Am I pushing Kwabena too much with potty training? Is Miss Marilyn (his daycare provider)? I would like to say NO, but we have to read his cues. He's not going to say to me, "Mommy, chill out, will ya??" But it might come through in other ways.
At daycare he has been more resistant to potty training, though. Could be that Miss Marilyn is offering the big toilet to him and he's used to his small potty at home, which (as you can read in early potty training blogs I've written), he's done great using. But at daycare, he doesn't want to use the toilet usually, but after some urging from Miss Marilyn, he may pee. Yesterday after she took him off the toilet, he went and pooped in his diaper, and when she asked him if he pooped, he said no.
So, I believe there IS a bit too much pressure; Miss Marilyn agrees and has told me let's not pressure him going forward.
How do you define pressure, though?
Forcing a child to sit on the potty when they don't want to is definitely pressure. But creating environments where the child WANTS to use the potty isn't pressure. For example, at home, as long as Kwabi is diaperless, he will use his potty to pee and poop. That's no pressure from me. In fact, he thrives on my praise when he used the potty and insists that I come see his pee-pee in the potty. LOL
His potty used to sit in the living room, where it would be easily accessible. But I have since moved his potty into the hallway bathroom, so that he can begin associating going to the bathroom with the actual bathroom and NOT the living room. That's been going very well! A couple of times he has run to the living room in a rush to pee, and say, "Where's my potty?" before remembering it's now in the bathroom, where he then rushes to it and sits down to pee.
So now, my strategy is to get him comfortable with using his potty in the bathroom, and then after 2-3 weeks, I'll transition him to the big toilet, with a toilet seat. I think once he gets used to using the big toilet, he might be more willing to use Miss Marilyn's.
So if a child has proven they know how to recognize the signs of needing to pee/poop, doesn't it make sense to take them to the next level? I don't want my own laziness or uncertainty to prevent me from moving forward with potty training.
I have come to realize that kids are super smart and are able to be challenged now and then in order to prove to us and themselves what they are really capable of. I know that Kwabi is doing really well with potty training for his age (considering that many parents don't even attempt potty training until kids are closer to 3, whether it's because the child and/or parent isn't ready). And I am going to continue challenging him to see what he can handle. And if I notice that he's not ready to take the next potty training step, then I'll back off and give him more time to adjust before the next step.
I'll keep you updated!