7 Potty Training Ploys for Parents Desperate to Make Their Kids 'Go' (PHOTOS)

by Adriana Velez September 14, 2012 at 1:27 PM

Oh the crazy things we'll to do potty train our kids. We all know the basics: Start when they're ready. Keep big-kid undies and lots of towels handy. Be patient. Be really, really patient. No pressure!

Some of our tricks and tips aren't too crazy. Rewarding with stickers? No problem. Rewarding with candy? Um ... now you're getting controversial. Hanging out in the bathroom, just reading and singing songs? Someone looks a little loony. If our childless friends could see some of the other tricks we'll try, they'd never stop laughing. But they can laugh all they want. We just do what works!

Crazy Things We Do When Potty Training

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Dye the Water

You put blue food coloring in the water. Then, when your child goes to pee, it... VIEW MORE

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'Teen Mom' Style Evolution

Dye the Water

You put blue food coloring in the water. Then, when your child goes to pee, it changes colors. Neato! And silly. When guests come over and ask about the blue water, just look at them like they're nuts and say, "What color is the water in your toilet?"

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Comments 12

jalaz77

September 14, 2012 at 3:42 PM

I gave my middke child mini m&m's so I would give him a couple after going potty. It worked and he is not addicted to junk food or anything, or expecting candy after going potty. I will do anything to fast forward the potty stage!

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jessicasmom1

September 15, 2012 at 10:08 AM

M&Ms were a lifesaver for us, cherrios, a singing potty ......... DD was potty trained at 1 year old

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Facebook comment from Kathy Kalous

September 17, 2012 at 10:37 AM

How 'bout you just let the kid figure it out on their own? It works great! I put a little potty across from the toilet and let her sit when I was going pee. Then we worked up to taking off her diaper and letting her sit on the pot when I was going pee. After about a week of that she peed. I made a HUGE deal about it...From then on she was all for going potty on the chair.

I also think it worked because I never let my daughter sit in a dirty diaper the way some parents do. So she didn't like the feel of the dirty diaper on her skin.

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pupukeawahine

September 17, 2012 at 11:42 AM

The bubbles and the colored water are good ideas--wish I'd known about it when we were potty traiining! You could also start feeding them beets and tell them if they go potty, the water will be pink. My son thought that was funny, and it also got him to eat his beets :^)-/<

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BetaAlpha

September 17, 2012 at 2:10 PM

My son has the little urinal. He loves it.

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tyrelsmom

September 17, 2012 at 2:58 PM

I just start them potty learning from birth so they never know any different.

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Nonmember comment from sj76

September 17, 2012 at 3:03 PM

vodka?! come on ,too many people use any excuse to drink as it is ,our country has become a bunch of sots, the pantless thing works very well ,it didnt take long at all to train my 3 kids,i dont think kids should expect treats for everything that they do ,then they expect it all the time ,and they surely dont need all the junk food

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Facebook comment from Casey Hall

September 17, 2012 at 5:16 PM

Okay so I have three kids 2 girls 1 boy.. The Girls were super easy to train 1st one was trained by 14 months second one by 19 months now my Son on the other hand is far by the worse. He just turned 3 in May and still will not go he did for about a week then all at once stoped and started peeing in his pants so back to pull-ups :( I have tried EVERYTHING is this normal for him 3 and still in diapers?

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Kaymad41

September 17, 2012 at 6:22 PM

My daughter was a bull head. If you interrupted her during a movie, or play, or pretty much anything, she wouldn't go. She had no Interest. So on a 10 hour car trip we stopped about every 90 minutes, I would carry her from her car seat directly to the gas station bathroom, set her on the potty until she went, gave her a treat and put her back in the car seat. By the end of that one day she was potty trained. The big downside is the trip went from 10 to 13 hours. She always called gas stations "gas potty's" after that.

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wamom223

September 17, 2012 at 7:45 PM

tyrelsmom I have read a book about that but really wished I knew someone that had actually done it. Can you give us some more details on how you went about it? I know some people really hate on the idea of potty training from birth but I'm really curious about this.

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