All in Potty Training
Potty training may be one of the most dreaded parts of parenting. Everyone and their mother (especially their mothers) have an opinion about potty training. There are countless books and "experts" claiming to have the secret. I call bull. There are a lot of expectations we put on potty training and now I'm sharing 6 things I wish someone had told me before I started potty training my kids:
Potty training update. I am so proud of this girl. Yesterday she made it the entire day with dry underpants. She still needs to learn to tell me when she needs to go, but at least she goes when I ask her (after a couple minutes of fighting it...It's a process, people). As parents, or just as people for that matter, we work hard and long towards our goals. In the midst of it, it seems as though there is no progress. Everything we do is met with resistance, but we keep pressing forward, trusting that all of our efforts are going to pay off someday. This was a much needed reminder that it is so worth it. Have we completely arrived yet?! Absolutely not! We have weeks (probably months) to go before she is fully trained, but yesterday was a much needed glimmer of hope.
Day 3 potty training. In short, it's a challenge. I'm not child development specialist by any means, but I'm a mom and I can tell you that tantrums increase anytime a child (at least my kids) is learning a new skill. I get it! It's so frustrating when you are trying to learn something and aren't good at it yet. It must be even more frustrating when you are being told you have to do it by someone else.
Day 1 potty training was a success! She had two accidents, but many more successes. By the time my husband came home she could recognize that she had to go and asked him to help her and she made it in time!
It is always a process. We are no where near done, but I think it's going to stick this time. She is much more motivated by getting to wear underpants than her brother was so that is helpful. She takes her transition into being a "big girl" very seriously. I could not be more proud of her and her patience with herself and determination to not be a baby anymore.
I'm a horrible potty trainer. The worst. I tried duel potty training my two kids a little over a year ago. For 10 days. I started with that "potty train your child in a day" crap, and 10 days later neither child was potty trained. Earlier this year my son was potty trained (still working on nights) and today I decided we'd try potty training this one. She just turned 2.5 last week and recently transitioned into her big girl bed with ease and cooperation. Today we are sitting in the bathroom all day with pretzels, juice and books to see if we can make it happen.