The years before kindergarten your preschooler will grow leaps and bounds, mentally, emotionally and physically.
Parents share resources and advice about raising 3 to 5 year olds, including potty training, early education, behavioral struggles and more.
My middle child has been potty training for a few weeks now, we went with the bare bottom approach. She does great at home with going to the potty but she will not wear underwear at all!!! She hates it. Tips on getting her to wear them. I’ve done different sizes and styles so now what?
I have a 3yo who wants happy meals for breakfast,lunch and dinner 🤦🏾♀️ When i say no she will ask for noodles or paw patrol snacks!! I told her pediatrician about it and she said it’s just a phase. In reality I can’t continue that non nutritious path. She hates all veggies and burnt out on oatmeal lol. Any ideas for kid friendly meals?? Ps: I’m trying chicken quesadillas today🤞🏾
We are going thru the same thing here, i am hoping it is just a phase, just cant wait to get it over with it. On the bright side, she loves cellery so i try to always have that in the house. The only other things she will eat is chicken nuggets, pepperoni pizza and soup 🤦🏻♀️, oh and of course candy 🙄
My son is 27 months and I’m doing the three day thing. Just finished day one. I put him in big boy underwear and am being OVERLY enthusiastic about everything. (We are having a party in the bathroom YAY!) I set an alarm for every 10 minutes. When it goes off we run to the potty and he sits down and gets an M&M. If he goes potty he gets 2 M&Ms. It went really well. Poop and pee in the p... More
Y’all I need help. My 3 year old son chews his nails to nothing and then continues to chew the tops of his fingers. His finger tips look like he drug them on pavement, they’re raw and sometimes bleed! He moved to this after chewing his wrists to the point of being bruised. He does have a sensory processing disorder and the dr has said that may be his coping mechanism but he is hurting himself a... More
I have a 2 year old girl and she gets absolutely terrified every time I try to get her to sit on her toilet. Any tips or advance ?
Also maybe try sitting on the toilet while she sits on her potty. So you guys are doing it together?
Our 3yo hated potty training for the first 9 days. It was an absolute nightmare. The key things that helped us turn a corner were (1) stop prompting her so much about going potty (if she has an accident, she’ll learn about how “yucky” it feels and start to not want to have another accident), and (2) get a basket full of Dollar Tree rewards/toys for her that she got to pick from whenever she wen... More
I have a 3 year old who absolutely hates going to sleep at night. Every night is a struggle to get her to go to sleep. I’m pretty sure that if it was up to her, she’d stay up until midnight every night. Her nap time is 8 o clock, which I think is reasonable, and only takes one nap during the day around noon, for about 1.5 hours. We’ve tried no sugary snacks after 5, lavender oils, night time ... More
If she goes to bed @8 when does she wake up? She may be getting enough night sleep and the nap could be too long. I worked in a day care and for some 3/4 year olds we had to do 30 min nap or no nap as it cut into night sleep. Id def try cutting the nap down to an hr and if that doesnt help then down to 30 mins and if your still having problems at bedtime just cut out the nap then maybe move bed... More
My 3 yr old daughter is afraid of everything lately. She’s always been kind of clingy and scared of certain things -but lately it seems to have gotten worse. She has meltdowns if another kid even approaches her at the playground. A lot of the play areas we used to go to and she used to love she is now afraid of and just clings to me and asks to go home. She also bites her nails constantly - whi... More
I heard about this website on the podcast I listened to. Haven’t tried it out but sounds great! Specifically for kids with anxiety https://gozen.com/
I have a 3 year old who is amazing at peeing in the toilet and goes almost every single time but she will not go poop in the toilet! We have "praised" her and disciplined her and everything! We don't know what else to do!! Anyone else have these problems?
This is my daughter. She will pee on the toilet but not poop. She will be 4 in June. She doesn’t care, she will poop in her diaper and then say I have poo butt. There’s been 2 times she has voluntarily gone to the bathroom and actually pooped on her own. I am hoping she will just one day do it. Good luck!
I have a 3yo boy and we've been potty training for a little now. He wears underwear most of the time and only wears pullups at night. We have gotten to the point where he will try/go to the bathroom when I take him every hour or so (if he actually goes, i reward him). He has never gone #2 in the potty (he will run away and hide and go in his pants) even with bribes of a new toy he wants. ... More
Had same issues with my boy...hiding when he had to poop and actually getting very upset if we approached him during the act. What helped him overcome his what I interpreted as "shame", was normalizing pooping, go to the zoo and pointing out how every animal poops and also let him watch us poop to see we all doing it along with the book "everyone" poops.... nothing special w... More
Take away the diapers. Give him privacy. Don’t hover while you expect him to poop. Don’t ask, but rather tell him, “ it’s time to go potty now” if he has an accident. He must help to clean it up. Not handling poop per se, but loading the poopy pants into and out of the laundry. Wiping the floor. Make it inconvenient for him to keep doing this. 1 time per hour is not frequent enough if he is no... More
Hi all, we began potty training this week and so far so good, only a couple pee accidents and tantrums but hes getting the hang of it - we had no accidents or tantrums the last 2 days. We are using training underwear during the day, but still diapering during naps and overnight. He has not pooped in the potty; he normally only poops when he's sleeping. I am ok with a gradual transiton, c... More
How did you do it, how long did it take, what worked and didn’t work?
We did it the same time we started day potting training. We cut diapers cold turkey when my son was 3. We put about 2-3 layers of waterproof mattress pad and bed sheets so if he had an accident at night we could easily peel off a layer and have fresh sheets underneath. Then I’d wake him at 1130 and 2am to pee. We kept the potty by his bed so literally I got him out of bed, took off his pants an... More
My son pulled off his night diapers about 3 months after we started potty training, so we put the toddler potty with a boot tray under it in his room and when he would stir in the middle of the night, I would get him from bed in the dark and sit him on the potty. After about 3 months he started getting up on his own. He never really had any nighttime accident unless I slept through him waking... More
My 3.5 yo boy is so afraid of the water that every swimming lesson he cries and sometimes screams most of the half hour class. The supervisor is practically refusing to have him in the group class. Any recommendations?
I decided to be there earlier and go with him in the water to acclimate before the class. Then, when class started, I told him I was going to the bathroom, with the purpose not to be present. It worked 😀. He did his class and at the end I went inside the water just with him again to play and have fun just to reassure him water is fine and not to be afraid of.
Hi! My 3 year old is interested in cooking with me in the kitchen. Any kid friendly kitchen tools out there that you all can recommend?
Williams Sonoma and Pottery Barn often have great tools for kids, especially around Easter, they tend to have cute stuff on sale. I’m always lusting after it for my toddler. Lol! Right now they have adorable Harry Potter stuff! https://www.williams-sonoma.com/m/shop/gifts/gifts-for-kids/
My daughter is 3, and has a new sibling. I’ve noticed that she’s completely changed toward me. I do everything possible to make her feel included. And practice the normalcy that we had before( and it’s exhausting). But still, she’s changed. Looking for some advise to make me feel better about all of this, and how to reestablish our relationship so that she doesn’t feel disconnected.
How much sleep does your 3yr old get? We recently started experimenting with “quiet time,” rather than nap time. I have mixed feeling about it - on the plus my twins are going to bed around 7pm rather than 9. They also go down 100% easier and quicker. However, I’m worried they are not getting enough sleep ... they generally will wake up between 5 and 6 in the morning. They sometimes get cranky... More
Our 3.5 year old still naps every day for at least an hour & 1/2. He goes to school 5 days a week and they nap there so we just keep the routine on the weekends. Bed time during the week is no later than 8 pm. My son is very active and for his sanity, my sanity and the teachers- we push nap time!!
We went cold-turkey on naps at around 3... She now goes to bed at around 10 and is up at 7-8. Which works for us. We’re pretty anti-schedule, so we just let her go to bed when she’s tired and get up when she’s ready. Go by how your kid feels. That being said, on nights where we know she has to get up earlier, we lay her down way earlier. Listen to your kid’s body, not what they’re saying 😂 The ... More
Basically what it says in the title! Anyone else go through this with a preschooler? He potty trained at 3 and it was rock solid. After starting school a year ago he started to have the occasional pee accident (often when distracted by play) but very recently it’s gotten worse and he’s had a couple poop accidents out of nowhere including one at school. He’s not sick as far as we can tell and h... More
My son is a sensitive little boy. We been co-sleeping for 3 years and recently started him on his own room. The start was not bad. Yes he would come into our room sometime in the night, but quietly and we do not discourage it. Lately however he stopped coming to our room quietly and is crying loud in his bed most of the time also wet with pee. When asking what is wrong that moment or during day... More
Yup, we dealt with this too. We got our daughter a bed tent and a flashlight with a timer. https://www.amazon.com/Pacific-Play-Tents-House-Playhouse/dp/B000PTZMKO/ref=sr_1_6?keywords=bed+tent&qid=XXX-XXXX&s=gateway&sr=8-6 https://www.amazon.com/Animal-Desk-Night-Light-Flashlight/dp/B07BL5J2PC/ref=sr_1_5?keywords=led%2Bpet%2Blamp&qid=XXX-XXXX&s=gateway&sr=8-5&th=1 ... More
So my 2.4 year old has been ‘ready’ for potty training for a while, and took to peeing in the potty pretty much at her own initiative, and is doing great. However, pooping is a challenge: She mostly poops in her sleep, and I still have her in diapers at night and not started potty training her at night yet. Partly because she poops at night! She’s pooped in the bath once, and was pretty s... More
The first week potty training my son he held poop in then when he pooped it was uncomfortable and then he was afraid to poop on potty because he associated that discomfort with the potty. I gave him fruit smoothie to help his digestive system keep moving for a few days so he could easily go to the bathroom. I knew he had to go so I put him on the potty he tried to get up and cried mommy. I wrap... More
Thank you Aje that’s very helpful. And what a lovely and caring sounding mom you are- well done!- I’ll offer a smoothie or equivalent to get things going. Well done for your little brave man too!
My 3yr old is complaining about throat pain and he can’t eat anything besides cold popsicles. Runny nose but no fever. (Well he had a fever but it was 2.5 days ago). Every time I go to the pediatrician it costs me $160< out of pocket so I’m hesitant to take him if he just has a sore throat and cough. How do you parents figure out if your kid has strep or sore throat before getting a medica... More
If you ever have to pay out of pocket for prescription, check GoodRX.com, you will save a lot of money on it! Just passing along the info ☺️
I basically don’t take them in unless they have a high fever or a low grade fever for more than 24 hours. Strep also frequently presents with vomiting in young kids. If he seems uncomfortable, is not eating much, has a persistent fever or vomits then I would take him to the doc. Otherwise maybe give it a couple days’ rest and treat the symptoms with popsicles and children’s Motrin. Or call you... More
We recently found out we’re expecting baby #2. I want to start potty training my 22 month old son but have NO idea how to even start any suggestions??? We already have a potty for him out but that’s about it.
I’m was in the same situation. I’m expecting twins. My son is 17 months old we started 3 weeks ago and he hasn’t had an accident in two weeks. First before we brought the potty out even I’d let him come to the bathroom with me and my husband. We’d tell him we’re doing pee pee or poo or whatever and let him see then we’d let him flush. Also when he’d poop in his diaper I’d ask him if he did poop... More
Wearing panties kind of feels like wearing a diaper and can have accidents. My kids often don’t wear underwear. It’s really not a big deal. Prepubescent people don’t have the same bodily functions and fluids as adults do. Is underwear worth the fight?
I agree with all of these replies. Sounds like it may not be worth the fight. Commando!