Independance: Potty Training

Sounds like the reward time. It usually goes great in the beginning then stagnates like this so I bring out the M&Ms. You can try stickers but my kids needed the candy LOL

Just keep taking her to the potty. Don't ask her if she has to go, just say, "It's time to go potty!" If she says she doesn't have to go, just say, "Well, it's time to try!" Chances are, once she is sitting on the potty, she will go. At some point, she'll just start going on her own, and when that happens, you can back off a little. It takes time for little ones to figure this out. Rome wasn't built in a day.

Catherine C said exactly what I was going to say, you don't ask or suggest, you just take her. If she goes, great, if not, that's fine just come back in half an hour or so. There's no pushing and there's nothing forceful about it at all. This is why it's called potty "training" you are training them to go in the potty!

Just keep on keepin' on. You can change your phrasing a little so that you're not asking her to go, but more like, "It's time to use the bathroom, Samantha." If she says "no" give her that little bit of control in the moment that first time. If you think she may have to go soon and you have that feeling she'll have an accident in twenty minutes then remind her again in ten minutes. "All right Samantha, we missed the last trip to the bathroom but we're going to make sure we go this time. We'll come back to ACTIVITY as soon as you're done on the toilet."

This way she has some control over the situation and she also gets a reassurance that she won't miss out on her very important activity. Plus she'll get the bonus that she won't miss out on even more time on her very important activity by having to change her skivvies and pants from an accident.

I agree with both Melissa J and Catherine C. To add to Catherine's remarks, does she have a favorite book that she loves for you to read to her that is not actually a bedtime book? Have that be the "sit on the potty" book. Every time she goes with you to the potty, you read it to her.

She is still really young at two to not have any accidents. So please don't make this a tug of war at all. It's okay to have accidents - even older kiddies have them.

And like Melissa says, candy, just a little bit, like the M&M's is good - I did that and it worked like a charm.

Dawn

did you do a rewards chart to begin with? i would suggest going back to it if you have stopped now.

also, and i know this is not going to be popular - when my son was around 3 1/2 and had been potty trained for a little while, i think the "fun" wore off (he no longer got an m&m for pottying, he was expected to just do it.) and he decided it wasn't a priority anymore. it was full out a discipline issue at that point. he was being disobedient out of laziness and stubbornness. he decided he'd rather play. so yes, i admit, maybe 2 or 3 times, i did put him in timeout for accidents. he knew better. i knew without a doubt he knew better. i didn't get mad and i swallowed my frustration and just explained that if he decided not to go to the potty like he was supposed to, he would sit in time out. and it nipped it in the bud.

I would just leave her in underwear. That is what I did with my son when he was two. Also, I didn't ask if he wanted to go to the bathroom (he would always be way too busy), I just announced it was time to go. If he didn't think he needed to go, I just said it was time to try. I never did rewards, so I do not see any need for them. Just the expectation that pee and poop belong in the toilet. My son was pretty much accident free within two weeks BUT he did not start heading off to the bathroom on his own for a long time. I think it is perfectly fine to remind her when it is time to go.

My DD did the same thing. I bought her 2 packs of underwear... the PRETTY ones that she loved, and some plain jane white ones.

She had to earn the pretty ones. If she pottied in the toilet, she got to wear the pretty ones! After that, every potty (or poop) in the toilet got her a fruit loop.

If she had an accident in the pretty ones, she had to wear the plain ones until she went in the potty.

She wore underwear all the time when we were at home, but I didn't put pants on her. MUCH easier to clean up her mess and see when she needed to go, plus she got to see her pretty underwear. lol. If we had to leave the house, I would put her in a pull-up. (Now she's at the point where she is wearing underwear out and about, but only if she potties before we leave. lol.)

My kids respond well to a timer. When the timer goes off, it's the timer telling them when it's time to go to the bathroom, not me.

The timer helped us expand the duration between trips as well. First we started with 20 minutes, then 30 minutes, then 1 hour. I have twins and one is well trained and the other is just starting to get the hang of it. For the one that is done, I don't really do the timer anymore, but I can still use the timer to my advantage if I need to. If he insists on not going but he needs to, I can say, "Ok. I will set the timer for X minutes and then we will go."

Generally speaking, introducing the timer has been helpful in multiple areas for me, not just potty training. But it only works if your child responds well to a timer telling them when it's time to do something.

I think you don't imply it's a suggestion or that she has a choice, and just say, "Time to go potty!" My guy never told me (still doesn't, just goes) that he had to go potty, so I've always said "Time to go potty!" when I think it's time. When he said "no" or "I don't have to" I told him "Yes, you need to try." Even now (he turned 3 in April and has been trained about a year) I tell him when we're going out he needs to go potty, like this morning before we went to the movies and when we got in the theater.

You could also refuse to let her wear panties since she's having the accidents, as a way to reinforce that she needs to go when you tell her to, and to remind her that you are the parent. It won't stifle her independence but could spur her to getting there.