3 year olds not potty trained

[tfm01]

My son is 3 but not potty trained. By all accounts he is too old for FLOUNDER'S REEF NURSERY but not yet poty trained for OCEANEER'S CLUB.

Will they allow him to participate in one of the two above? What alternatives on the boat are there?

thanks

 

[aprilgail2]

Originally posted by tfm01
My son is 3 but not potty trained. By all accounts he is too old for FLOUNDER'S REEF NURSERY but not yet poty trained for OCEANEER'S CLUB.

Will they allow him to participate in one of the two above? What alternatives on the boat are there?

thanks

They will let him stay in Flounders nursery but my daughter was only 2 1/2 when she was there and the toys were young to her and she wouldn't stay there so a 3 year old may find it boring.

 

[ohiominnie]

No advice for you, just wanted to say WELCOME to the DIS!

 

[kmc33]

I got similar feedback that older toddlers might be bored in the Nursery. For the Oceaneer's Club, I believe there might be times when you can take a non-potty trained child and stay there while s/he plays. But, it is my understanding that you cannot leave a child who is not potty trained -- and no pull-ups. In fact, they have to be able to go into the bathroom and do everything by themselves. Which was a little bit of a stress for me since my son wouldn't wipe himself. So he just held 'that' until he was in our cabin

I don't know if you already are booked, but if not and you really want your son to be able to participate on his own in the Oceaneer's Club, then you might want to wait until he's potty trained. Another option is to go on a different line; Carnival allows children 2 years and older to participate in Camp Carnival and it doesn't matter if they are potty trained. Of course there are no Disney characters, but our son had a great time at Camp Carnival.

 

[BethC1952]

Hi, tfm01! Welcome to the DIS from a fellow New Jerseyan.

You don't say when you're cruising, but perhaps there's still time to get him potty trained! We told my granddaughter that we wouldn't even start to think about a cruise with her until she was potty-trained (she had overheard us talking about the reservations and so on). The next morning she told us she was potty trained, which we greeted with some skepticism since she hadn't even started the process). Well, never doubt a three year old who wants to go on a cruise! That was in early February of this year, and she's been trained since that day. She's cruising with us (and her parents and her favorite aunt, uncle and cousins) on Dec. 7!

Beth

 

[tlens]

You can stay in the clubs with your children if you need to at that age. When I would drop my daughter off there were a few parents sitting off to the side. I stayed once during an activity when she asked me to.

 

[mmouse37]

When we were onboard last week on the Magic the staff told my friend that they are not allowed to help a child in anyway during the bathroom process. They must be able to do everything by themselves.

MJ

 

[jel0511]

A non-potty trained 3 year old will be welcomed into Flounder's Reef, if you want some time alone. A non-potty trained 3 year old can go into the clubs, ONLY with parental supervision.

 

[GoofyDisney]

A CM told me that they are not allowed to touch the children, when it comes to the potty thing, so that even if they come out without their pants, the CMs cannot help them pull them up, the child has to be able to do this on their own. Hope this clarifies the CMs role in the whole potty issue for you.

Have a great cruise!

 

[my3kids]

I agree with the poster who said to tell the child that they have to be potty trained to go. He won't even be able to go in the pools if he isn't trained. A three year old who can't go to the clubs with the other kids and can't get in the pool with his parents probably isn't going to be a very happy kid.

 

[jel0511]

my3kids makes a very VALID and important point to remember. Non-potty trained children REGARDLESS of age, aren't allowed in any of the pools aboard any DCL ship. That would make for a GREAT incentive to get a child potty trained pretty quick!!

 

[fortierv]

There was a similar thread about a year ago when swim diapers were banned in the pools. Someone said they told their child that disney wouldn't let them on the boat if they wern't potty trained and shazaam. I know this is a lie but hey it worked for them. I know with the proper motivation kids will amaze us. And no I don't advocate lying to the kids so please don't flame me. Just offering up a sugestion that worked for someone else.

 

[fortierv]

Yea I know it's a SHIP not a boat. Sorry for the slip up.

 

[floridaminnie]

My DD became potty trained less than a week before our cruise. Yes, a cruise is an excellent incentive for them to be potty-trained.

 

[justcruisin]

You may have luck taking DD to the bathroom right before going to the club, then picking her up a couple of hours later. I'm not sure of their policy on accidents, but I wouldn't be surprised if you're allowed (or your DD) 1 or 2 accidents before they ask you not to return....

Maybe you can get by for a bit with this method!

 

[Samsma]

Hi! Just some encouragement. My DD was 3 years 3 months, 1 week, 2 days and 3 hours old when she was potty-trained. Just kidding She was well over 3, but at that age, when they decide to use the potty its pretty easy from there. They know when they have to go, and what to do when they get there. I have heard it said that to train too early, is really training the parents when to take them, not the kids on recognizing that they have to go. GOOD LUCK!

 

[Threehearts]

Samsma is absolutely right. I feel your pain as I had a late potty trainer(son) and my daughter was finished by 3. The trend and general recommendations from the Amer. Acad, of Pedi. is to let the child direct the potty training process albeit with encouragement from parents. Warm weather is often a perfect opportunity as the child can take their clothes off and run around in underpants only. I've worked professionally with children for 20 years and unscientifically, our group felt that the "pull-ups" crowd definitely trained later than those who were taken to the potty every half an hour just to try. The pull-ups seemed to feel like a diaper to the kids even though they were fun to put on. I say do whatever works for you but if your little one isn't taking off his dirty diapers or hiding behind a chair to do his thing or at least complaining about having a soiled diaper, then he may just not be ready. It sounds like you may have fun going with him to the club. Is there such a thing as babysitters on the cruise? Could you pay someone to take him to the club if you need a little down time? Just to add a totally true but completely unprofessional approach to potty training, I did the following out of desperation- Go to the nearest store and purchase a large bag of M&Ms and a clever new toothbrush with neato toothpaste. Show your child the candy(3is a good number) but then with a tragic face and tone of voice say, "Mommy would love to give you these M&M's but I can only do this if you are a big boy and show me how you can pee in the toilet." He will begin peeing immediatly and frequently. Switch to 5 M&M's for doing poopy. After about 7-10 days your child will be fully trained but a chocoholic. At this point he will not regress and you can gradually switch off the M&M's and move on to expensive logo underpants. After that story, you might not want to listen to my advice! LOL. Threehearts

 

[lbgraves]

So I'm not the only one who used M&Ms? LOL! I picked up a bunch of the small bags of mini ones after the holidays to use with DS. It managed to get him to sit there long enough to do something. He was 3 1/2 when it happened...but once he was trained it was all the time. He has woken up dry every night since then except for one that he had a fever. I am really hoping that DD will train before our cruise since she wants to sit on the potty so much. Nothing has resulted from this yet but we have a few months. I am hoping that with DS there, if DD has any problems with the pants or anything like that he will be able to help her. I have to laugh at the no pants thing. I can see us being paged to help DS with that...or he will just go around with his pants unsnapped/zipped with his shirt out over them like he does at preschool. Even though he is 4 1/2 he still has moments when the pants just wont go up right. I have to laugh when I see him doing his little dance to get his underwear untwisted.

Someone posted last week that on the Magic they have one of the Mickey ears for untrained kids now with recirculated water. Who knows how long that will last but at least the little ones can get in the water now.

 

[kmc33]

We used the M&Ms too! That was an incentive for DS. I kind of forgot about it until I read your post. For a while there, I kept them in a big, glass jar in plain sight and it was a help. DH liked them too

 

[lbgraves]

I forgot about how we made it special for him after I stopped the M&Ms...can't do that forever. LOL! He loves stickers so he got a sticker if he woke up dry & if he used the potty all day. First with 5 stickers he got a prize...hot wheels car for example. After that it went up to 10 stickers for a prize. After he earned his roller skates, he started to slack off so they were put in time out until he got more stickers. Finally we just made up a big sign with his name on it that he colored & put it up on the fridge. Whenever he did anything, he got to put a sticker on it. LOL! That made him use the potty alot!