Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Potty Training in a Large Family

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We are in the process of potty training our sixth child here in Smockityville.

One of the challenges of potty training a little one while having a houseful of other children is that there is always something to distract me from reminding the little one to go potty before she has an accident.

I usually like to have the little one try to potty once an hour and that seems to keep her dry and clean all day. However, if I get busy nursing the baby, then putting a load of laundry in, then defrosting the ground beef, then helping with converting fractions to decimals, before I know it, more than an hour, sometimes MUCH more has gone by and the little one has had an accident.

One of the beauties of having a houseful of other children, though, is that they can be recruited to help with the potty training!

I keep a jar full of Skittles on my kitchen counter and I offer one Skittle to the little one when she performs the proper function in the proper place and one Skittle to anyone who witnessed that act and helped her remember to wipe, flush, and wash.

It is amazing how the children come alive with the intense desire to help when candy is up for grabs.

Since the key to successful potty training is frequency, this method works great because the children frequently like to usher her to the candy, er, I mean the potty.

Run out of Skittles, though, and all bets are off.

Go to Rocks In My Dryer for more great tips.

**Be sure to check out Ship Full O' Pirates for the "Help For Growing Families" series.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Connie,

Your link didn't work on my Mr. Linky. Can you please come back and re-do it?
Thanks,
Jenny

Anonymous said...

Super cool! It's working now! Thanks for joining in. I hope you'll play next week too!
Thanks,
Jenny

Jen said...

hey, my first comment here after lurking for a while. ;) The candy deal works for us. DD is just 3.5 but she still escorts our little 22 mo to the bathroom for me to turn on the light and/or to report what activity takes place. So, since we work as a team, Daddy thought it would be good to do the tag team candy routine. Definitely a hit, though it isn't so closely tied in with her witnessing the event, just in the event itself. It keeps things exciting and our little guy *loves* to cause excitement already. ;)

Linz said...

That is ingenius! :) I'm using candy in LTC practice and people are always using candy for other things but I never would have thought for potty training. That's awesome! lol. :)

rcsnickers said...

Love this idea! How does it work when your 2 year only wants Mommy to take them??? Then what? I love that my oldest will take the younger ones to the bathroom but most of the time it is Mommy they want! Thanks@

Pat's Place said...

Ahhhh! The value of Skittles! When I taught 1st grade I used Skittles as incentives. I told the children that the S stood for SMART and if I thought they needed a little encouragement, I would deposit a couple of "Smart Pills" on their desks to help them out with a difficult task. It worked! Sometimes...

Smockity Frocks said...

RC,
Mine wants Mommy too, but I just can't be everywhere at once. The Skittles lure her to go anyway.

Pat,
I used to pass out "Smarties" during test day when I taught elementary. Now, I heard that is against school regulations. ~rolling eyes~

Smockity Frocks said...

Jen,
I'm glad you came on out of Lurkdom!

Linz,
M & J are doing Bible Bowl in LTC.

Amy @ Amy's FMQ Adventures said...

"Usher her to the candy" Oh, this cracked me up! Love it! Too bad I don't consider a four year old capable of doing this for his 2 year old sister. Poor me. Maybe after a few years and a few children. Until then, I'll stick to my timer and candy rewards for myself.

Happy Mom said...

Love this idea! I'm pt'ing #5, and it's not going so smoothly, mainly because I take him, he doesn't go, and then before I remember to take him again he's gone....

There are two definitely old enough to help him and one who thinks she is (lol) so I'm gonna give this method a try! Now just to get them to take turns with the candy, er, training! Thanks!

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