Beware the Potty Training “Fast Lane”

Tanya writes:

I was looking for some advice.

I have started training my 2 year old daughter 3 days ago following an ebook a friend sent me about toilet training your child in 3 days.  Well, it hasn’t worked and my daughter has become terrified of the potty.  She has learnt when she needs to wee, we now recognize the cues, but if we try taking her up to the potty she screams and cries.  We will take her out and a couple of minutes later she will pee in her underwear.  I am at a loss as to what to do.  I don’t want to stop now that I have started.  We are being positive, trying not to use any negative words and rewarding her if she does get any pee in the potty.

Any advice will be greatly appreciated.

Hi Tanya,

Thank you so much for writing.

I am sceptical on one trying to potty train a child in 3 days.  There is way more to potty training than just what can be achieved in a weekend.  However, to be honest, I have never tried this method although I am aware that many do.  The shortest time I have managed is 3 weeks, and that is with years of practice.  All children have different temperaments, so I think it is very hard to put them all in the same basket.  Trying to potty train a child in 3 days more often than not involves a lot of negative reinforcement from the parent and strict discipline from both parties, which to me sounds more stressful than potty training already is.

However, it sounds as though you have already made a little bit of progress; if your daughter now knows when she needs to go, and you know when she needs to go, then you’re halfway there.  Now you just need to get her to become comfortable using the potty/toilet.  I suggest that everybody take a deep breath and relax.

Try to guide her to the toilet instead of pushing her.  If you have the time, spend a couple of days in the house just concentrating on the potty.  If she has accidents in the first few days, don’t worry about it.  She will get there in the end.  I have posted several articles on potty training which give a few different techniques (see the “Potty Training” category), so maybe you could have a read through and see if there is one that suits you and your daughter.  Good luck, and don’t forget to let us know how it goes!