About 6 weeks after we started potty training with Doodle, we headed to Disney for the weekend. He was doing awesome with the pee part (though pooing has been a struggle) so we weren’t really worried about it.
He was great the first day at Epcot but the second day something terrible happened: when hubby took him to go potty, the toilet flushed while he was sitting there and all hell broke loose. He refused to go the rest of the day until we left the park (though he never did have an accident).
And refused again the next day.
And now, ever since then, he won’t even try to use a toilet that automatically flushes. As soon as he sees it he starts saying “no potty! too loud! scary!” and refuses to even sit. And it’s become a big problem as more and more places from restaurants to airports to stores are installing them.
And the worst part is, there doesn’t seem to be any solution. He won’t sit, he won’t try and no amount of coaxing, convincing, begging or bribing does one bit of good. If he doesn’t want to go, that’s it.
At home it’s not a big deal because he can go whenever he’s ready and accidents are easy to deal with but when we’re out running around, driving places or traveling on the airplane, him holding it makes things over complicated and stressful because we never know when the sudden urge is going to hit him and then we’re in trouble hunting for a bathroom.
With all the potty training troubles we’ve had (and we’ve had a lot!) this has never been a problem. The girls were always easy enough to get to sit and at least try but Doodle just isn’t having it. And we’re headed to Disney again in a few weeks!
So what tips do you have for helping a reluctant or scared pottier (we think this is his problem with pooing as well) get over their fear and go without trouble?
Teach him to stand up and pee then it wont flush while he is going. Dad will need to show him to make it go easier in training. Luanne
Thanks, Luanne! He actually started doing this on his own recently so hopefully it will help (assuming he is tall enough for the toilets!) I’m also thinking of something special I can make up to put over the sensor to keep it from flushing that I can tell him is “magic.” (We used a t-shirt at the airport but I think a “magic potty something” would work even better in his mind!)
Have him stand on your feet if he is to short and try a sticky note to cover the sensor the come in all size and easy to carry
We tried the feet thing and it worked, great suggestion! We forgot the stickies but luckily it wasn’t a problem this time.