So DS has been having a lot of potty accidents. A lot. The last three occasions were in the kitchen, at school, and--most embarrassing of all--Walmart. 2/3 of those times, he was told to go or asked if he had to go and he said no (or NO!) then proceeded to wet his pants during the struggle. I work at his school and I get 3 opportunities to take him to the bathroom personally, but that leaves two hours where he it's up to him and his teacher to make sure he stays dry. It also happens during or after a little nap in class or in the car, even if he went potty before dozing off. He has NEVER had an accident anywhere else, not even during an 8 hour day at Six Flags with 3 potty breaks
I have tried punishing, threats and verbal praise, with some scattered rewards. I started to think on the long stinky ride home that maybe I need to be more structured in my approach. I considered him done potty training in July, but maybe he's really not done. So I thought I should attack this phase of potty training--knowing when you have to go and making it on time--like I did the last phase. And I pushed his bedtime up half an hour to make sure he's not so tired at school.
I started printing up a star chart, just like the one I posted in the bathroom over the summer. That one worked very well; he's still asking for his reward jar long after the decorated frosting can was re-purposed into a cup for bobby pins. But in my zeal, I made a huge misstep.
Short on candy or fruit snacks, I searched for a small toy to offer up as a "dry prize". I reached into a bag of birthday toys that never made it to the party, grabbing for a $1 hot wheels car. Ooops! I pulled out the $3 monster truck instead. DS just.......LOST it! He was so excited to get his prize tomorrow. I thought: then what? Go buy another one? Heeeeeeellllllll naw!
So I think tomorrow I'll scale back: pick up a bag of Dum Dums and offer those for every day he stays dry, then give him the truck for staying dry for a week, just like 5 poops meant Chuck-E-Cheese back in the summer.
Does that make me dishonest to tell him he was going to get a monster truck, then not deliver? Should I just lie in the bed I made and stock up on monster trucks?
Re: Scale Back or Stick to My Word (rewards)?
I would probably attempt to stay away from the toys, but if it backfires, I would imagine you could get away with something cheaper. Just hype up the "awesomeness" of whatever you get.
DS was 2 1/2 before I finally got him on board with even trying to potty train. I had bought a few 10pks of Hot Wheels on super clearance for my gift stash, so I offered one car every time he peed in the potty. It amounted to maybe one a week and by the time he was going regularly, he forgot all about the cars and I had given out only 5 or 6 of them.
We started giving them out again when we were working on pooping but this time, every time he pooped his pants, one got taken away and he had to earn it back. For a while, I had a parking lot lined up at the top of one of our shelves where he could see but not reach his beloved cars.