Incentives for using the potty? Do you bribe?

[Anonymous]

How do you make potty training successful? Friends told me they bribed their kids with candies....*sigh*

We started potty training our son and he's scared - all weekend, he pooped in his diapers at night while in bed. To make it something for him to look forward to and less of a chore, I allowed him to watch cartoons on YouTube using HIS Kindle (husband got it specificly for him but he didn't have any interest before). This morning my husband decided that bribing with the Kindle isn't a good idea because he refused to let go of the gadget and the potty chair. But it's ok for our son to use during play time....oyyyyy...

[Anonymous]

M&Ms baby. M&Ms all the way. It worked for me, it worked for my kid.

[Anonymous]

If your child is scared, he is not developmentally ready to potty train. Just as you can't force a child to walk, you can't force a child to pee or poop on a toilet. Take a break and try again in a few months.

[Anonymous]

You should never use food as a reward or a bribe. Try a sticker chart.

[Anonymous]

I told DS that when he started using the potty like a "big boy",we would change his crib to a "big boy bed" (toddler bed). After about 2 weeks of talking up how cool a big boy bed was, he used the potty and demanded his big boy bed. He had 4 accidents in the next 2 days, but was totally potty trained after that.

Now I'm trying to talk him into switching to a bunk bed.

We never used food as treats, but my niece used raisins as a bribe for her kids.

[Anonymous]

DD was fully trained at school and they were asking us to start sending her in underwear. But at home she refused to use the potty. We tried a sticker chart and it was like magic - within 24 hours she was consistently using the potty at home, and has had three accidents in three weeks.

To be honest, our sticker chart isn't even a "chart" - it's just a big piece of paper that she haphazardly covers in stickers. Now, three weeks in, most of the time she just forgets about the stickers anyway. I don't offer them unless she asks.

[Anonymous]

M&Ms. It only lasted about 2 weeks, then she forgot to ask for them and I never offered unless she asked.

[Anonymous]

i give my kids the moon when PTing. It only lasts about 2-3 weeks than it becomes a natural thing and they stop asking. Until that point though anything goes! You know what I found works best though? A constant stream of ridiculous over the top praise. Songs, dances, clapping, jumping up and down...make it as over the top as you can!

[Anonymous]

M&Ms. What's more, I also bribed the older siblings with M&Ms. The more the youngest got to the potty in time, the more M&Ms for everyone. Trained in one weekend.

[Anonymous]

M&Ms for sure

[Anonymous]

My kid was in daycare when he started potty training. Seeing all his friends out of pull-ups was what did it for him. No bribing necessary.

[Anonymous]

DS whom I bribed w/treats doesn't seem to have any food issues. He's an adult now. Do I still need to be worry that I scarred him in some way?

[Anonymous]

I'm currently bribing. He's not biting, though.
We offer a jelly bean or choc covered raisin. We also set up a sticker chart and when he fills in 6 stickers he gets a little hot wheels car. He seems very excited about that but he's still not interested.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DS whom I bribed w/treats doesn't seem to have any food issues. He's an adult now. Do I still need to be worry that I scarred him in some way?

So long as you don't still have to give him M&Ms after he heads to the throne, I think you're safe. (PP is going overboard.)

[Anonymous]

Question--our DS has been doing pretty well peeing on the potty but absolutely refuses to poop on the potty (and will not go at all when we try to do no diaper all day until he gets a nighttime diaper right before bed). So he's been getting an M&M every time he pees on the potty for a month. What would you do at this point? He's 2.5.