Any leverage on non-potty trained kids?

[Luxuriate]

Please don't slam me. I know how some say don't cruise with a child if you don't want to spend every second with him/her. I love my son to death but, honestly, I didn't know I would have this problem when I booked the cruise. So here goes:

 

My child just turned three years-old yesterday. He knows full well about the "potty" but has not decided to partake 100%. He hasn't decided to tell us every time he needs to go. He definitely still needs a Pull-Up.

 

We will be cruising in a week. Have you ever heard of the rules being bent, just a little? Will my child be totally banished from Kid's Club? He is a daycare kid at home so he would be very in his element in a play-room on the cruise.

 

We will be cruising Celebrity on a four night cruise.

 

What have you observed? I know what the documentation says, just wonder if I should even bother asking the Kid's Club crew if he can hang around?

 

Thanks,

 

Cheryl

[Desertbelle]

They don't bend the rules, they don't clean up the child or change pants, and they will not allow you to bring him back if he makes more than 2 mistakes.

 

On our cruise on the Mercury last November our 3 year old potty trained grandson made a couple of mistakes (new environment, scary toilets, no one around to remind him) and they banned him from kids club. :(

[sas80]

My rule of thumb (for life) is:

 

by all means try, and be prepared to accept the outcome, whatever that is.

[crusinmama06]

My rule of thumb (for life) is:

 

by all means try, and be prepared to accept the outcome, whatever that is.

 

I agree. I know that RCCL and Celebrity follow the same rules...no pull ups allowed and "3 strikes and your out".

 

But you can *try*. Just be prepared that they are very strict about this. And the child can't even wear pull ups to the club at all. So I have to ask this...what will happen when your son has an accident. How will he feel? How will he feel when he isn't allowed to go back? I know that my child would freak out if I didn't let her go. BUT, she knows what she is missing. At this point your son doesn't. Do you want to risk a very unhappy child on your cruise?

 

I have the rules in front of me from the RCCL Aquanauts (Celebrity is the same company and has the same policy), it says "It is Royal Carribean International's Policy that children must be 3 years old, 100% toilet trained, diaper or pull up free. Any child found not to be 100% toilet trained, diaper or pull up free will result in dismissal from the program. "

[Host Jacquelyn]

You have one week to go... try putting him in underwear this week, and see how it goes. Bring him to the potty every hour, etc. The first time he is out of the pullup should not be on the cruise. If he knows how to hold it in, maybe you can drop by the kids' program every hour to take him to the bathroom? Not sure if this is ideal - or if the staff would allow it - but it may be something to think about.

[carriejose]

I know that when we were going somewhere (the zoo, the amusement park, shopping, etc.) I would try to limit excessive liquid intake before we would leave (note that I said excessive ~no flamming please) so we were not taking potty breaks every 15 minutes. You may want to limit your son's liquid intake before you send him to the kids program.

 

I would work around his schedule. If you know that he just went to the potty and he hasn't had a whole lot to drink, he should be good to go for a while......It always worked for me...

[NoelsCat]

My girlfriend used a pull-up with regular underware overtop to get her daughter into preschool at a place with the same rules...

 

YMMV, of course...

[Luxuriate]

no, they weren't exactly what I wanted to hear but we are a family and we will have all the more "family time" together.

 

Darn it, though.

 

Cheryl

[BethCarp]

My older son was three and we had been working on potty training for awhile. Nothing hard core, I wasn't in any hurry. He just up and decided one day that he would be potty trained. He was in pull-ups at the time and he went a whole weekend without wetting them. And that was it. He knew what to do and just decided one day that he was doing it. Maybe if you offer bribes and really coax him (not push him) he may just come around. You may not feel comfortable leaving him for extended periods, but maybe long enough to give you a break.

 

Oh and my younger son is 3 now and he can go hours without needing to use the potty. Good luck to you. You'll enjoy your cruise still.

[cruisead]

The cruise lines are really strict with this potty training issue. And unless your child can hold it for hours, sneaking them in isn't easy. But, I have one question. I remember that when our boys were still in diapers, you coud really tell they were wearing diapers and there was no way to hide that fact. How do you hide the fact that they are wearing diapers?

 

BTW, what do you all think of this new thing of starting potty training before age 1? The environmentalists are trying to reduce the use of disposibles and they are advocating earlier training. I know our boys were trained by the age of 18 months, but that seems to be young by today's moms. To be honest, I didn't want to be changing diapers on a toddler. Plus our boys were less than a year apart----yes, I'm insane to have had four boys that are around a year apart. So that's probably another reason I refused to have so many in diapers. And they trained very easily.

[giggle1974]

Hi there :)

 

I do indeed sympathise. This year (Australian winter) we booked our then 3 yr old into the ski school for a week. Their rules were much the same.

 

He was what I would call 99.99% potty trained- the occassional accident would occur.

 

Well he was just too young and he ended up at the Kindycare instead of the ski school. Same outcome for us either way (ie we got to ski) but frustrating nonetheless when I knew it was out of character for him.

 

Then after we returned home, the very next day, he announced that he wouldn't have any more accidents and started peeing standing up!

 

I could have screamed!! :rolleyes:

 

Any way, I say book him in, see what happens but be either prepared to put him in for short periods of time to avoid accidents or worst case have him with you all the time.

 

Have a great time regardless!

[MEcruzr]

If you and dh want a night out alone, see about arranging for a baby sitter in your cabin.

[Fogfog]

Our experience--for what its worth

 

older dear son--was not fully trained an in the weeks before an overseas flight and big trip for a month to France

 

--we kept at it--he was 3+ a month or so...

and I would say--you really need to be using the potty blah blah..

I thought we were done for...It was horrible....sometimes I would really "lose it"

 

I just was so over it knowing he really should be "ready" because he coudl but sometimes was just lazy....

 

Well--the day we stepped on the plane--he completely used the potty--all the time--and had only one accident while in France--probably the rich food. We did us a pull up at night--but he woke up dry always...

 

Almost like having a goal helped him...kwim

 

other child..

Younger dear son--was not potty trained and HAD to be as we were entering missionary school and he HAD to be to be in the preschool--

We even sent out a prayer request--and other missionaries cracked up at praying about our son--because we were going to have to bring a nanny or share lecture attendance (DH & I) if ds wasn't ready.

 

Well--Ds had 2-3 accidents but did rise to the occassion....they were going to through him out of preschool.... He was a month shy of 3.

 

So perhaps givingyour dear son the goal of being ready for the big vacation to be with the big kids...would help.

Being smelly and wet will make him socially isolated..so maybe if he wants to play--he needs to step up the game..

kwim

 

Good luck :D BTDT twice.:p

[abba_dabba_doo]

You have one week to go... try putting him in underwear this week, and see how it goes. Bring him to the potty every hour, etc. The first time he is out of the pullup should not be on the cruise. If he knows how to hold it in, maybe you can drop by the kids' program every hour to take him to the bathroom? Not sure if this is ideal - or if the staff would allow it - but it may be something to think about.

 

 

I agree...use this time wisely and try, try again, he may just surprise you and just get it. Also, in my experience when both my DD's were potty training, they didn't usually tell me when they had to go..........you need to just bring them. It's not until they are fully trained that they really start going on their own and even w/fully trained kids, they may still have an accident or two because they hold it for so long and wait to the last minute to run to the bathroom and sometimes they just don't make it. So you know if you see them wiggling and squirming, then they probably need to go potty.

[Fogfog]

I agree...use this time wisely and try, try again, he may just surprise you and just get it. Also, in my experience when both my DD's were potty training, they didn't usually tell me when they had to go..........you need to just bring them. It's not until they are fully trained that they really start going on their own and even w/fully trained kids, they may still have an accident or two because they hold it for so long and wait to the last minute to run to the bathroom and sometimes they just don't make it. So you know if you see them wiggling and squirming, then they probably need to go potty.

 

 

We call that the potty dance :D

in our house LOL

[abba_dabba_doo]

We call that the potty dance :D

in our house LOL

 

 

And of course when you say "do you need to go potty"....they always say NO! LOL:rolleyes:

[crusinmama06]

If I have learned anything in potty training it is...I have NO CONTROL over it....lol. ;)

 

My first child - excels in everything. She is the perfect child. She could speak by 1, knew all of the planets by 2 and could count to 100. I started potty training at 18months. She REFUSED to go to the potty. She outright refused. By the time she was 3.5, my SIL called her a "baby" for wearing diapers :eek: . She said "I am not a baby" and from that point on was 100% trained.

 

My 2nd child - I refused to start potty training. :rolleyes: I figured I was not going to go thru what I did with my first. My second child is behind in speech and language. So I figured she wouldn't be able to tell me she has to go. Well when she was 23 months old, I went to get her from a nap and she was wearing panties. She had gotten into a drawer, found panties, put them on. She NEVER wore a diaper again...not even to bed at night. :eek: She trained herself.

 

And I had ABSOLUTLY nothing to do with it. A child will train when THEY are good and ready.

[woostercruise]

I have two boys and found that they both trained quickly when we went cold turkey. I know pull-ups are more advanced now, but until they had the sensation of wet running down their legs they just did not care. With both it took a couple days of regular underpants and they were fine. :rolleyes:

[abitaturbodog]

I have two boys and found that they both trained quickly when we went cold turkey. I know pull-ups are more advanced now, but until they had the sensation of wet running down their legs they just did not care. With both it took a couple days of regular underpants and they were fine. :rolleyes:

 

Yes! Yes! Yes!

 

I had both of my boys potty trained during the day by their SECOND birthday by using the "cold turkey" method. Here's how I did it:

 

1. Plan to mostly stay at home or nearby for about a week.

 

1. Have your child throw away or give away to a younger child, ALL of their diapers. Make a big fuss about being a big boy and not needing them anymore.

 

2. Dress your child in a t-shirt. Only a t-shirt.

 

3. Every half hour or so mention to them that they might want to go to the bathroom. Don't tell them that they have to go.

 

4. If they have an accident, don't yell or belittle them. Just tell them to get the paper towels and floor cleaner and have them clean it up. They also have to get some wet wipes and clean themselves as best they can. You can help if it's poopy mess, but try to make them do it themselves.

 

5. Do not, under any circumstances put another diaper/pull-up on them during the day again. THIS IS THE KEY! They have to understand that there is NO going back, so it's all up to them to make it work.

 

6. If you are going to the store, etc, put a pair of big boy underwear on them and if they make a mess, pull out the towels and cleaner and make them clean it right there. Take them to the car or bathroom and make them take their pants/undies/shoes/socks off themselves and clean themselves and put on another pair, by themselves. (You can help a little, but don't make it obvious that you're helping)

 

The idea behind this is to make them accountable for their actions. It's the best thing that we can do for them as parents.

 

I had my oldest potty trained in 2 days!!!! My youngest took a week, but he's more stubborn!:rolleyes:

 

At night, you can still use the pull-ups until they are able to control themselves while sleeping, but make sure those daytime diapers and pull-ups are long gone!

 

You have a week and you CAN do it. I'll tell you upfront, it's going to be a pain in the A$$ for you. It's hard, there's mess and laundry to do, etc. I know that it's a heck of a lot easier to put a pull-up on when you're heading to the mall, but it will set you back weeks in your training. Once your child knows that you'll give in, he'll take his own sweet time...:(

 

Good luck!

[chacha9081]

Ok we are on ccl so no problem my Ds turned 4 on Sept. 30th and he was 50% potty trained (if ya know what I mean) he just was having none of it he didn't care I had to chase him down to change him.He was in pull ups and big boy underwear. We leave11/10 and I was so moritifed that everyone would know my 4y/o was not potty trained. Well about two weeks ago we were talking about going on the big boat and I was telling him he had to potty like a big boy. The next day he was on the toliet every time no accidents since (knock on wood). I was like all the pushing and ond day he just decided.