I HATE POTTY TRAINING!!

[mushpea]

i am in the proccess of potty training a almost 3ryold, she is very clever and knows that at home she gets much more attention for wetting herself than for staying dry yet at mine its the other way round,,,, we get home from the school run,, i sit her on the toilet (she hates the potty) nothing happens,, she goes in to my conservatory sits on the new cane funiture and uses that as a toilet,, pees so much it runs of the furniture on to the mat , then walks in , acrross my living room carpet to tell me
why do kids do this,, unfortunatly i was angry and althoug I didnt shout I did tell her that using my furniture for a toilet was not on and I have now banned her from sitting on it untill she is trained,,, she can sit on the sofa in the living room but thats leather and easy to clean,,, sadly the cane cushions are all in one and dont fit in the washing machine nor can i remove the covers, I am not amused

[jane5]

Its really frustrating and I feel for you

Could you put a water proof mattress cover on the chairs with a towel over the top until she is fully potty trained?

I wouldn't want her to wee on my leather sofa even if it is easier to clean

[Milli147]

I have the same issue here.....sometimes x is brilliant with it, sometimes just looks at me and then does it on the floor. I am never cross, and never make a big deal out of it, just 'oh let's sort you out', but I am starting to wonder if that is the right approach!

[Mollymop]

I know the feeling, it is hard and frustrating at times but she'll get there with lots of encouragement. I don't blame you for not letting her sit on certain furnishings, its your house hun, but don't let her feel excluded too much as it might cause her to feel unloved and upset. We were all little potty trainees once!!

[JCrakers]

I always use pullups because of this reason. I dont want wee all over my furniture and carpets.

I works well for me and parents have to use pullups too. Ive trained 5 kiddies this way in around 7-10days but both myself and parents both did the same. Its hard when things are happening differently at home because it just drags the process out longer.

Becky x

[mushpea]

success she had that vacent 'need a wee' look so asked what was wrong and she said i need the toilet and she had a wee on the toilet,, we are now proudly showing off our sticker to the others,,,, right now I need to do what have been trying to do on the computer and print some pics of to colour!

[coffee-time]

im having the exact same problem myself with a very nearly 3 yr old! mum and dad arent even trying at home so thought id give her a go myself! (personally i think nearly 3 is a bit old to be in nappies)! i put her on the toilet for 10 mins and nothing go back downstairs and she wees on the floor almost straight away! so frustrating! she is a very bright little girl but just doesnt want to let go of her nappies, she has 2 weeks off from me in april and her parents have said they will try training her in that time, fingers crossed she comes back trained!! (oh dear sounds like im talking about a dog sorry)! lol!

[miffy]

success she had that vacent 'need a wee' look so asked what was wrong and she said i need the toilet and she had a wee on the toilet,, we are now proudly showing off our sticker to the others,,,, right now I need to do what have been trying to do on the computer and print some pics of to colour!

Hurray! Let's hope it continues!

Miffy xx

[danielly124]

i had this problem with my son when i was potty training him,i found by constantly asking him he got bored of hearing me and began to ask me for the toilet and then really praising him as much as i could,he is now fully potty trained

[maisiemog]

I'm having this problem as well. My mindee is 2.5yrs old and in my opinion not ready but mum insists! It's driving me mad. She goes through all her spare clothes and about six pairs of DDs trousers in a day! I have to scrub my leather sofa's daily. I have 1000 and 1 permanantly made up in a bucket to clean the carpets and you can smell wee as soon as you walk into my house!!!

My own DD is 2 weeks older than her and has been fully trained for a few months now so I think mum feels under pressure from that! But I ask mindee if she needs the loo, she says no. I take her to the toilet and she wont do anything. It's driving me bonkers!!!

[mushpea]

Well I guess getting grumpy with her worked cause she had no more accidents and went to the toilet twice more,, they say you shouldnt tell em off but in this case it seems to have worked

[Weeze1979]

Congratulations, you got there in the end!!
Hope the next few days/weeks go just as well!

Weeze x

[appleblossom]

If children cannot tell me when they need to wee/poo then I consider they are not ready. I would not let a child go into my sitting room if they were continually having accidents; and it's not fair to exclude in this way so I have a policy of not potty training until they are ready.

Over the years I have minded several children who have not been ready until after their 3rd birthday. But they were all reliably using the loo before they went to school.

We work in our homes and cannot be expected to be constantly cleaning up urine and faeces. Apart from the health and safety aspect all that time you are cleaning is time away from providing care for the children

[magicminding]

I'm having issues here too, my little one decided to wipe poo all over the travel cot blankets, needless to say I am NOT amused

[sweets]

i use pampers bed mats on my fabric sofa while LO's are potty training i also have one in thier car seat.

[Noomie]

My DD started training on Sunday - her choice, not mine. (I had tried a month earlier and although she seemed there, she wasn't quite). But she now seems determined to train and up until today was having a 50-50 success rate. I think she almost needed to have the accidents and be free of nappies (including pull-ups) before she could come to terms with it all. Today was 100% success with her not even needing reminding - she came to get me when she needed to go.

I wonder what would have happened if I was working and she was at a childminders (as she was only a year ago)? What would have been the childminder's view. She can't sit on the furniture / go in certain rooms because she will (not may btw, will) have an accident? Childminder being fed up with my daughter as she was weeing / pooing everywhere?

I get what you are saying, cleaning up even my own daughter's accidents got to me at times (and the other minded children - one in particular), especially when I was very busy. But she needed time and patience. And so on Day 5 we had no accidents.

Edited to say - Day 6 may bring accidents again. I still would like to think that another childminder would have the patience to help her train that she needs.

[keatingschick]

I also hate potty training. I look after a little one who will be 3 in August. Personally I dont think he is really, he tells me SOMETIMES he has poo'd, but an equal number of times he will swear black is blue that he HASNT poo'd even though there is a steaming cloud that makes my eyes water following him around!
A few weeks back mum mentioned re her potty training him, I've always avoided the issue and wait til she mentions it cos I hate it so much lol.

My theory is if the parent thinks the child is ready then I go with them BUT what I say is the child MUST be more hit than miss. I say that if they want to try it then they must start at home, and have time where there is a few days to get a good idea if the child is grasping it..I explain that EVERY child has accidents and its parr for the course in the early stages, BUT if a child really IS ready, then they will be having less and less accidents, and that if a child is going thru their stack of "spare clothes" then they are not ready and explain that I am not on my own and cannot dedicate all my time to following a child around with a potty and constantly asking if they need to go.

So...this mum mentions it to me, and so I ask if they are doing it at home etc and how is he doing. We have a chat and she says she was intending to speak to me in a few weeks and suggest us trying here, she said he is ok to wee but not poo in the potty/toilet etc. I explain this is very common and reassure her that alot of children have that hang up. But then she mentions that over the weekend sum1 suggested putting pants/shorts on and he wet himself, and so it comes out that at home he just wears no bottoms and she is quite shocked that I am not prepared to do that here.

I explain that I am not being funny, but that I cannot have a semi naked child running around and list the reasons:

visitors/ofsted/delivery people/postman/window cleaner etc
other children "investigating" and hygiene aspect of this
the fact that accidents are "contained" when wearing clothes but without clothing the accident ends up on the floor/chair etc and other children can touch/taste/slip on...
etc
etc

But the issue hasnt been mentioned since thankfully cos I hate potty training lol!!

[Noomie]

Oh and the first few days, my DD wanted to be naked from the waste down. It helped her at first and over the days we have now gotten her to wear pants. It just helped her to begin with. Wee goes through clothes, we just had to keep an eye out for the other which only didn't make it to the potty once.

[keatingschick]

Oh and the first few days, my DD wanted to be naked from the waste down. It helped her at first and over the days we have now gotten her to wear pants. It just helped her to begin with. Wee goes through clothes, we just had to keep an eye out for the other which only didn't make it to the potty once.

The thing is Noomie, you cant really have a mindee naked around the house. What if someone visited? Other parents, early years, ofsted, little boy in question LOVES running to the door if the postman knocks. But also children will touch etc and also for me one of the issues was the child maybe touching their bottom etc and then touching toys, or their mouths, I feel its a hygiene issue. Also we visit groups and obviously cant take a semi naked child to groups/library etc.

My TAKE on potty training I say that the child must be more HIT than MISS, meaning that if the child is wetting themselves 9 times but managing the potty once, then yes its going to be difficult to carry on minding the other children whilst constantly cleaning up/mopping etc, but also its SORT OF saying the child isnt ready and so can be a stressful situation for the child. IF the child IS ready then there are going to be less accidents and so less stress for the child.

I have had parents who say they are potty training, but they will bring the child to me in a nappy, expect me to take the childs nappy off and put them in underwear all day, but then FREAK at me, when I go to meet them at the end of the day with the child in underwear as they are going in THEIR car and "what if he has an accident?" grab the child and the bag off me and dash to the school toilets to make sure they are nappied up before going in their car.

[Noomie]

Are you assuming , keatingschick, that I am taking my DD out to toddler groups half naked? In this weather? I am potty training, not an idiot|! Also my front door is locked so no escapees. I am the only one allowed to answer the door due to many safety issues. It's a big assumption to make that I parade anyone around naked in front of visitors, including my DD!

The thing is keatingschick, I do encourage her to wear pants and trousers and would put them back on her. But after she had a go on the potty as she wanted to. She was getting the feel for when she needed to go. So trousers and pants would come off and she would spend time going through the motions, even if it was a false alarm. Then we would put everything back on again. It would be off again soon, going through the motions again. It did take time but this constant stripping helped her.

Potty training must happen. I would hope that as a childminder, I would help all the children I mind as much as their parents would at this tricky time. I'm not talking about children who aren't ready, but those that are. They will have trouble. Accidents will happen.