Potty Training

Question

I am a newcomer to Positive Discipline and am thoroughly enjoying the lessons I’m learning each day and week. I am the mother of a 2.5 year old girl and am expecting another baby in May. I am a stay at home mom, and my husband works out of the home, so we’re both around all the time. My approach to parenting up to now has been a combination of a Mary Poppins “firm but fair” style and utilizing the same techniques my parents used with me which were consequential in nature – I’ve been using time outs and a light spank on the bottom in rare cases (which I am now eradicating from my “toolkit”). Whenever I discipline my daughter in any way, I always explain to her what I have deemed as inappropriate and I try to give her examples of more acceptable behaviour in the future. Any act of discipline is always wrapped with how much I love her – always.

About my current challenge – toilet training: I’ve read your past frequently asked questions, and I feel I have a behavioural versus physical issue to address. I believe it comes down to control. I am hoping that you can help diagnose that this is the case and prescribe some new approaches for helping correct the behaviour. Since she is 2.5 and we have a baby due just one month before she turns 3, I am a little worried about her regressing as well.

Here’s a rundown on how we’ve approached toilet training thus far: