For all workshops, pre-register by calling 425-4412.

Unless otherwise noted, all sessions are for parents and caregivers of young children.

Here’s what’s in store for this summer:

Terrific Two’s: Learn about your 2-year-old. Focus is on their developmental milestones.  All are 6 to 7:30 p.m.
June 1, Choctaw Library
June 16, Midwest City Library
June 22, Southern Oaks Library
June 19, The Village Library

Sibling Struggles: Learn methods to prepare children for the arrival of a new sibling and how to deal with sibling squabbles. Find out about sibling rivalry and what normal behavior is.  Both are 6 to 7:30 p.m.
June 2, Midwest City
June 30, The Village

Just for Fun: Games People Play(for children ages 8-12): Includes active games, quiet games and brain teasers. Kids will play games from the past and games from other cultures. Both are 1:30 to 3:30 p.m.
June 14, Southern Oaks
June 21, The Village

Toileting Triumph: Toileting doesn’t have to be a major challenge. Focus is on signs of readiness, why it can be frustrating and much more. All are from 3:30 to 5 p.m.
June 16, Edmond Library
June 29, Warr Acres Library
July 20, Ralph Ellison Library

Making Your Morning Manageable: Time to eliminate chaos and come up with a routine. Focus is what parents can do to make this part of the day more calm and enjoyable.
June 25, 10:30 a.m. to noon, Warr Acres

Lullaby & Goodnight: Find a routine that includes reading to your child, to ease bedtime and naptime challenges.  Sleep challenges will also be discussed. Both are 3:30 to 5 p.m.
June 30, Edmond
August 17, Ralph Ellison

Look Out, I’m Three!: Learn more about your 3-year-old. Focus is on developmental milestones. All are from 6 to 7:30 p.m.
July 7, Southern Oaks
July 8, Midwest City
July 13, The Village
July 20, Choctaw

Toddlers at the Table: Turn common concerns about toddler’s eating habits into opportunities to teach healthy habits. Both are 6 to 7:30 p.m.
July 12, Midwest City
July 21, The Village

Those Playful Preschoolers:Focus is behavioral characteristics and developmental milestones of 3- and 4-year-olds.  Activity ideas will be shared to keep little ones busy. Learn it’s OK for your preschooler to be “out of bounds.” Both are 3:30 to 5 p.m.
July 27, Warr Acres
Aug. 25, Edmond

Baby Basics: Main focus is typical concerns of parents. Colic/crying, separation anxiety, sleeping through the night and other issues will be discussed.
July 28, 3:30 to 5 p.m., Edmond

Reading Readiness: Workshop will explore the necessary reading readiness building blocks and parents’ roles in helping children become readers. Both are 6 to 7:30 p.m.
Aug. 4, Midwest City
Aug. 9, The Village

Fun to be Four: Learn about your fascinating 4-year-old. Workshop focuses on developmental milestones.  All are 6 to 7:30 p.m.
Aug. 3, Southern Oaks
Aug. 4, Midwest City
Aug. 10, The Village
Aug. 12, Choctaw

School Readiness: Facilitators will talk about support, encouragement and opportunity all children need for school success.
Aug. 10, 3:30 to 5 p.m., Warr Acres

Tripping Through Toddlerhood: Topics include, tantrums, biting, sharing and other common toddler challenges. Parents will learn how to minimize frustrations.
Aug. 11, 3:30 to 5 p.m., Edmond

Teaching Children to be More Cooperative: Focus is on when to discipline or ignore unwanted behaviors. Learn guidance techniques used by experts.
Aug. 27, 10:30 a.m. to noon, Warr Acres

To see the Oklahoma City-County Health Departments newsletters, including schedules for upcoming play groups, workshops, and health  and child guidance screenings, click here .

-Erica Smith
esmith@opubco.com

Here are some good ideas I received from readers:

1. Cheerios.  This was an overwhelmingly popular method.  Teach the little guy to “aim” and sink the round O’s and it’s almost as fun as Duck Hunt and Battleship.

2. Rewards.  Gumball machines, dollar store toys, getting to go with adults on errands because they’re “big kids,” and countless others.  Most parents are big on using positive reinforcement – lots of reassurance, compliments and even dancing. Yes, dancing.

3. Timers. Set it for every 20 or 3o minutes minutes and have them sit on the potty. Eventually they’ll get conditioned to go as soon as they hear the timer go off.

4. “Naked and $75.” Let him go around the house without a diaper for a few days to get him to want to use the potty.  The $75 is to have your carpets cleaned when he’s done.  A few parents really endorsed the “naked” method and putting a portable potty in rooms where the kids are most comfortable (living room, play room, etc.) and maybe using lots of juice to help things move along.

5. Just wait. I got some helpful feedback from parents who were concerned that I was maybe sending the wrong signal to my son by making him use the potty.  They suggested waiting until he was ready in his own time and finding a day care who accepted that.  One parent said this is his decision, one of the few a toddler has.  Another said parents who haven’t had success potty-training their kids shouldn’t feel like failures, that patience is key.

Well, I have big news for my fellow parents.  My son is now potty-trained!  What seemed like an impossibility Friday afternoon is now a very real accomplishment for my little man. I was all set to get a huge box of Cheerios and kitchen timer after work when my son had a bad “accident” in a public place and I had to rush home with him. We got home, I sat him on the potty once more, gave him some juice and waited for a miracle.  It happened. Not just once, but all weekend.  I have never been so happy to be woken up at 6:30 a.m. by my son who wants to go potty and stayed dry all night. I never thought this day would come.  No more Pull-Ups, no more diapers. What a change.

So I thank our readers for their wonderful responses and ideas. In the end, my son did it in his own time and on his own terms … although the two glassfuls of juice did help him find his own time a bit quicker. It just happened to be the same day as my very public plea (but maybe he planned it that way all along).

-Erica Smith

esmith@opubco.com

I’m at my wit’s end.  I am here to solicit advice from anyone and everyone who has had to potty-train a toddler.

My son is near impossible to potty train.  I thought I could just back off for a while and he’d get it eventually but his day care center is closing the end of June and for me to place him in a new day care’s 3-year-old class, he needs to be able to use the potty.

Here is what I’ve already tried:

1. Briberies.  I’m talking candy, chocolate, cupcakes, Hot Wheels cars and stickers.

2. Big boy pants.  He’ll go to the bathroom in them and still want to keep them on.  It’s disastrous.  Pull-ups don’t help either.  He treats them like diapers, even the cold-alert kind.

3. Sitting him on the potty for extended periods of time, hoping he’ll have to go eventually. He’s sat on there for an hour and finally when I take him off, he goes right on the floor.

4. Trying all kinds of ‘equipment.‘ We have the Sesame Street potty seat.  The SpongeBob stepstool. The potty chart.  We have it all.

5. Making sure he knows all his friends use the potty.  He knows, sees them go, and doesn’t care in the least.

6. Giving him things to do on the potty.  He’s had books, toys, made a racetrack around the potty rim, had me sit and sing ‘Wheels on the Bus’ on end, played the guitar and eventually unraveled a brand new roll of toilet paper and put it all in the toilet.  That was fun to clean up.

What else can I do?  

-Erica Smith, Copy Editor

esmith@opubco.com