Celebrity Potty Training Anecdotes

I had never introduced my daughter to candy, so i used it to bribe her to use the potty. At 28 months I told her if she did a number one I would give her one candy and if she did a number two I would giver her two candies. No lie it took all of one day. She wet the bed that night and she woke me up to tell me. She has yet to have an accident. After three days the candy finished and I had a potty trained child. She is 3 1/2 years old now.

OMG, Beth.....isn't the therapy for your daughter expensive???? Attic monsters?? Poor kid.

no thats not mean, what my mother told me was mean...she used to tell me the devil would come through the floor and get me! I swear to god as my witness she did that...to this day I cant lay my head down and hear the heartbeat in my ears and not stop and think for a split second he is coming for me lol..yeah when I was little and didnt understand that you could hear your hearbeat in your ears, I thought the devil was stomping up the stairs to get me...no wonder im now bipolar

I can't believe some of the people reporting that they used monsters in the attic to teach a child to go potty. How can you be so cruel?
I will tell you the best way to potty train a child. You've got to train them young. All of my children were 14 months old when i potty trained them. You've got to do it while you are in control and haven't hit the terrible two's.
you have to be persistant put them on the potty every 1/2 hour.
even if you aren't in the mood so, no time to be lazy parents.
everytime they tinkle you've got to clap, with excitement and say yeah! make it into a big deal and after a few days they'll be potty trained. You've got to do while they're young....
my 3 childeren were potty trained at 14 months old.
so be nice take the time with your child and it will work. be patient with them their only little once. You love them so give them your time it's worth it.
Good luck!

Beth Kudos. Oh who gives a crap to the rest of you who thinks that it's terrible! She could be like many parents who get angry and think it's okay to beat your child senseless when they make an oops. The girl is older now, and I'm pretty sure she's got more smarts than to think that there's still an attic monster up there at the age of 9. Give the woman a break I'm gonna use the same tactics to get my kids potty trained when I have them if I have to resort to it. A little fear never hurt anyone. (under the age of 60 anyway)

We also lived in base housing. What I did was let my kids run around butt naked. They were nudist anyway. Always did have a hard time keeping close on them. The only bathrooms in the house were both upstairs, so I kept the potty chair down stairs. When they did use it. We would both take it upstairs and flush it. One of my kids even waved and saidd bye and it was being flushed away.

My husbands mom did the same (tellin him awful things would "get him" )he's in his 40's and still wets the bed

How awful

OK, enough is enough...I can't believe how judgmental some of you are! Not everyone has time to plop their kid on the potty every half an hour...congrats to you. Games and prizes don't work for everyone and you need to be careful with that strategy...you wouldn't want your kid thinking that every accomplishment deserves a prize, sometimes they will have to settle for a pat on the back or how about "Thank you for doing what I asked you to do" Sometimes desperate times call for desperate measures. Instilling a bit of fear never turned a kid psycho...it is not abuse! After I was potty trained my parents had a second problem of me not flushing the toilet...so my brother hid in the closet one day and when I finished pooping he mumbled..."flush the toilet" I was so scared I never forgot to flush ever again...granted I never forgot it, but my husband also never walks in on a toilet full of adult poop! Some one said your child will be ready to potty train when the diaper is dry in the morning...LMAO Hope that works out well for you and another said something to the effect of "how about letting your child do it when they are ready"...I think that child would be more well adjusted being trained when mommy wants him/her to then when he goes the school then when he/her craps themselves during nap time!

susan....trying to teach your kids how to use the potty before their spincter muscle develops is useless. This usually happens around 18 months. I'm all for introducing the potty and getting them used to it, but if they can't hold their tinkle it's not going to work.

I was just wondering if you wet your self for any reason,[we all were not born perfect],would you walk around wet and unhappy, thats not teaching a young child a lesson but teaching him how you handle mothering him and embassing him infront of his family.young or not they do not forget,

Regina, you obviously missed the point. Sometimes desperate situations call for desperate measures. He was 5 years old and starting school in the fall. Nothing was working for our son. Not stickers, not candy, cheerios or bulleyes or even real cool hot wheels! We gave him every opportunity to use the potty and he chose to pee his pants. In the long run it worked. This was 5 years ago (son is 10 now) and he knows his mom and love him very much. He is a well adjusted kid and there are no signs of him being psychotic because he had to wear wet clothes for an hour and missed a playdate with his cousins. BTW that was the first and last time he had to wear wet clothes.

Melissa - there is nothing wrong with what you did. My children's pediatrician told me, when I was potty-training them - to wait until it was warmer weather, put them in regular underpants, and let them go play outside. He said if they wet/poo themselves then they will have to feel how gross it is, and come to ask you for a change of clothes. At which point you tell them, "that is why we use the potty, so we don't have to feel yucky." and remind them that it's not healthy to pee/poop on yourself. He said to then take them inside, clean them up, and put on new underpants, repeating the entire process as necessary. He said that is how he and his wife potty-trained his 3 girls. They need to understand that if they go in their pants, the feeling is very uncomfortable. It makes them desire to go to the potty instead of feeling the gross sensation.

The person who commented negatively on your post probably doesn't have children. It has nothing to do with how "perfect" a person is or isn't; what it boils down to is that, your son peed himself in public, there was no change of clothes, and you weren't going to let him play when he was soiled. That is essentially rewarding his behavior, whether he intended to pee in his pants or not, which would have halted your potty training efforts. He needed to learn that this is why we use the potty, so that next time when there is an opportunity to go to the playground, he'll use the potty versus going in his pants. And it will not cause any lifelong traumatic issues or mental problems; what it WILL do is ensure that he will use the toilet from now on.

Good for you. Sometimes you have to do what you have to do. It doesn't matter if someone likes the idea or not.... it worked. Congrats!!!

that is what I told my friend who is trying to potty train her 3 y/o. She is due in September with her second. I keep telling her (she puts him in pull ups whenever they go anywhere at all. ) I told her to put him in underwear and if say they are at a park, and he goes in his underwear that they need to go home because she doesn't have any more with her. This will teach him that if he doesn't go in the potty like a big boy that he will miss fun at the park (or where ever they are, like your story and Mc Donalds). I also agree with you on the making him walk around in it, it is not cruel, it shows them how uncomfortable it is so that next time they will remember how uncomfortable it is and go in the potty.

i think u did the right thing he learned to not do it in his pants anymore and that if he did he would have consecenses and miss out on fun things

Good for you! It took me a while figure out the best thing for my chld is to let him learn form his mistakes. I kept fixing them instead of letting him live out the consequences of his actions. It is better that he learned it that day then at Kindergarten. Any body who doesn't get what you did is either not a mother or has not had to face a child that is dificult to potty train. I have three my self and have had easy potty trainers and dificult ones.
I think a lot has changed a far as potty training goes. Thirty years ago our children would be in cloth diappers. From the time they where born they would be feeling the sensation of a dirty diaper. Before we even introduced them to a potty the would have all ready learned to hold ther pee. But today we have very absorbant diapers. They don't feel that sensation and are not learning to hold their pee untell much later. My sister in law recomended putting unerwear on first then a pull up. No mess but they can still feel the pee.
I work at a place where I have any where from 50-80 children coming through in a day in this age range. Most of the children are fully potty trained with no acidents and no reminders around 3 1/2 years old. My son fit into this catigory. I have seen children who have trained around 2 and usaly they have the same personality. They are very determined and want to do every thing for them selves. My daughter fit into this catigory.
So moms don't feel bad if they are not fully trained untell the are 3 1/2 half. They are no difrent than most the kids out there. Honestly by the time they are in Kidergarten no body is going to care when they potty trained as long as the are. Potty training is a short lived concerne. Big when your in the middle of it but quickly forgotten when done.

I agree with you Melissa. Every child is different. My first (daughter) was extremely easy. My second (son) was harder. And my third (daughter) was over 3. I too tried everything. My pediatrician also told me not to use pull ups, that she will not like feeling embarassed if she has an accident. Its not cruel. I did not embarass my child as you did not embarass yours. Both knew the difference and "embarassed" themselves into using the potty. And I bet neither remembers it now.