My older son who will be 3 in February has been showing more interest lately in using the potty vs going in his diaper.  As any parent who has purchased uber-expensive diapers knows, this is a huge step and to foster the use of the potty vs diapers, you “encourage” your child to prefer the potty by offering special treats. Yes, experts do recommend using M&M’s.  Well yesterday at day care he actually went in the urinal (he was so proud that he urinated while standing up!) and today when he woke up his diaper was still dry so we pleaded with him to try the potty quickly.  After much screaming and crying (on his part, not mine) he actually used the potty but only after the promise of a special treat and turning Mickey Mouse back on.

Fast forward 45 minutes and we are now heading out the door for the day. At this point, I’m hoping he’s forgotten about the special treat we promised him but as we’re walking out the door he says “Mommy, don’t forget about my candy”.  Again, because I’d prefer to have only one child in diapers vs the two we have now, and because I promised, he received a mini KitKat left over from Halloween. So there sat my child in his car seat at 7:30 in the morning, eating candy.  Is that bad?  I don’t think it will hurt him long-term.  The night before when we got home from work and day care, he opened the refrigerator, took out an apple and ate that as his snack.  Both of my kids love fruit (we’re still working on the veggies) so a piece of candy as a reward for using the potty is A-OK in my book.  I’d love to hear what others have found succesful for potty training.