Momfail

Our sweet little princess, Gennie, who is so funny and cute and kind and soft-spoken and smart and many many more adjectives, I could go on and on; has decided that our house is a toilet.

We started potty training her right around Halloween last year.  She was excited and while it took a little longer than the other kids, she was getting it.  Then out of the blue she started peeing on the floor, usually right in front of the toilet.  That's been going on since probably Christmas-time.

We have tried bribing her with candy, stickers, treats, princess toys, you name it!  We have tried disciplining her by spanking, time-out, taking away her precious blanket, ignoring her, you name it!  We have had numerous talks about making good choices over and over again.  We talk about how the pee goes in the toilet, not the floor!  Nothing has worked!

I have been so convinced that she can do it because she does not pee the bed at night and she has gone 8 straight days with no accidents.  SHE CAN DO IT!!  I truly believe that she is choosing to pee in her pants.  And that's what makes it so frustrating!

Finally yesterday, after I found out that she peed on the patio outside, I realized that there is truly no limit to what she will decide is a toilet.  She pees on the main bathroom floor, the kids bathroom floor, her bedroom carpet, on a random blanket on the floor, the patio outside, she really doesn't care.

Today, 6 months after starting her potty training journey, she is wearing diapers.  I'm D-O-N-E!

The stress lies in the fact that yes, my daughter thinks our house is a toilet, but more-so that she simply doesn't care.  I worry that Gennie will grow up to ignore what we, as her parents, say.  Right now she will look at us and tell us exactly what we want to hear and even go as far as agreeing to whatever the rules are and then turn around and do the exact opposite.  She DOES NOT care one bit what we do or say to her.  Yes, she might cry in the moment for her blanket or yeah, that spanking really hurt, but it's a fleeting emotion.  She might wonder where her blanket is the next day and realize she can't have it so she goes on her merry way.  Or Mom is really mad at me, what's her problem? She just needs to get over it, and she goes on her merry way.  Oh, I don't get to choose a really fun toy from the prize basket? Oh well.

Am I overreacting?  I mean she IS only three years old.  I know that someday somehow this whole potty thing will click and she'll get it eventually but that's not what I'm most upset about.  It's the fact that she simply does.not.care.

How can you teach someone to care?