About a month and a half ago I decided it was time to try to potty train Su. She’ll be three in March and can mostly dress herself so I figured she was ready.
She was enthusiastic about the idea, especially the pink Pull-Ups. She is going through (what I hope is) a pink phase right now, so pink underwear and pink Pull-ups were a big deal. The first week or two were really disastrous as she didn’t mind being taken potty but seemed to have no sense of her body, and didn’t want to sit on the potty for more than 15 seconds either.
I tried various things, rewarding her with candied ginger when she went potty (this was a big hit with F who appointed himself “Dispenser of Ginger” so that he could have a piece too), making her sit when she wet herself and so on. Nothing really clicked though.
After discussing the problem with S we decided that she was old enough for hair ribbons and that we would offer them as a reward for staying dry for three days.
The conversation between me and Su went like this.
Me: Su, if you can stay dry for three days, we’ll go to the store, just you and me and get you some hair ribbons.
Su: Pink hair ribbons?
Me: If you want, but I think blue would be nice with your eyes.
Su: No, I want pink.
So she stayed dry after a few false starts and now wears her pink hair ribbons to church every Sunday.
Totally not a motivator for me now or when I was a little girl. But she loves clothes and pretty things. She’s much girlier than I ever was, thankfully she loves to run and climb too.