Must be completely potty trained?

[queenL]

We are thinking of booking the Celebrity Summit and I see that the kids program requires the 3yr olds be completely potty trained. Is this really enforced? How would they know? I would only keep her there for few hours at a time. Would they kick her out of the program?

[6rugrats]

Completely potty trained means she must not have an accident, and be able to use the bathroom completely by herself. If she can't do so, she will probably not be allowed to stay in the program.

[alise007]

some of them specifically state NO pullups and only real underwear is allowed for kids to participate.

[boulders]

No reminders either. They have a 3 strikes and you're out policy, so yes, they would kick her out after 3 accidents.

[cb at sea]

They will NOT help her, either--either pulling up or down, zipping, buttons, etc...

[poppan]

I just returned from Celebrity Constellation (sister ship to Summit) and on our cruise, I think they might have given you some flexibility. Mostly because our kids club director/manager seemed to be very flexible, there were only 17 kids on board the entire ship and none in that age group (3-5), so I just have a feeling she might have been more flexible.

 

One thing they were very concerned about was no diapers/pull-ups/accidents in the ball pit, because of how difficult it is to clean and sanitize without throwing accidents into the equation. And I'm pretty sure they won't change her or help her go to the bathroom because of legal liability concerns. But on our cruise I think they might have let her stay with a pull-up if you checked in with them frequently, or only kept her there a few hours at a time as you said.

 

Edited to add:

P.S. Our kids club director was going on the Summit next -- I think she said she would be on the Caribbean routes for spring/summer 2010. Not sure when you're booking though.

[queenL]

Dang that's harsh! I wonder why they can't do like NCL and give you a pager to come change them. Even if I manage to get her fully potty trained by then, I'm sure she will have accidents.

 

I hope you are right poppan. We are booking the Summit for the spring.

[donaldsc]

No reminders either. They have a 3 strikes and you're out policy, so yes, they would kick her out after 3 accidents.

 

Should be 1 strike and you are out. You could not pay me enough to change some kid's diaper.

 

DON

[celle]

Dang that's harsh! I wonder why they can't do like NCL and give you a pager to come change them. Even if I manage to get her fully potty trained by then, I'm sure she will have accidents.

 

I hope you are right poppan. We are booking the Summit for the spring.

 

This is from a nurse and a mother of three:

 

Unless there is some physical or developmental reason to slow down her progress, it should be possible for a three-year-old girl to be fully potty-trained. Boys sometimes take a little longer.

 

Keep working at it - I'm sure you'll manage it! :)

[alise007]

I hope you are right! My son will be 4 in May and just got potty trained over Thanksgiving at 3 1/2. He just didn't get and then one it was "I have to pee" and the clouds parted, light flooded down and trumpets played!....he is even dry thru the night.

 

SO with that in mind--I hope my daughter who will turn 3 in April 2011 will be trained before we go on a cruise in May 2011!

 

We just took DS to IKEA to let him try their play area --they specifically asked us if he was potty trained and if he was wearing REAL underwear and not pull ups. He is small for his age (just made the height req) so I think they thought he was younger. He can't do buttons/zippers very well tho.

 

Biggest reason other than money to wait til 2011 is so BOTH kids can participate in the kids clubs!

[celle]

I hope you are right! My son will be 4 in May and just got potty trained over Thanksgiving at 3 1/2. He just didn't get and then one it was "I have to pee" and the clouds parted, light flooded down and trumpets played!....he is even dry thru the night.

 

SO with that in mind--I hope my daughter who will turn 3 in April 2011 will be trained before we go on a cruise in May 2011!

 

We just took DS to IKEA to let him try their play area --they specifically asked us if he was potty trained and if he was wearing REAL underwear and not pull ups. He is small for his age (just made the height req) so I think they thought he was younger. He can't do buttons/zippers very well tho.

 

Biggest reason other than money to wait til 2011 is so BOTH kids can participate in the kids clubs!

 

Sounds like you're doing everything right. I wish you the best of luck and hope you all have a great cruise!

[cbressler76]

This is from a nurse and a mother of three:

 

Unless there is some physical or developmental reason to slow down her progress, it should be possible for a three-year-old girl to be fully potty-trained. Boys sometimes take a little longer.

 

Keep working at it - I'm sure you'll manage it! :)

 

 

My oldest son wasn't fully potty trained until 3......and my youngest was 3 1/2.......each kid is different......and both have to wear nighty-nights at night because they wet the bed! ...one is 7 and the other is 4... My oldest son has issues with accidently going number 2 in his pants a little bit sometimes.....but my youngest has no accidents.....each kid is sooooo different.....

[queenL]

This is from a nurse and a mother of three:

 

Unless there is some physical or developmental reason to slow down her progress, it should be possible for a three-year-old girl to be fully potty-trained. Boys sometimes take a little longer.

 

Keep working at it - I'm sure you'll manage it! :)

 

Good! Do you have any potty training tips to share then? By the time we cruise she will have been 3 for only one month. I've tried putting her in underwear (so she could feel wetness), now I sit her on the potty every hour she is awake.

[celle]

Good! Do you have any potty training tips to share then? By the time we cruise she will have been 3 for only one month. I've tried putting her in underwear (so she could feel wetness), now I sit her on the potty every hour she is awake.

 

That's what I did. My policy was to start encouraging toilet training with the approach of the first summer after they are two years old - it's much easier in the warm weather, and you don't have to wash so many clothes if there is an 'accident'.

 

When around the home, ditch the disposable nappies and pull-ups and let the child get used to feeling what it is like to need to "go" and to feel wet. Often, those disposables are just so comfortable and so convenient that there is no incentive to be potty-trained. The child needs to be able to appreciate cause (needing to go potty) and effect (wet pants if you ignore the need). Actually, a few accidents can teach the child, so I wouldn't obsess about pottying every hour, but might be a little more flexible.

 

For little girls, buying pretty little pants that she will not want to "spoil" often helps - some boys don't care, so a similar approach may not work for them. And, for some little boys, it can be easier to control their No 1 than their No 2. I don't know why. My own brother was like that and it used to upset him, but he eventually got it all sorted.

 

Give plenty of praise for using the potty successfully, but no blame or scolding for an accident, just a matter-of-fact "Oh, you've had an accident. Let's change your pants. Better luck next time."

 

It can help to use the "you're a big girl/ boy now" approach, especially if they want to be like an older brother or sister - although I'll never foget my daughter's annoyance that she couldn't pee standing up, like her big brothers! :D

 

Finally, being dry at night often takes much longer and it isn't at all unusual for this to take several more years. Kids are alll different in the timing.

[imsulin]

I just don't get it. My five (three girls and two boys) were all "toilet trained" by age two. We didn't have pull-ups, or even disposables. Had to use cloth diapers and plastic pants for the most part. I think that did the trick, plus the fact that if they got uncomfortable, they tossed the diaper in the backyard and used the toilet. Peer-sibling pressure also helped. Plus, we worked full-time. We just showed them toilet basics, including flushing and TP. Really didn't make any efforts to toilet-train. They did it themselves. Now, my 30+ y/o and very forward-thinking DD has used many Google sites to toilet-train my oldest grand child. Didn't work. They visited this past summer, and DGD was 2 1/2, wearing cutsie pull-ups. When I was asked to help her pull them down and then back up while sitting on MY toilet, I just tossed them and told DGD, "Pee and wipe" and I left. She did. No problems since then. I think that too many parents (including my own adult kids) spend waaaaay too much time on toilet training.

[alise007]

My son understood the mechanics and I could sit him on the potty every 2 hours and he would stay dry but he didn't GET IT! He didn't understand if he was feeling urges to go pee. So we dropped it for a while. We tried reward charts, big boy underwear, naked, everyone at daycare was potty trained. SO peer pressure didn't work. Tried small potty seats, big adult ones, stickers, toy bribes NOTHING. Didn't help his legs are soooo short either! Super excited praising...marking things on calendars NOPE I just had more stuff to clean and wash!

 

We just quit worrying with it bc even though he understood he didn't physically feel it. Kinda like driving a stick shift. I remember my Dad yelling at me to FEEL THE CLUTCH when it started to catch and I didn't have a clue what he was talking about. ONE day when I wasn't feeling pressured and could calmly take my time without worrying about stripping the clutch--I FELT IT GRAB AND PULL! I think my Son needed that same AHA moment.

 

You can't force them to do it! The parents of a boy in his class tried to force him so he could attend a different school--he almost got kicked out bc of all the accidents/problems they had. I will trade off slow potty training any day for my well spoken/smart boy. His teachers were supportive as well and agreed!

[celle]

I just don't get it. My five (three girls and two boys) were all "toilet trained" by age two. We didn't have pull-ups, or even disposables. Had to use cloth diapers and plastic pants for the most part. I think that did the trick, plus the fact that if they got uncomfortable, they tossed the diaper in the backyard and used the toilet. Peer-sibling pressure also helped. Plus, we worked full-time. We just showed them toilet basics, including flushing and TP. Really didn't make any efforts to toilet-train. They did it themselves. Now, my 30+ y/o and very forward-thinking DD has used many Google sites to toilet-train my oldest grand child. Didn't work. They visited this past summer, and DGD was 2 1/2, wearing cutsie pull-ups. When I was asked to help her pull them down and then back up while sitting on MY toilet, I just tossed them and told DGD, "Pee and wipe" and I left. She did. No problems since then. I think that too many parents (including my own adult kids) spend waaaaay too much time on toilet training.

 

I do think that disposables have contributed to parents expecting their children to be toilet trained later. Disposables are so easy, sometimes too easy. When my children were babies,everyone expected kids to be starting toilet training at 2, or even sooner. And most kids were out of nappies way before their third birthday - and they didn't have a complex about toilet matters! ;). Nowadays,the expectation seems to be for toilet training to happen later.

 

Maybe it's also got something to do with the current fashion for super-cleanliness, too. There's nothing like letting a child run around "au naturel" for helping them to find out about bodily functions, but then you don't want mess around the house.

 

Also, there are so many "experts" giving conflicting advice to young parents, to the extent that the poor young adults don't dare to just use common sense.

 

I'm glad you had such success with your granddaughter. Sometimes the matter-of-fact approach does work best.

 

By and large, little kids do what they are expected to do. That's assuming they have reached a maturational level (that's physical and neurological development) that means they are able to do so. Your little granddaughter had obviously reached that level of development. Some children reach that level sooner, and some later.

[cbressler76]

I do think that disposables have contributed to parents expecting their children to be toilet trained later. Disposables are so easy, sometimes too easy. When my children were babies,everyone expected kids to be starting toilet training at 2, or even sooner. And most kids were out of nappies way before their third birthday - and they didn't have a complex about toilet matters! ;). Nowadays,the expectation seems to be for toilet training to happen later.

 

Maybe it's also got something to do with the current fashion for super-cleanliness, too. There's nothing like letting a child run around "au naturel" for helping them to find out about bodily functions, but then you don't want mess around the house.

 

Also, there are so many "experts" giving conflicting advice to young parents, to the extent that the poor young adults don't dare to just use common sense.

 

I'm glad you had such success with your granddaughter. Sometimes the matter-of-fact approach does work best.

 

By and large, little kids do what they are expected to do. That's assuming they have reached a maturational level (that's physical and neurological development) that means they are able to do so. Your little granddaughter had obviously reached that level of development. Some children reach that level sooner, and some later.

 

 

This is very true!! I had to get rid of them and that helped A LOT!!

[bowlermaniac]

We are thinking of booking the Celebrity Summit and I see that the kids program requires the 3yr olds be completely potty trained. Is this really enforced? How would they know? I would only keep her there for few hours at a time. Would they kick her out of the program?

To the OP, if your child is NOT potty trained then you should not put her in the kids program. Rules are rules. Follow them. I'm sorry for being blunt but too often there are people that feel rules are for eveyone else except them.

Hope you have a good cruise.

[Baxter]

Stepson was 4 and still not fully toilet trained. Talked to the doctor about it -- doctor's response was "well...if he keeps it up and either wears a diaper or wets himself in kindergarten, that will get him trained quick enough". I laughed!

 

Kids crawl at different times, walk at different times, and talk at different times, so it is reasonable to expect kids to recognize the need to pee and the mechanics at different times. Our daughter has no problem staying dry overnight, it's the days that are problematic. But it will come. She's just over three.

[crusinmama06]

Dang that's harsh! I wonder why they can't do like NCL and give you a pager to come change them. Even if I manage to get her fully potty trained by then, I'm sure she will have accidents.

 

I hope you are right poppan. We are booking the Summit for the spring.

 

NCL and Carnival have different rules than Royal Caribbean and Celebrity.

 

NCL accepts 2 years olds who are not potty trained, then as you said, page you. Carnival accepts 2 years olds and changes diapers. Royal and Celebrity accepts 3 year olds and they must be 100% potty trained any potty "self sufficient" which means they can dress and undress themselves in the bathroom (pretty much)

 

So the first day of the program, they do explain this rule and make sure the parents are made aware of it and understand it. It is a 3 strike policy. No pull ups.

 

So hang in there - she will get it.

 

I always laugh when I see the "In my day" speech - in their day the kids didn't have the disposable diapers that kept the kids dry. The kids these days never knew what it was like to "feel wet". There was no miracle parenting technique that made them any better at potty training. ;)

[celle]

I always laugh when I see the "In my day" speech - in their day the kids didn't have the disposable diapers that kept the kids dry. The kids these days never knew what it was like to "feel wet". There was no miracle parenting technique that made them any better at potty training. ;)

 

Exactly! cruisinmama, I entirely agree with you and,if you read my posts, you will see that that is exactly what I was saying. Disposable diapers do prevent children from feeling wet. Kids do need to know what it is like to feel wet, before they can get potty trained.

 

I would never claim any superior parenting technique, but I do know this: regardless of whether or not a child wears disposables or the old-fashioned cloth diapers, no child will become potty-trained until he/ she has reached a certain level of physical and neurological maturity.

 

Now, "in my day", many children showed that they had reached that maturity around two years old. Not all children, but many (because thay are all different). I simply do not believe that, with improved nutrition and more "experts" around, children now do not reach the required level of maturity until they are nearly three years old, or even older.

 

Also, "in my day," in my country, our children started half-day kindergarten/ nursery school/ pre-school at about 2.5 years and they had to be self-sufficient in toileting. Guess what? Very few children had "accidents."

 

I'm not being judgmental here, just passing a comment that many children could be ready to be out of diapers sooner than seems to be expected nowadays.

 

As well as having three children of my own, I was also a paediatric nurse for many years, long after my own children had grown, so my experience is not all in the past.

[ckekjhaze]

To the OP- try taking a weekend to work on it- be resolved but don't put too much pressure on your daughter. If she is ready she will get it

 

my oldest daughter was dry early- we had done EC with her when she was an infant- I was lucky to be home for a year and wore her in a sling so we were in tune with each other. also my husband came home at 11pm every night and he would take her potty every night when she got home

 

the twins- I used to order diapers by the case and once the delivery was delayed, and I only had 3 diapers left. My husband was away for work so I would have had to bundle 3 kids into the car at night to trek for diapers. The twins were 2 1/2. I decided- (maybe a little crazy) that there would be no more diapers.

 

I explained to the girls- there are no more diapers. you need to use the potty. That was it, except for soaking their car seats a few times when we were out too long. I don't think it's a good idea for rewards, charts, ridiculously over the top praise- it's a natural function and I stay matter-of-fact but every child is different and you know what works for your child.

 

Goes without saying- no sippy cups in bed, only water after dinner, and if you go to bed several hours after your child it might be worth it to gently wake them up to pee before you retire.

 

Good luck

[CanadianTwosome]

I just took my daughter's diaper off and left her bare. (I explained it to her as well, of course) It worked like a charm. The only unexpected result was that for a week or two afterwards, every once in a while she'd just take off her pants and refuse to put them back on. :p She only did it a few times, and only in our home, though, so we just acted like it was perfectly normal and didn't react, and she stopped. I think she probably associated it with the praise that came with using the potty by herself.

 

Disposable diapers are amazing things, and when a child is not ready for potty training, they're wonderful at keeping discomfort and rashes at bay, but I agree completely with everyone who thinks they're detrimental to potty training.

[poppan]

OK this thread has definitely taken a left turn but I wanted to pitch in a perspective from someone who used cloth diapers and potty trained in the last 3 months.

 

In my very humble opinion, "back in the day" kids potty-trained sooner not as a direct result of cloth diapers (= feeling the wetness) -- I personally think it was because their mothers were more motivated to potty train as soon as possible, because they were tired of washing diapers. (I washed my own cloth diapers instead of using a diaper service, so I can relate.)

 

Also, I would think their mothers were much more likely to be at home full-time and could spend a few weeks really focusing on helping kiddo learn to use the potty. I actually finished potty training on the first few days of our cruise because it was the first time I was able to spend 24 hours a day with them for more than a weekend. To my great surprise they started consistently telling me when they had to go to the potty within about 4-5 days (their nanny and I had both been trying to potty train them for the few months previous to that, with only a medium amount of success).

 

So in our case, the cloth diapers and feeling the wetness didn't seem to have helped that much, but being able to spend a lot of time with them made a huge difference. Just my 2 cents, and worth about the same!