Carpet Training?

I am an in-home daycare provider, and like most mom's that take on this type of business, I do it so that I can be home with my own kids. It is a challenging occupation to say the least.

I am currently going through a potty training battle with one of my charges. She will be 3 in a couple weeks and has been potty training since spring. She is like any other kid who would rather not have to take a break from playing to use the potty, but a bit more so, and compared to her twin, she still has a way to go.

My house is 1800 square feet, and with the exception of the 3 bedrooms (two of which are off limits to daycare kids), and a 5x8 rug in the living room, I have hardwood floors throughout. If a person were to just randomly come into my house and throw water on the floor they would have a 90% chance of hitting easily-wiped-up hardwood. So one would guess that the chances of an almost potty trained kid having an accident on the carpet would be slim. But that's where Murphy's Law rears it's ugly head. This little girl always seems to make it on the carpet. It's like she's carpet-trained or something!

The clincher the other day though, was when she had an accident in my husband's Lazy Boy recliner. I know. The Sacred Man Throne. I was pretty upset, I mean, carpet is one thing but furniture, even my ratty assortment, is a different story. So I went against all the child rearing theory of potty training, and put her in time-out while I cleaned up the chair, after which I give her a very stern talking to.

For some reason this tack seems to have worked and we haven't had any accidents for the last 2 weeks! I've gotten a bit better at giving her potty-break reminders and I think the lesson was learned on her part. So far, so good anyway, but I have learned that just when you think you've figured a kid out, they find another way to challenge you!