Potty Training

Many of us are in the midst of potty training so I thought this would be a good place to share ideas, ask questions, etc. I'm especially looking for good ideas from the ones of you who have older children who are already fully potty trained.

Here are some things we've tried:

When we first started, we used sticker rewards. At first, Nathan got stickers every time he sat on the potty. Later, he only got them if he actually went. Eventually, we started giving two types of stickers - one for pee and one for poop.

When we try to get Nathan to poop, we read to him. He really likes reading, so this is a good way to get him to sit long enough to have a chance at getting something out. We actually keep a book in the bathroom. At first, it just kept him there. Now, he actually asks for us to read.

We switched to training pants right away when we started potty training (with plastic underwear on top). That seemed to help Nathan at least know when he went. Yes, we had some leaking accidents, but they weren't terrible. I did have to do laundry every day for a while just to get them washed, but again, that wasn't terrible. Eventually, we switched him to "real" underwear. It was actually a reward. We looked at them at the store and talked about them for a while. Eventually, we told him that we would go buy them for him if he could stay dry all day until after supper. After two or three days he did it. We let him wear the "real" underwear from then on and have had very few accidents. (I think a big part of the motivation for him was that he would get underwear "like Daddy's".)

I actually think that the best motivation for Nathan is praise. All along the way, he liked it if we got really excited. We would clap and cheer. He started to be proud of himself when he went. I tried not to overdo it, though...only getting really excited for the bigger events.

Oh yeah...we let Nathan go in with us to the bathroom for a long time before we ever started trying to get him to go so he would at least understand what to do. And yes, we also showed him the pee or poop in the potty.

Ok. I think that's all. I hope it will get everyone started. I look forward to reading everyone's posts!