Potty Training & Punishment!

For potty training, put him on the toilet every 30 minutes.  Leave him on for 10 minutes.  Then in 30 minutes, repeat the process.  Do this until you learn his queues and the times of day that he goes.  

With punishment.  The good thing about time out is that it can be done anywhere.  My daughter *hates* to sit where she's told.  She can sit there all day without complaint, but as soon as I make her, she hates that spot no matter what.  We don't call it "time out".  We just say, "Do you want to sit?" and typically the answer is no and she straightens up.  This works for 2-3 and up.  For younger than 2, simple redirection works.

I have an e book, I can send you if you want. I potty trained my son in 4 days using the method. If you want it, just let me know !

Potty training. Make sure he is ready. Some signs are... he/she can say "pee, poop" things to let you know they need to go, takes an interest in the potty, like when someone goes potty and stuff. My son now says pee and poop and potty. He knows mommy and daddy and sister go pee and poop on the potty. He has even told me when he has peed and a few times when he pooped, these are signs that he is ready. I would not use pull ups or diapers, go cold turkey. When you give them a diaper and tell them not to pee in it, it is confusing to them. I would let them pick out some undies they like at the store and tell them the diapers are all gone now and that they are a big boy or a boy girl and big boys and big girls go pee on the potty. Make is exciting for them. When they go potty clap, give them high fives, give them a treat (stickers, fruit snacks, mini cookies), let them call someone and tell them they went potty (daddy, grandma, auntie, uncle, anyone who will answer lol). Make it a big deal that they did something so good : ). I am about to start potty training my son (26 months old) I am nervous lol. 

Spanking didn't work on my daughter so I would put her in a time out (1 min per yr old). It was tourture for her lol. I would take a chair at the table, move it away from the table and she was to sit there.  It worked for her. If she was being bad with a toy I would take that toy away. My son we count. I will say no no Alex and if he still does it I will ask him "Don't do ..... Do you want me to count?" if he still does it I sart counting "One!" wait "Two!" and if he is still doing it I might spank him (never hard of course just getting the point across) I hardly ever end up spanking him b/c this works for him. 

when shes done if i could borrow it i would be forever grateful.

Welcome to the group. You might ask these on the Toddlers & Preschoolers group too.

Spanking won't work. Lots of praise. How old is he? He may not be ready.

Potty training I would go straight to undies. I have used the 3 day method starting at 18 months with both my boys. Both were completely trained by 20 months.

With discipline which ever method you choose consistency is the key. In my house we use 3 strikes your our rule. First time it's a verbal warning, second time it's a timeout (1 minute per age) 3rd time it's a spanking or it may be losing a toy for the rest of the week depending on the situation

ahaparenting.com is a great resource for both of your questions

With potty training we started with a no fuss approach... to kind of just introduce the concept... so we would put him on the potty always before bath time, and also various times during the day, but not really "training".  When he started to show more interest we bought him undies and brought him at regular intervals... he got candy as a reward (because it was a huge motivator for him, as he never got candy)  He got 1 m&m for trying, 2 for peeing and 3 for pooping.  He was trained by 2 1/2.

For discipline... we use time out.  Our time out spot is the second step from the bottom... it's a nice spot for us because we can see him, but there really isn't anything for him to see or do.   Anywhere can be a time out spot though... just find a place that is quiet and without distraction.  We use a time out pad... it worked great for my son... it has a timer on it, and it's weight sensitive so it alarms if he gets off of it.   The way we use time outs is.... he gets a warning about his behavior, if he does it again he gets a time out... when he's placed in time out he is told WHY he's there... at the end of time out he has to be calm (if he's not, time out is not over) he then has to apologize for whatever the reason was that landed him there.  If he doesn't apologize, time out is not over. 

We do spank too... but it's VERY VERY rare....  we use spanking for things that are dangerous... we feel this is the most effective for this type of situation... we would rather he be fearful of a swat on the butt than to be seriously hurt by touching something like a hot oven.  We also feel that the rarity of the spanking makes for a bigger message... that it's major serious business if he gets a spanking.

Rewards always worked with my kids.  I know many people say you shouldn't use rewards, but our entire society is based on rewards.  (You go to work, you get paid.  You do a good job, you get a raise, etc.)  When I potty trained my kids, I put a chart on the bathroom wall.  Every time they went in the toilet, they got a sticker on their chart.  When they had ten stickers lined up in a row, they got a treat.  I never punished when they had an accident, they just didn't get a sticker. 

The same worked in other situations too.  When we went to a store, if they were good throughout the store, they got to pick out a candy at the register.  If they threw a tantrum in the store, they didn't get to pick anything out. 

Another thing that really helped me with my kids were those super nanny shows.  It came on one day, and my kids were glued.  So we ended up watching it all the time.  When my kids saw other kids acting like brats, then having the show end with the kids learning how to behave, it sort of gave them an example of what they should do and they of course didn't want to be like the bratty kids.