People who have used bribes/rewards, how did you do it?

[PrincessBuggerPants]

TL;DR Should you offer a reward for each time they sit on the potty, or just when they wee and poo? Can you mix rewards? i.e. YouTube to sit on potty but sticker/chocolate only if you do a wee or a poo?

Should the sticker go on the potty for a two year old? At 26 months is he too young for a sticker chart?

Some background: We had a disastrous attempt to potty train our two year old using the Oh Crap Potty Training method in November. We spent two weeks at the first stage, had no wees in the potty during this time and only poos on the first day, and our toddlers resistance got progressively worse until he was point blank refusing to even go near the potty and getting more and more agitated. This behaviour was the same at nursery who were supportive of our efforts.

While we have abandoned our efforts to potty train for the time being/until it gets a bit warmer, he does have some nappy off time each day at his own instigation and have left the potties out. In fact we had initiated potty training in the first place due to nappy refusal. While he will occasionally chose to sit on the potty he has never wee'd or pooed on it.

Last night during nappy off time he needed a wee, and started weeing on the floor. I quickly, as per Oh Crap Potty Training instructions, grabbed him and sat him on the potty. He stopped mid-flow and refused to do the rest of his wee on the potty. Got up, and started to do a wee on the floor a couple of feet from the potty. This occurred FOUR TIMES. He even refused to wee standing up into the potty as I tried to catch some of his wee. He thought the whole thing was hilarious.

I was on a Zoom call with my parents at the time, who while not the authority on everything, have potty trained three of us, helped with the potty training of nieces and nephews and have experience working in early years education. They said that it was the first time they had ever seen a child be able to stop mid-stream like that. FWIW he was able to hold it for 5-6 hours when we were doing Oh Crap Potty Training.

We can often get him to sit on the potty by giving him a phone with YouTube videos of things he likes on it and he occasionally sits on the potty of his own violation particularly if we are going to the loo at the same time, but that won't make him wee or poo!

I've never offered a reward for using or sitting in the potty, and I've potty trained 2 of my own and helped potty train countless other children. They don't need a reward. Some praise when they do the toilet in the potty and encouragement to use it.

Would he sit on the toilet with a child seat on?
I gave stickers on a chart for a wee and a chocolate button for a poo. I think I did buy a toy for the first poo as he really didn’t want to do it.
But you can’t make them if they don’t want to. Can you leave it a bit longer?

Try moving to using the toilet. Trust me if he can stop mid flow and continue to piss on the floor, he knows fine how to use the potty. He needs to be told off for that every time. It's not ok to pee in the floor, or anywhere else in the house.

Forget about a potty. Go straight to a toilet seat. You'll need a step top eventually.
I'd use books instead of YouTube personally because I can't deal with tech tantrums from toddlers.

Chilling out sitting on the loo reading books or parent telling stories.

Chocolate buttons when something is produced on the toilet.

I've trained 3 very quickly this way but every kid is different.

As someone who openly admits to regular child bribery (getting dressed usually!) I wouldn’t for potty training. The reason I say this is because when my son caught into potty training, he’d get a big hoo ha and loads of praise. He started wearing and pooing on the potty like every 5 minutes! He obviously loved the praise so he’d do a little wee, then get his praise, then a bit more wee etc...

I think when the time is right they’ll take to it very easily.

Good luck!

Chocolate buttons for the toddler. Tiny cubes of cheese/roast beef for the puppy.

I can report that bribery appears to work better with humans than with dogs, based on a highly statistically significant sample of one of each (with no control group).

Wait, he's 26 months? That's quite young for a boy. Mine were all girls training at that age. He might be fine and ready, plenty of boys are but some won't be.

He won't sit on a toilet seat with a step. That was the first thing we tried. He is terrified of it.

During the two weeks we were doing the Oh Crap Potty Training method he became terrified of the potty too.

OK, it doesn't sound like he's ready.
Do you use pull ups instead of nappies? Easier to just get them on briskly.

I would say if you need rewards, you’re too early. 27 months is the most successful time on average, and boys are slower.
We faffed around with occasional potty use for about 4 months (while wearing nappies) when it clicked for my daughter very noticeably and she asked to wear pants. She had two accidents the first day (both in the bathroom before we could get her trousers down) and after that was completely dry. (She was 27 months, coincidentally.)
My son is approaching 28 months and can use the potty before his bath but only otherwise in isolated incidents. I plan to offer it whenever we can and show him the underwear I bought but otherwise I’ll wait for the click.

We use reusable nappies. Hence why we have nappy off time rather than faffing about with pull-ups, pants, trousers etc.

My son was 27 months too. Tried at 2 and he wasn’t interested. Tried at 2 years 3 months and he nailed it immediately

Btw potty training was very different for our parents because nappies were so rubbish then and kids felt and behaved differently wearing them. And if your parents are anything like mine their memories of training you may not be accurate.

My dd always loved putting money into her tin. So every time she had a wee on the toilet she got money to put into her tin. Only penny's but it worked.

She's obsessed with putting money in. She I often empty's my purse if she finds it ! So yes she has notes now (without my say) haha x

Ha, so true about the selective memories of our parents! Mine were the same. I don't think it's unusual for a determined child to be able to stop weeing mid stream. He'll be ready soon I'm sure.

The only bribe I used was youtube to get him to sit and stay on the potty.

I still use it now (DS is 4) when he is going through an 'I don't want to' phase.

@Twizbe YouTube will get him to sit on the potty, but not wee or poo.

Sorry not read whole thread but I've just potty trained my 3 year old and was considering going along the bribery route but in the end we bought a potty that looked like a toilet with a flush button that made a sound. She was excited to use the flush button but I told her she could only use it if she sat on the toilet and did a wee. That bit of bribery really worked. Two weeks later she is completely dry and using the main toilet as well even though when I tried previously she would scream the house down if sat on it.

It’s a few years since I potty trained my dd, but we had to have 2 attempts. First time I thought she was ready, but just had no clue and no inclination. Second time, about 3 months later, she knew what was supposed to happen as we had a read a really good book many times about potty training, but she would go to the potty and then pee next to it! WE scrapped the potty and got a seat with steps for the toilet and then just for a couple of weeks she would get one sticker for a wee on the toilet and two for a poo. It helped her get the idea that they needed to be in the toilet and she was completely dry after 2 weeks.

Currently potty training my 2 year old and we've got a sticker chart. At the moment it's every three stickers she gets a biscuit or a sweetie. I know it's not for everyone but it's working for us.

I trained my eldest DS at 26 months with the help of chocolate buttons. One for a wee, two for a poo. It worked.

Then I tried the same method with DS2 at 28 months. After the first successful wee and lots of praise I gave him the promised chocolate button.

What did DS2 do? Started wailing and demanded 'want packet!' No, DS, you don't get a full packet of chocolate buttons for one little wee!

Needless to say we abandoned that idea

[quote PrincessBuggerPants]@Twizbe YouTube will get him to sit on the potty, but not wee or poo.[/quote]
Give it time. I found I had to let my DS watch it for ages before he wee'd but eventually it would get quicker

I would be wary of offering a reward, some seem to cotton on and you find they go for numerous tiny wees throughout the day for a button. If your patience can hack that then fair play, personally I would wait until showing more signs of readiness.

We used chocolate rewards - 1 Smartie for trying, 2 for a wee and three for a poo. Worked really well for us.