The Woes of Potty Training

And this is why I blog...To inform anyone who happens to stumble across my blog that life isn't always a box of chocolates...Sometimes it's a carton of rotten eggs...

Potty training DearDaughter1 was a success! Within 2 hours of my first attempt to train her in undies, she learned very quickly how to go pee pee in the potty. We dedicated a full day of potty training and she went 12 times with ZERO accidents. She had 1 pee pee accident because we went out for a little bit, but she was back on track when we changed her. She also had 1 poo poo accident. Not too bad for the first full dedicated day in undies.

So, this week, I decided to keep my calendar clear to just keep things consistent with the potty training; even changing any errand runs until after the girls are in bed so that we are completely home to work on potty training. The only "appointments" I've kept are my exercise days at the gym because we pay for the membership and we cannot afford to waste days. Therefore, I didn't think an hour away from home would cause any disruption to the potty training, but it has.

Tuesday was a horrible potty training day. I didn't want to burden the child care supervisors to deal with DearDaughter1's potty training so I put her in a pull-up. She knew she could poop and pee in the pull-up and she did. As soon as she got a taste of peeing and pooping in the diaper again, she continued on with the trend of peeing in her underwear. I didn't want to discipline her just in case those were true accidents. Therefore, I was consistent with Dr. Phil's method of 10 trips back and forth to the potty. I knew that after the third consecutive time she went in her undies, DearDaughter1 was choosing not to go to the potty. I still continued putting her in underwear until bedtime. I then hyped up a potty party for Wednesday...

We stayed home all day on Wednesday and the potty training day went well. Only 1 accident, a poopy one. DearDaughter1 received lots of praises and rewards. I thought we were back on track.

Today has been a frustrating potty training day. We did go to the gym this morning, but I also kept DearDaughter1 in her undies. She was even very eager to go to the potty this morning while she was in her overnight pull-ups and I held a lot of hope for the day. When we got to the gym, I walked through the entire process with DearDaughter1. I even took her to the childcare supervisor and said, "When you need to go pee pee, go to the teacher and tell her that you need to go." Well, when I came back to the childcare center after my swim, DearDaughter1's shorts, undies, and shoes were soaked. I thought it might have been because she was too busy playing and forgot that she was in undies. So, I let that one accident go. Well, it is now 3pm and DearDaughter1 has not successfully gone to the potty once yet. It's very frustrating because I know that she knows how to go to the potty and I think taking DearDaughter1 back and forth to the potty 10 times will no longer work. It just seems like she doesn't care about going in her undies anymore and she would much rather just go in her undies and be changed than go through the potty process.

I really wanted to keep potty training a positive experience, but unfortunately, I finally decided to discipline DearDaughter1 after her 4th consecutive wet underwear. I know she knows how to use the potty. I chose to discipline her because she was getting lots of praises and rewards for going to the potty, but she wasn't receiving any consequences for not going to the potty. I felt like there was an imbalance of cosequnces. I thought to Scripture and how the righteous are blessed but also disciplined. I thought only rewarding but not disciplining was not adhering to Scripture. I dreaded the discipline, but I thought it was necessary.

Was I wrong? Could I have dealt with this in a more positive light?