Case Study 3
As we saw from this weekend, potty training touches every part of a child’s life; and conversely, everything in the child’s life will also effect potty training.
We covered a lot this weekend, and talked about some big topics such as boundaries and transition periods.
I am happy to say that A is potty trained! All in only a day and a half!
A has gone the entire weekend without the use of any diaper-like products, and we anticipate never to use them again. He took the weekend in stride, showing no resistance to the potty or its function.
We have been able to consistently rely on him just taking himself to the small potty, pulling down his own pants, and waiting until he is finished to pop back up. The only thing we would do, is remind him occasionally where his small potty is at that moment, should he feel the need to use it.
We keep the small potty in the exact same spot. The only time we did have an accident was when he felt the need to pee, moved to the spot the potty was last time, forgetting that we had moved it. When this happened, we had him help clean up the accident as much as possible.
He seems to have predictable pees every hour or so. Some specific times being 9:30 and 11:45 am.
When these times have passed and a pee has not arrived, usually a gentle reminder to use the potty if he needs it, and stating its location was enough.
If you find that this is not the case at school, I would prompt him at transition times only, i.e. after lunch and before going outside, as he becomes very immersed in play and will doubtful stop and go if you ask.
A also seemed to forget sometimes to pull his pants back up. Gentle reminders of the order of operations might be helpful to him: “Go. Pants. Underwear. Sit. Pee.” Then “Stand. Wipe. Underwear. Pants. Flush. Wash.”
We decided not to offer ecstatic or out of the ordinary praise, instead offering a pleased “thank you.”
A seems to really have it down. He’s able to recognize the feeling to go, and immediately act upon it, even if that means dropping whatever he’s doing to make it to the potty. He’s shown himself to be very capable and independent, and I would keep encouraging these traits.
If he has a hang up at daycare, the first thing would be to remove the underwear and go back to commando at home.
You can carry the small travel potty around in the trunk of the car for emergencies. If you know you’ll be out for over an hour, I’d be sure he at least sat and tried to pee before leaving, since he didn’t seem keen about peeing in the trunk of your car. Which is totally understandable.
I’d also continue to work on prefacing every transition with exactly what you’re going to do. First, Next, Then.
He seemed to get sidelined once he expected something that wasn’t acknowledged as something to be excluded from the plan. “ We are not having a snack in your bed tonight.”
The other things to think about are choosing the boundaries that matter and really holding them, and also choosing the things that you are willing to say yes to on the first ask.
The first few times of really meaning that “no” will be critical to him believing and trusting that your boundary is not crossable in the future.
This weekend brought so many things to think about, but mostly one thing to celebrate:
A absolutely crushed it this weekend!!
Congrats, guys.