You smell it for an hour". He never did it again. I potty trained myself (cotton diapers back then and didn't like the feel of it on my skin)... I was using the pottie completely at 14 months. Every child is different, so hopefully some of the advice everyone on here gave will help.... best of luck and just be patient, I know it's a pain LOL

Have you try explaining it to your daughters? Have you assessed their status, maybe they are in a trauma or there's an underlying problem mentally and emotionally. Usually by the age of 3 they gain complete control of their sphincter and does not wet the bed no more nor wet the pants. Try gathering data of the underlying cause maybe, just maybe you'll be able to solve that problem. I hope this helps...