How should I toilet train my daughter?

Question

My daughter is seven years old and still wears day and night nappies. She has never wanted to use the toilet so i have not forced her to. However, she will be starting her preparatory school in september 2009 (she is homeschooled by a private tutor at the moment) and I really do think it is time she learned. are their any ways i could encourage her to start using the toilet without upsetting her or sounding bossy and pushy. Usually i would let her do what she wants, but i really don't want her to be bullied at her new school.

Also, she cannot really dress herself at all, and i suppose she will need to do that at her school. Will it just be to much to try to get her to do this aswell? I don't want to stress her out. Is it possible that she could come home to get changed for sports, or could I go in to change her?

Answer 1

wow 7 years old and cant dress herself or go to toilet, put her on toilet and reward her if she does something an she will realise thats what she is supposed to do, and start asking her to dress herself in the mornings and she will eventually do it herself

Answer 2

haha draw a happy face on a piece of paper and tape it too the toilet lol..it worked for my cousin..i dunno if it will help but its worth a try :)

Answer 3

Ok i helped alot to train my little nephew to go to the toilet by his self. I found that it was best to let him sleep with just normal pants on in bed. My sister bought a  waterproof bed sheet and everytime he wet the bed it was easy to clean up. Soon he got annoyed that he kept wetting his bed and this is when he gradually started asking us to take himto the toilet. This is a slow procedure but i found it very effective. I also left him without a nappy on around the house when he wet his self i changed him and tryed to encouragehim to ask me to take him to the toilet when he felt he had to go. Once he went to the toilet the first time he realised how uncomfy nappies were and basically never wore one again. Within 2 weeks when i started this he was practically going to the loo himself. Dont rush your daughter and don't learn her to dress herself at the same time, she wont be able to take it all in and wont learn anything. Hope this helped.

Answer 4

You haven't mentioned if your daughter has any kind of learning disabilities.

It sounds like she has been mothered too much.

These are all things a child should be learning from a very young age.

Children should be able to dress themselves form the age of five upwards and most children should be potty trained between 18 months to three years of age.

If your daughter starts school next year and can't do these things then years of bullying will probably follow (i know what kids are like)

Encourage her to start using the toilet and dress herself.

Answer 5

wow thats not good

well theres no way you HAVE to stress her out and make her do it

she cant hold a grudge forever she will be thanking you

nobody goes to their childs school and dresses them up for them because they cant do it thats so embarressing!

teach her NOW hire a nanny ,somebody this shouldve been done a long time ago

Answer 6

I do hope you are not serious. This is indeed a long time to keep a child in diapers and frankly, you will have a more difficult time training her as a result. Does she have any developmental or learning disabilities? If you are serious, I empathize for your daughter and you - there are some difficult times ahead.

I understand that your child means the world to you, and you feel as though you are doing good by letting her have her way, but in fact this is causing more harm. Without being mean or bossy, you need to put your foot down and just say, "this is how things will be". Start with teaching her to dress herself, this is needed before she can learn to toilet by herself.

Give her small tasks, such as, "put on your socks", or "help me with your shirt". Give her a sense of pride and accomplishment in her getting it right, but don't admonish her for any mistakes. I'm sure you do love her, and I'm sure you give her lots of praise. Now it is more important to do so.

If you are trying to avoid her being bullied, you have a tough task ahead. Though you are acting in her best interests by avoiding any stress, you may have unwittingly lead to the most stressful time she will have to face. Kids can be mean, and its a child-eat-child world so to speak. If she is in a poopy diaper and can't change her clothes, they will wreck havic on her poor mind.

After she can dress herself, even if she needs some assistence, introduce her to the potty. Go slow, have her sit while reading or playing simple games. Eventually, she will go, and you should reward that. It will be a slow process, but persistence along with praise will be succesful. Get some potty stories, videos, etc. to help as well.

Also, given her age and the difficulties, this may warrent a call to the pediatrician and perhaps some councling from a continence nurse. At the least, you may want to talk to some nannies who have experience in potty training - they may be able to help tutor her in that area too. This may also aleviate some of the "blame" off of you, at least in her eyes. If she is with a nanny who demands she learns to potty, and your out, you can always come "save" her later in the day.

You two have a rough, rocky road ahead; and frankly, it is one that may not end. She is near an age where it will be very difficult to fully potty train. After a certain point in life, the body locks in its habits; and if the potty habit is to just "go", then it may remain regardless of how much effort is put in. Are you ready to have a child who grows old and lives the rest of her life in a nappy?

Cheers!

PS: Something tells me this is not exactly a fully truthful question, is this?