Babies & Toddler Information

Potty Training Resistance

From your perspective, your child is resisting all your efforts to be potty trained. You have tried it all and are feeling frustrated because you cannot understand why your precious child does not want to co-operate with you!!

Think about the issue from your child's perspective.

The first thing I want you to think about is how you feel about your parents. Do you want your parents to be proud of your achievements? Do you have a desire to please your parents? Even as an adult, our desire to please our parents is very strong. So, try and imagine how strong this desire is when you are a toddler.

So, know and be reassured, that most typical children have a strong desire to please their parents and if have communicated to them your desire to have them go in the potty instead of the diapers, they do indeed want to do that, but for cannot fulfill your desires. Not only is this frustrating for you, but it is also frustrating for the child who really does want to please his/her parents.

So approach this from your child's perspective and hopefully you can figure out what the issues are.

Children are often unable to explain the problems they have with our parenting techniques, and you child's only option may be to resist your effort to potty train or toilet train him/her. When trying to discern the reasons behind the resistance, it may help to quickly review the following common causes:

• Confusion about the potty training or toilet training process or about what is expected of him/her
• Curiosity about what will happen if s/he resists
• Anxiety or fear about the process of elimination, or fear of the potty or the toilet
• Independence and control issues that make it hard for him/her to satisfy your wishes at this time
• Too much pressure to perform
• Inappropriate potty training or toilet training technique that does not suit the child personality or learning style
• Physical pain cause by an infection or constipation

So, figure out which one of these reasons could be the cause of potty training resistance and then develop and plan to help you child work through the issue you have identified.