About Sweetmama Editor
Nadine Silverthorne’s love of journaling began in Grade One with the entry, “I am the greatest dancer!” Two babies (and countless diaper changes) later, she has found her home away from home as editor of SweetMama. Don’t miss her humorous bi-weekly accounts of the joys and pains of working while raising them fabulous.
Last week I talked about how my son was potty trained at daycare. When I finally convinced him that he could also be potty trained at home, stickers had lost their effect as a bribe reward. I quizzed my friends and the answer was an overwhelming “Smarties!” One for pee, two for poo is the standard apparently.
“I’m going upstairs to earn two smarties,” my friend M’s husband would joke. But when I asked my son’s caregiver, “We don’t recommend using food as a reward,” was her response. I get it; taking food into the bathroom is kind of gross. Grubby pee-covered hands have a hard time waiting to get past the hand-washing station before attempting to grab that candy. But what else was going to work at that point?
We had this sugary, superhero-themed candy that we were using to bribe reward good behaviour at that point. My son needed incentive to get to the toilet. He never wanted to go alone and there was always an excuse to dawdle. “Are you sure you don’t have to go to the bathroom?” I would ask as he held on to his crotch, doing the pee-pee dance. “Nope,” he would lie to his mother. “Not even for a spider treat [that’s what we called the candy]?” That would usually get him racing to the bathroom just in the nick of time.
As soon as the “spider treats” ran out, I replaced them with juice berries, a more natural alternative that’s made from pure juice and gelatin. Anyway, this method worked. But I’m not sure that I want to go there again. So far, Lucy has been enjoying her sticker chart, though it depends on her mood that day (as does her potty success).
I don’t know about you, but I’m going home to make a high-five for the wall right now!
What has your experience with rewards been? Log in and let me know whether rewards worked (or are working) in the comments for you.