Before you judge me, consider this: He was nearly pooping in the potty when he was about two and a half. The house we were living in was foreclosed and we had to pack everything, find a new place, and move within thirty days. We did this, and were getting settled into the new place. My son was just starting to get interested in the potty again, and THAT house was foreclosed on.
Due to a change in laws in the interim, we were allowed ninety days to find a place, pack, and move. Which we did. We are now in an apartment complex and have been for about a year. My son is starting to show interest in the potty again.
Even while he was not interested, we would encourage him to sit on the potty and ask him to pee in the potty. He's getting better. He's asking to sit on the potty sometimes and he's especially interested in daddy going potty, which is awesome.
At first, we were doing this incentive program my mother outlined, which did work originally. I would give my son a sticker for peeing on the potty. So many stickers accumulated would earn him a toy car. If he pooped on the potty he immediately got a toy car, but no stickers. This worked perfectly until my son found the stash of toy cars and opened them all.
Like I said, we continued to encourage interest in the potty and in going to the bathroom. However, it was slow going until I figured out a new way to do it.
Enter..... The Potty Chart!!
I have a rather small bathroom, but I figured that was the best place for the potty chart and to track my son's progress.
I bought the chart in the "teacher" section of my local Dollar Tree store. I also got a package of over 400 foil star stickers. I had a sharpie on hand (I think most people do). My son and I picked out the space themed chart because my son likes rocket ships. Total cost for this project, $2.12 after tax.
I counted up the segments of the chart, decided how many points I want to award, and sectioned off and titled the chart and the points.
There are 12 little squares, I have three points, or grades, I want to award for arranged in what I perceive to be the level of difficulty.
The first four segments are "Sitting on the potty" meaning just sitting there, not going potty at all, just kinda warming up. He would not get a sticker in this section right now if he pees or poops, only for sitting there without going. This might change once he starts peeing or pooping regularly in the potty.
The next four segments are "Peeing in the potty". He would get a sticker here if he pees in the potty even a little bit.
The final four segments are "Pooping in the potty". He would get a sticker here if he poops in the potty. I'm also thinking of picking up some pencils or something small to award also if he poops.
After I put the chart up, I grabbed my son and had him look at it while I explained it to him. I think he understands, but we shall see when it comes time. All I can say for sure is that he likes the chart.
I'll post back after a while to let you know how it's going. I'm hoping this is just the incentive my little man needs to get out of the diapers and into big boy pants!
Sweet
ReplyDelete