Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion potty training issues

The more I read on this sight the more I'm convinced amh is gifted. She is over 3 years old and has absolutely NO interest in potty training and ASKS for her diaper..demands a diaper. I've tried rewards, taking things away(computer, books, gum, dresses), nothing works. Let her run all day without any bottoms on and still peed and pooped on the floor, chair, down her leg. I even threatened a spanking...NOTHING is working. I feel if I give up again and try again in a month it will just be harder because that is the pattern so far. She shows no signs of being ready but can read, work the computer, cook, remembers specifics from when she was 12 months old....c'mon preschool is 3 months away????? What do I do???????

I had luck with the method in this book. I found it at the local library.
http://www.amazon.com/Toilet-Training-Less-Than-Day/dp/0671693808

thanks, I'm on the phone with the library and they have it...gotta go pick it up

You may also want to read some of the good and bad reviews on Amazon. Parents seem to either love or hate it. Good luck!

I'm ready to try anything other than giving up...I know she CAN do it she just does not Want to do it.

My DS5 was like that, too! He didn't PT until 3.5. I am absolutely convinced that the only reason he did was because I was at the end of my rope and just flat out refused to ever change another diaper on him. It was a battle of wills and I think the maniacle glint in my eye told him it was one he couldn't win, LOL. Even still it took 5 days of solid resolve (and lots of Resolve) for him to believe me that PTing was the only way to get me to stop carrying him to the bathroom every 10 min and interrupting his play. I joke that I nagged him into PTing, but it's actually pretty close to the truth.

FWIW, my DS7 and DD2 both PTed right around 2, so you're not doomed to only having hard to potty teach children Good luck!

Been there done that with an extremely strong willed dd. I'm about to start potty training child #4 in a few weeks, as soon as school ends; I'm so not looking forward to it.

With dd, we went cold turkey, a few weeks before preschool started (she was 3y4m). I gave her full warning - starting Sunday there will be no more diapers, etc. Naked from the waist down. We went nowhere (except for the backyard with the plastic potty).

The first day, she managed to hold it all day long. At bedtime I put a diaper on her and she then peed and pooped. So, no more diapers at bedtime. It took about a week.

The downside of this approach when combined with very strong-willed dd was that the following week, a UTI turned up, from her holding it so long.

I used the same approach with my twin boys, though fortunately they weren't as strong-willed. It still took about a week of being naked (it was cold outside - hardwood floors were a good thing). I'm planning to use the same approach with ds who is about to turn 3.

Maybe I'm the only one, but when I reduced the pressure (a/k/a gave up) DD3 advanced, and when I got excited about her progress and tried to push her toward the next level she regressed. Long story short, she was fully (night & day) potty trained by the time she was 2 1/2. My belief is that if I had let go sooner she'd have been done sooner, and if I'd pushed harder she'd still be wearing diapers.

That said, she showed interest in potty training from a very early age. Perhaps if that is not the case for your child, more intensive potty training is necessary. I don't know. Anyway, good luck.

I have one of those--DD will be 3 in a couple weeks, and has no interest in the whole potty thing. She, too, brings me a diaper, and has even demanded a diaper immediately out of the bathtub because she had to poop, and sure enough, she pooped in it as soon as it went on, so she knows when it's about to happen. DS6 was a complicated one for potty training for a number of reasons, but not like this. He was fully night-trained and pee-trained at 2.5, and then we moved across the country, my mom died two months later, we moved again, and he lost all knowledge of the process. And he has always had constipation issues, which made it that much more difficult because he got used to it hurting and still has "holding" issues today. But DD is just plain stubborn!

Okay, this really made me laugh.

Although the UTI - not so funny. But I can relate with the stubborn, strong willed DD who knows the drill and rejects it.

Just today, however, DD 28 mos.'s new preschool started working on her potty skills. So I'm getting expert help from her preschool teacher with 20 years of preschool experience and 5 students age 3-4 who are potty trained. Good luck to them all.

At home, DD has potty trained herself quite well: Nature Girl disrobes and goes in the garden. I scoop hers along with the dog's. Hey, I'll take it.