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Myrtah
04-29-2011, 08:14 AM
Tricks and tips please

playfelt
04-29-2011, 10:37 AM
Hope the parents take two weeks off care and spend the time training and the child comes back knowing what they are supposed to do and then you just have to watch the clock and remember to put them on the potty regularly.

The other method is to not start too early in care or you just waste a lot of time in the bathroom. I do ask parents to start on weekends so the child gets some "training" sessions in. When they are begining to get the hang of it then I start it in daycare. Mostly I find if a child can stay dry for naptime they are ready for daytime training and holding it.

I just put them on the potty at what would be our normal changing times with a few more tossed in so we "try" before snack, before going downstairs to the other playroom, when we come up, ....which turns out to be about every 1 1/2 hours. Eventually they learn to hold it till the next scheduled time. I find this works better than them asking since most don't want to leave play so say nothing and it prevents that run every 20 min to piddle. Important to learn to hold it all for the time.

sunnydays
05-07-2011, 07:20 AM
When my son was potty training it was summer and we put the potty in the livingroom and left him with no pants (he wasn't yet able to pull them up and down himself) and he would just run and use it when he felt the need. The urge tends to coem on suddenly in the beginning and I had a newborn at the time so I couldn't spend half my day in the bathroom! He learned quickly and has always been very independent about it since then (he just goes without being reminded). Now of course, as a daycare provider, I couldn't have a potty in the playroom, but if it is started at home then I will do something like what playfelt mentioned, regular bathroom breaks until the child is able to tell me they need to go.

sunnydays
07-08-2011, 01:14 PM
I have a 20 month old in my care who has recently potty trained at home; she's been using the toilet at home for months in the evenings, so now her parents completed the process and apparently she tells them when she has to go and is pretty much accident free at home now and wears underwear. This week was her first week at daycare in her underwear and the first day went very well, but since then she has been having a lot of accidents. I asked her parents to provide cloth training pants to keep it off the carpet, but today it leaked through those and onto the rug again. She rarely tells me when she has to go and sometimes she just freaks out and screams when I put her on the toilet. Other times she does pee and then ten minutes later she pees her pants anyway! She has had some definite progress in that she will pee on the toilet about half the time and even peed in the grass at the park. I am trying everything I can think of to make it fun for her, but I just don't know how to get through to her that she is not wearing a diaper and she has to tell me! Any suggestions?

Skysue
07-08-2011, 01:20 PM
You need to train her all over again so she gets the message. Set a timer and every 15 minutes put her on the potty, don't ask her if she needs to go just put her on. Give her a smartie if she sits and a bigger reward if she goes. Do this full time for 5 days and I swear it will work! Good luck!

sunnydays
07-08-2011, 01:38 PM
I cannot stop all daycare activities for an entire week to potty train! If I have to put her on every 15 minutes, it means we cannot go to the park or play outside...it's just not feasable or fair to the others. However, I do agree that I need to train her over again with me. I am putting her on regularly and sometimes she goes and other times she rebels. I am not big on the treat giving for pottying, but I do give her lots of praise and cheering and the other kids join in when she goes. I also lift her up to see the frog in the bathroom, which she loves.

playfelt
07-08-2011, 01:55 PM
Parents don't always realize that their child is potty trained at home because that is all they do is put the child on and off, ask them if they have to go etc. The child also learns early on that it is a way to have the power in the house in the sense that if they say "pee" every adult drops what they are doing and dotes on the little darling for a few minutes and then gives them treats. Hey I would pee on demand for that too. In daycare life isn't like that. Saying you have to pee means leaving the playroom, leaving your friends, leaving your game and going to the bathroom - not as much fun. I do not do treats here for bathroom as I feel it is a natural part of learning just the same as other things are. We don't give smarties for drinking from a cup or using a spoon or putting on our shoes or finishing a puzzle and I think potty is the same. A child just does it because they are growing up. Children stay in a pull up with me till I say. I do let some go through a phase where they wear their underwear and a pullup over the top. The child it too young to be independent in the bathroom and you need to explain to the parents that you are dealing with lots of kids and can't always take the child right away etc. Ask for pullups, or plastic pants over the underwear or ask that they get one of the waterproof covers meant for over cloth diapers but use it over the underwear instead of with the liners - will work the same as plastic pants but probably easier to find these days.

daycare woman
07-09-2011, 01:28 PM
So instead of stopping activities you need to work with the problem, bring a potty to the park, there are all sorts of smaller ones, I have a normal potty I bring with me but I have lots of room to carry it in my stroller, there are smaller ones though, and I just make sure I always have lots of wipes and a bottle of tap water and rinse it out in case we need it again. Unfortunatley I see this as part of our job, they are with us more than their parents. I will be training 3 in sept and I know I have to suck it up and just do it. Waiting is the best way to do it most kids are 3 or over before they are FULLY potty trained, my son was 1 month before 3 and trained in 2 weeks..done. Because they need some maturity, and also no pee at nap time should be mandatory before you start. To me its stupid to go 8-12 underwear, pull-up at nap time, 3-8 underwear, bedtime pull-up. How confusing is that for a child!!!!! No wonder it takes for ever some times. I'm not saying I''m any better, but I'm making a rule in my contract that I will not train till over 2 1/2, and dry at nap time. These will make our lives a lot easier I think. These kids need to have bladder control and be able to understand the feeling of I need to pee. Another big one I feel is when they say to you I'm peeing in my diaper/pull-up, or I'm pooping. Then they know exactly whats going on.

Skysue
07-10-2011, 01:40 PM
I cannot stop all daycare activities for an entire week to potty train! If I have to put her on every 15 minutes, it means we cannot go to the park or play outside...it's just not feasable or fair to the others. However, I do agree that I need to train her over again with me. I am putting her on regularly and sometimes she goes and other times she rebels. I am not big on the treat giving for pottying, but I do give her lots of praise and cheering and the other kids join in when she goes. I also lift her up to see the frog in the bathroom, which she loves.

Giving a treat I supose is up to you but it worked for me. My daughter and another 2 1/2 year old in my care were trained in 5 days. I had also a 2 year old in my care that trained himself by watching the other 2 get rewards. You just stop giving treats after a while and tell them that they have graduated and have a party!

My daughter also after a month stopped wearing pull ups at night time and we have had 3 accidents in 9 months!

Sue

fruitloop
07-10-2011, 02:43 PM
I use a sticker chart when potty training. No treats here at all! I start them out sitting on the potty every half hour or so...if they actually go then they get a sticker on their chart. No rewards for just sitting there. After 1 day of every half hour, I increase the time every day until they can go a couple hours without going. My kids have been potty trained day and night within 5 days using this method BUT they have to be ready. I don't start helping with potty training here until the child can fully communicate with me and tell me when they have to go or they are tell tail signs of it...ex. holding themselves, etc. If you try potty training before they're ready then it's you and the parents that are trained NOT the child. The child needs to be able to recognise their body's feelings and signs of having to go. I also don't allow underwear until they can go 2 weeks accident free. They can wear training pants with plastic pants over top or pull-ups but I personally hate pull-ups...they're a glorified diaper.

mom-in-alberta
07-11-2011, 11:19 AM
Wow, potty training is one of those things where there is a HUGE variance in methodology, huh?
I have only worked with my own kids. 2 boys and a girl. Haven't had to do any d/c kids, as they either already were, or have been too young.
My oldest we used sticker charts, and a lot of patience. He was trained around 2, but then we had a baby so he regressed a little. I wasn't too worried, as he was still young. We tried again at 2 1/2 and had no real issues. My second boy was a stubborn one. He refused to even try until he was just about 3. And then, I swear that he just decided he was a big boy. We continued to talk to him very positively about the whole thing, about how big boys wear undies and go on the potty, and 3 year olds don't wear diapers, etc. We used to put Froot Loop cereal in to the toilet and he could "aim" at it. My daughter, admittedly, virtually trained herself, at about 2 and a half. She got undies in her stocking from Santa (not that we thought she would use them right away) and decided over Christmas break that she needed to start using the potty! With all of them, we introduced the concept of the potty between 18 months and 2 years, but didn't expect anything until a little over 2 to 2 1/2.
I am not a huge fan of using treats, I have heard of children who will control their urine and poop so that they can get more candy, etc and that is not a good habit or good for their body. Many people have used them with success, though, so it's a personal preference.
For the dayhome, I ask that children have had a decent amount of potty success at home before we even try it here. Like the posters above mentioned, daycare is so much busier than home, it can be tough to interrupt a kid who is playing to go potty. So they need to understand what is going on, be able to vocalize it, and so on. I don't mind taking a child to the washroom every hour or whatever, but I don't have the ability to hang out in there for more than a few minutes. I don't mind using either undies or pull-ups. Especially at sleep time, since sometimes kids have a hard time with staying dry while sleeping (my own kids were like that, and I still put a pull-up on my 4 year old at night, even though 99.9% of the time it's dry in the morning).
20 months is awfully young to be completely trained, so I am thinking it's a little bit of mom and dad being trained to time it properly. Not that kids can't be trained by then, but if she is freaking out and having all kinds of accidents at your place, I would put the diapers back on and give it some more time, personally.

zen39
07-11-2011, 12:05 PM
I've always done the treat approach...and it worked like a charm on all of my own children and my daycare kids. I've done the sticker thing too...worked with some, others got bored. I've also found that some children will consider pull-ups still like a diaper and use them as such. For me personally, I've only used underwear (pull-ups only at nap). I've plastic underwear that can pull up over the underwear too...to protect carpet etc...

If they are ready it shouldn't take too long. For me, my girls were potty trained in a week and my daycare kids took maybe a week and a half.

good luck!

Skysue
07-11-2011, 12:32 PM
I've always done the treat approach...and it worked like a charm on all of my own children and my daycare kids. I've done the sticker thing too...worked with some, others got bored. I've also found that some children will consider pull-ups still like a diaper and use them as such. For me personally, I've only used underwear (pull-ups only at nap). I've plastic underwear that can pull up over the underwear too...to protect carpet etc...

If they are ready it shouldn't take too long. For me, my girls were potty trained in a week and my daycare kids took maybe a week and a half.

good luck!

Cheers! I was feeling a bit attacked for using treats! LOL

playfelt
07-11-2011, 01:21 PM
A lot depends on the group you have too. At what point do you withdraw the treats and what do you do about a 4 year old that has been trained for almost 2 years that announces flat out if the current potty training kid is getting treats then she is too or she will pee on the floor - and means it. I tend to take a laid back approach and do whatever is easier for me in the long run - hey we dont' get paid enough for this job as it is. No way is a kid having an "accident" on my carpet. With my own kids I expected it and they can do it for their parents but when there are things such as pullups that the parents by the way pay and provide to me I see no reason to deal with the messes. There will come a point where the child will train themselves because they want to - like reminding them once registered for JK that if they don't start using the potty they won't be allowed to go to school. That is what it took for the 3 year old stubborn boy I have now. He has been "training" for over a year with mom giving smarties and dad giving pez - one candy for sitting on the potty and two if they pee and three if they poop or he could trade in for a pigger prize. Never pooped at my house for an entire year - can you say he had a lot more control than he was given credit for. He could hold out for hours when he put his mind to it. Was easy changing for me.

What I do wish is parents wouldn't jump into the pullups too soon and would treat them like underwear which was the intention. We dont' pee in our pullup and if we aren't ready to train then they need to go back into diapers. The whole idea of the pullup is to replace the thick training pants and plastic pants. They are used just in case the child doesn't get to the potty in time. But parents switch over too soon and too long without success so there is no wonder kids thing they are diapers. Ignore the commercials that say switchign back and forth is confusing. It is the other way around. We pee in our diapers because our bladder muscles are not fully matured. We get a chance to try potty training with our pullups just in case. One of the things I have so noticed over the years and it has gotten worse in the last few years is parents negotiating with their kids, using bribes where necessary to get them to do almost anything. When these kids get older and realize the world doesn't really care if they succede or fail they are at a loss because they have not learned the intrinsic value of anything. I think one of the downsides to treats for potty is that a child that is being trained too early which they are if they are not automatically producing on their own is that the child can put a lot of unneccesary pressure on themselves to perform just to get the treat. So they learn to pee for the smartie not because their body told them they had to pee.

zen39
07-11-2011, 01:40 PM
wow...it's just a smartie. I do have other kids in my group and when they see a child get a smartie for using the toilet...i give them one too...again not a big deal. Like i said, my kids were trained in a week / week and a half...all i have to say.

waterloo day mom
07-11-2011, 01:41 PM
My biggest problem with treats is that if I give them to the children who are learning to use the toilet, then the older children who are already potty trained expect the same thing. It becomes no longer a training tool, but just candy given out all over to anyone who uses the bathroom. The last thing I need is a group of 3 and 4 year olds hyper on sugar because they've all drank so much water that they've each peed every 10 minutes.

Skysue
07-11-2011, 04:57 PM
wow...it's just a smartie. I do have other kids in my group and when they see a child get a smartie for using the toilet...i give them one too...again not a big deal. Like i said, my kids were trained in a week / week and a half...all i have to say.

I'm with you Zen! LOL

sunnydays
07-11-2011, 06:58 PM
Seems this is a hot topic! I was actually quite frustrated as a parent, when my daycare provider required my son to wear a pull-up long after he was fully trained at home and was actually hesitant to help him train at all, thinking that he might be too young even though he was just over two. That is why I agreed to give it a try with this 20 month old. Her parents do not use treats and she does tell them when she needs to go. Today she had her first accident free day with me...yay! She does tell me when she needs to go, although I put her on a few extra times as well in case. I think it was just a matter of being confused because she had been going on the toilet for months at home, but wearing diapers to daycare, so she had to come to understand that she was no longer wearing diapers here. Her parents have provided cloth training pants, which we call underwear, to help with the mess in case. I can see already that she really is ready and is going to be fine soon, so I would be pretty frustrated as her parents if my daycare provider said she had to wait until she is 2 1/2 to train!

Skysue
07-11-2011, 08:16 PM
Seems this is a hot topic! I was actually quite frustrated as a parent, when my daycare provider required my son to wear a pull-up long after he was fully trained at home and was actually hesitant to help him train at all, thinking that he might be too young even though he was just over two. That is why I agreed to give it a try with this 20 month old. Her parents do not use treats and she does tell them when she needs to go. Today she had her first accident free day with me...yay! She does tell me when she needs to go, although I put her on a few extra times as well in case. I think it was just a matter of being confused because she had been going on the toilet for months at home, but wearing diapers to daycare, so she had to come to understand that she was no longer wearing diapers here. Her parents have provided cloth training pants, which we call underwear, to help with the mess in case. I can see already that she really is ready and is going to be fine soon, so I would be pretty frustrated as her parents if my daycare provider said she had to wait until she is 2 1/2 to train!

That's awsome she had an accident fee day with you! The diaper thing is crazy confusing I 100% agree, we went straight to training pants with mine and we never looked back! Parents should just tell there daycare providers to put the training pants in a baggie and send it home!

Keep up the good work!

Sue

P.S we must try and be on the same page as the parents or the poor kids will be so confused!

mlc1982
07-12-2011, 12:40 AM
I am training DD right now and have no problem using treats. In fact, I've got a whole box of goodies that DD can pick out of when she's gone pee on the potty. It's random stuff I picked up at the dollar store - stickers, chocolate, toys, books, tattoos. It's working so far and she doesn't really expect something every time. Sometimes I will offer the box, sometimes she will ask or sometimes neither of us says a word about it and she enjoys her praises, hugs and high fives. I guess it all depends on the kid and the approach with treats. They have so much to learn in the first few years so why not reward them for some things??

playfelt
07-12-2011, 07:53 AM
My daycare children get their "treats" from their parents so there is a delayed gratification learning time here too. They stand very proudly when I report to the parents on the success of the day and are reminded on the days they need to try harder the next day. That way whatever currency works for each child the parent has available and I don't have to do it. I have trained many kids successfully using pullups. It is all about the child wanting to be trained. When they get to the success stage we draw a happy face on the pullup at the first potty trip and if they still have a happy face diaper on when mom gets them home they get their treat. The onus is on the child to come to the potty and keep that pullup dry. If they are truely ready for training they will do it just fine in a whatever is on their bottom. And the carpet in my playroom stays dry.

sunnydays
07-12-2011, 12:55 PM
playfelt: I love your idea of drawing happy faces on the pull-ups! I may try this with the training pants (I will check with the parents first, but I am certain they wouldn't mind...only it would have to be a sticker or something removeable because otherwise it would still be there after washing). I also love the idea of parents providing the rewards instead of the daycare provider; that eliminates the need to give everyone a reward and it also leaves it up to parents to decide whether or not to use treats, prizes, stickers, a special reward activity, or simply praise. My son also trained just fine with a pull-up and he understood that he shouldn't pee in it.