Potty Training and other Thoughts

We have been potty training Korbin since October 2007, 9 terribly long months! This is completely frustrating and irritating to me that my child who knows the meaning of discombobulated will not go to the bathroom!

We have tried everything from m&m/jelly belly rewards, sticker charts, toy buying, spanking and even, money. Nothing has worked! To say we have a strong willed child, is an understatement. I am tormented that my little guy will go to Sam's Club, My In-laws, or Red Robin and go to the bathroom but at home he will not.

I have read every book that can get my hands on and they all say the same thing. Every child potty trains at a different rate and that we just have to be patient, it is his thing to do and he is the only one to do it.

I agree with all of this, but none the less, he is still not going to the bathroom at 3 1/2, how much longer do I need to be patient? Until he is 46?? I read and article today on strong will children and thier potty training, and thier advice was simple: BACK OFF!

It simply states that Korbin may feel that the only thing he has control of is going to the bathroom. So, stop asking him, stop forcing him, stop nagging him. Just simply explain that you are going to leave the potty training up to him and do that.After all it is his accomplishment.

Today, I am going to the store and going to buy Korbin some pull ups. Then I am going to let him pick out his favorite candy and some cool stickers. Tonight, Rod and I are going to tell Korbin that we have so many days until our family camp out with our church. Then, I am going to show him the chart I made for that shows him how many days until the camp out. And each day we can either cross off the days or put a really cool sticker on it if he goes potty. It is up to him. Then, I will also tell him that the candy is a reward that he gets each time he goes, but mommy and daddy are not asking him to go to the potty or making him go in there anymore.Neither is anyone else.He is a big boy and he knows when his body is telling him that he has to go. But if there are more lines than stickers on the camp out chart- then we can not go camping.

Rod and I are just more stressed than we need to be about something that we really can not make him do. This is our option to give Korbin more control over this and hopefully we will see some consistent results from this.