Potty Training 2 1/2 Yr Old Daycare Girl

I would suggest just letting her do it on her own time. Those little ones can be pretty stubborn and they will go on the potty when they want to. My daughter wasn't trained until she was 3 1/2. I thought it would never happen, but all of a sudden she wanted to go and there has been no turning back. Good luck with your baby!!

I am a licensed home daycare provider and have been for 29 years. The most important thing to remember about potty training is that it is not training! It is all about control. eating and going pottie are the only things a child has control over. so lay back. make it easy, cloths that are easy to do by her self. Let her watch others go potty and see them get reward stickers or small candies. read potty stories, my favorite is Everybody Poops. Let her have the control and just keep offering, say, "its always good to go potty before we go outside" etc. Don't get stressed out about it.

Everyone child is different. MOST children are not potty trained at 2 1/2. So instead of you being in a frenzy about this, give her some time. When she is ready she will do it.
Then she is not stressed and you won't be at your wits end.

I have a daycare and in the process of potty training a lot of them, but they are 3 and over. I only had 1 child that was potty trained early at 2 1/2.

So be patient, let it go for now and start up again in a few months, unless she comes to you and wants to go.

Being 9 1/2 months pregnant is not helping the situation either.

Good luck on your baby

I know this sounds crazy but my 4 year old daughter when she was potty training at around 2 years she love to watch the movie Potty Time with Bear in the Big Blue House and pretty much decide herself that she was going to be a big girl. You might try that. Good luck to you.

maybe she's not ready. my son was closer to 3 before he was interested in the potty. even the little girl i babysit for wasn't interested until she was closer to 3. i would try and jsut drop the potty idea and try again in a month or two.

G.,
I have a daughter that is now 3, she just turned 3 in January. She started to use the potty on her own when she was almost two years old, she has the pooping in the potty thing down pat, I can not remeber when the last time was that she went poop in her pull up, but the pee is another story, she will tell me that she has to go pee or is going pee, but will not go on the potty and when I started to force her to sit on the potty until she went then we started to go backwards. So I think the best thing to do is to let her use the potty when she is ready. They know when they are ready to use it and they will, it is hard at times to just sit back and watch.

I agree with some of the other responses, she is a little young and maybe just not quite ready. when you think about, why would a two year old want to pee on the potty. A diaper is much more convienent and someone else cleans you up. What I did with both of my children is a potty party. I took one whole day on a Saturday and decorated the living room with party decorations and took every potty movie and book out of the library and all we did all day was read those books and watch those movies and practice going potty. I just did this with my 2 1/2 year old daughter 2 weeks ago and she has worn underwear since except for nap and bedtime. I believe it's all about making it fun for them. There is a book out there by Teri Crane that I loosely followed called Potty Train your child in just one day. Hope this helps.

My daughter is close in age and is obssessed with the potty. She doesn't scream when she sits on it but also will not go on it. I wonder if that little girl is scared from all the pressure from everyone. I would say to just give it a break for a few months they always go when they are ready.
My daughter will do the same thing with asking for a diaper to pee in and then go poop in too. She knows when she has to go she just won't. Each child is ready at their own time and if she is afraid of the toilet for whatever reason, try books about potty training or even show a movie about it. Try patience rather than force. They can sence that you are forcing them, or getting frustrated with them, and they will close up and not want to please you. Hope this helps!

Can you open the diaper and sit it in the potty chair and get her to go in it that way? Maybe one step at a time will help. Also Elmo has a great pottytime dvd out. It is full of singing and encouragement, not just on potty training but trying new things all together.

Hi G.
I know this is going to sound weird and it may or may not work but it is worth a try. what if when she asks for a diaper you put on onthe potty for her to go in she may be acared of the potty and what happens to it when she is done so if she will go on the potty in her diaper maybe she will see it is not bad and do it with out the diaper just a thought. have a good and congratulations on your baby.T.

She will sit when she is ready. If you push her to do it she will just rebel more. Don't talk about it for awhile but leave the potty chair out so she can see it and she might just do it her self! It makes it a lot easier on everyone if they are ready. And she isn't even 3 yet, she is still really young. Just sit back and relax :)

Hi! Good luck with your own baby and congratulations!

My advice about the potty training is to back off a little. There are a lot of different theories and opinions out there about potty training, but I think the worst thing that can happen is that it turns into a power struggle. None of my three children were potty trained before 2 1/2, and my youngest was closer to three. With my first I decided at two that it was time; tried all the tricks you mentioned, to no avail. Finally I just backed off, and a couple months later (when SHE was ready) it happened in no time at all! I took that lesson to heart and my son (middle child) was trained at about 2 1/2 as well. My youngest, though, was the toughest. She would sit on the potty for ten minutes, do nothing, then promptly pee her pants. Again, I had to recognize that it had turned into a power struggle. So, I backed off and she was still trained by age three, and when it happened, it went quick. I think the thing to be aware of is that the bigger deal you make about it, the more they will fight it. They are two-year olds and wanting to be independent and make their own choices. Sometimes giving them that opportunity is all it takes. Hope that helps.

R....SAHM of three (14,7, and almost 5)

When my daughter would sit on the potty and refuse to go, (even when I knew she could let even a little out) 10 minutes later, she'd have an accident. So, we did this and it worked great.

We would grab a cup of luke warm water over the front of her from right under her belly button. (it might take a couple glasses) Very slowly pour it like a little trickle and let it run down the front of her vagina and into the toilet. Success every time. Then, we partied like crazy and celebrated by calling everyone we knew. We did that for a little while until she got the hang of letting her tinkle go while she was on the pot, vs. in her pants or diaper.

Good luck.

Just a heads-up to all out there. While I'm not suggesting this is the problem with this little girl, I had a three-year-old boy in my child care home who also had difficulty with toileting. He would wet in his diaper throughout the day without a word, and when put on the toilet he could only manage a small trickle. It turns out he had a kidney disorder, and actually felt pain when urinating. He was born with this condition and didn't realize there was anything unusual about it.

Been there...done that. I am a provider as well, was pregnant, and was trying to potty train my very "stubborn" two year old. thebottomline is: you can't force her and she will go when she goes. she is saying "owie" and hyperventalating b/c there is too much rpessure on her and it is making the whole thing scary for her. my almost 3 yr old is finally potty trained (days and nights) for the past 2 months and she did it all on hero wn. we kept asking her and she kept refusing...finally i stopped making her try, only asked every 3 hours, and finally one day she went and hasn't had an accident since. it just has to be on her time so it isn't scary for them. they sense the pressure and will resist until they are ready. i know it is so hard...but i would give up and just wait until she is ready. by the way, i used to teach in a 2 yr old room and potty trained 9 two year olds on my own...it really does help to wait until they are ready.

just keep suggesting the potty after meals and after nap...if she says no say "oke doke....just let me know if you have to go" and this way she feel in control of it all.
I hope i don't sound to cocky...goodl uck

Not to sound mean! You can not!! push her into being potty trained!! If she does not want to do it, she will not!!! Every morning, ask her if she would like to wear "big girl" underware, or a diaper. Make it be her idea. I guarentee that she will probably not be potty trained by the time your new one comes, but do not push her, specially with the new one coming, it will not work. I tried it and all it did was get worse when the new one came. She will decided when she is ready, and she will probably end up doing it all on her own like mine did. On the mornings that she decides to wear underware, reward her, show her how much of a big girl she is!! Good luck.

I'd just say that she is just not ready. Back off and let wait for her to show signs that she is ready. I swear, if you let the kid decide when it is time, they will almost do it by themselves. I have 3 children. The oldest is a girl and she did it on her own at 2 years 3 months. My middle child (boy) was 3 years 8 months. My youngest (also a boy) IS CURRENTLY 3 years 8 months and is still not potty trained...almost but not quite. I think that pushing it that hard when she is so young is a mistake...but, only my opinion...

As a daycare provider and a mother of 4 girls, they will do it when they are ready, potty training is one thing you cannot push.

I have a strict rule at my daycare that they have to be successfully potty training at home for a minimum of 2 weeks and be able to have a 2 hour bladder before I will start at the daycare, and by successful I mean she has to actually go or indicate she needs to go, not the parent just putting her on there to see what happens, 2 is pretty young to start I got lucky with my oldest and she potty trained at 20 mo. but that must been some act of god or something b/c the others were well over 3 b/f they would even consider it.

Pushing her will only make it worse, just b/c she is telling you she has to pee does not mean she is developmentally ready. My 18 month old tells me when she pees and poops but is very clearly not ready to use the potty though.

G. - I am also a licensed daycare provider and have potty trained numerous kiddos over the years. My suggestion is this. You said that she asks for a diaper to pee in. Tell her no. Have mom get plastic pants to wear over her underwear and tell her that she is too old for diapers and refuse to give her one anymore. In my experience, a time or two peeing her panties and being uncomfortable (while not ruining your furniture because she'll have the plastic pants on) and then having to peel them off HERSELF and put them in a plastic bag to take home HERSELF and STILL have to sit on the potty after all that, she will decide to give up the fight and go in the potty. This has always worked for me as long as I was consistent and once I said no more diapers, that was it, no more diapers. Mom and dad of one of my kids still have problems because they give in and let them have diapers when they bawl for them but they go all day here just fine. So, consistancy is the key. Good luck and good luck with the upcoming addition to your family! K.

I am a mom of three grown children and I was in the same situation with my oldest. My child was almost 4 and would not use the toilet no matter what I did. I used reward stickers, cheerios in the toilet to use as a target, & patience. I thought every child had to use the bathroom around the same age and mine was going beyond the norm in age. Well, my mother in law, a parent of 7, laughed at me and said, "For heaven sakes. Lighten up. He won't be marching down the aisle for his high school graduation in a diaper! Keep offering the toilet and he will use it when HE is ready." Best advice I ever got. I did lighten up and he used the toilet on his own within weeks of me becoming more relaxed about the situation. Kids know when you are getting frustrated. Everything will be fine.

There have been a lot of questions lately about potty training which has me wondering - are we expecting something too soon? Toileting skills are a very personal matter and go to the heart of a child's sense of modesty and self. Is it appropriate to pressure them between 2-3yrs to give us something we want for our convenience or economic gain (I know diapers are expensive, but so are junk food, dining out and vacations - yet we rarely give these up)? Why not let children decide when they will tackle this task. Peer pressure (not being able to go to a friend's house, have a sleep over, etc.) and having to wash yourself up, clean out your undies and change bed linens, are ample motivation to change toileting/bedwetting habits in all but the most extreme cases (in my experience). My recommendation would be that we all stop pressuring young kids to conform to our desires and let them be themselves - diapers and all. Why fight a battle for 1-2 yrs when you can make peace, do co-clean up and have a who child effectively trains him/herself in a matter of months? Life is too short to fight, and two in diapers at once is not as bad as it sounds.

Old SAHM of seven, some with special needs, who self-trained between 2-6yrs and conquered the issue when they were ready (regardless of what I wanted). I've been around this block a few times.

It sounds like this girl is physically ready for potty training, but not emotionally ready. At her age, the more you push it, the less she will want to do it. My friend had the same problem with her son. She took a month or 2 off from potty training, then tried again. He did wonderful and got the hang of it perfectly in a few days.

I would suggest that maybe she is simply not ready. She is only 2 1/2 and there are many kids who aren't ready until 3 or so. Fighting with her or forcing her to sit on the potty will only cause her to resist more and it will then take her longer to be trained. I would make the potty available to her and suggest it, but let her wait until she's ready. I learned from experience with my eldest son (now 10). We pushed him to some degree and he was resistant-he wasn't fully trained until 4. I don't think you want that.

we had similar troubles with our son ( I know boys and girls are 'different').
Our dilemma was that he was trained at home, but refused to go at daycare. he would hold it all day long!! What finally helped him to 'want' to go on the toilet was showing the younger kids how to do it. By letting him feel like the 'big boy' and teaching the younger kids, he really responded.

Maybe she's just not ready to do it yet. My son was over 3 when he was completely trained. At about 2 years old, he could go in the potty, but didn't want to. I offered stickers and other rewards, but he wanted nothing to do with it. He said, "no more potty and no more tickies". All of a sudden, he decided to go. I wish you lots of luck with it. I think you are a saint for having daycare. I couldn't do what you do.

It sounds like your little daycare girl is not ready, poor kid! It is not something that can be forced. It's too bad that you are at your wits end with her too! She will feel your frustration and that certainly will not help. Wait a few months, after your baby is born. If you let it be for awhile, she will come around. It's probably hard on her mother too that she has to be concerned that her daycare provider is stressed out with her child. All kids are different!

G.,
Give the girl a break. I heard somewhere there are 3 things you can't MAKE your children do, eat, sleep and potty in the pot. all three of those things a child has complete control over and they have minds of their own. They will do them when they are good and ready. Yes, she seems to be ready to learn because she does tell you when she has to go, but obviously she doesn't want to take the time to "sit" and go. My opinion is to just forget it for a while. don't make a big deal about changing her diaper or even talking about it. See what she does and how she reacts to that. She may come around herself, if not, try again in a month or so. It will come eventually. Just have patience.
Good luck.
A.

Just a thought, I used a baby doll to help potty train my 2 yr old son. I told him he needed to teach the dolly to go on the potty. He found this fun and it seemed to help. I would sometimes pour a small amount of water in the training potty when he wasn't paying attention to simulate that the doll had gone pee. In no time he was more than willing to sit down and go himself. I let him name the doll and it became a special thing for him. Now I know boy and baby doll aren't usually a good combo, however he is now 5 1/2 and he grew out of asking for her around 3 and now to this day loves to be around and play with real babies. He was also the easiest of my three kids to potty train.