I have a two year old who is not potty trained yet, but we are going to start soon. I am 29 and I have my bachelor's in nursing. When I was 19, I worked in a daycare. I had a class of ten 2-3 year olds and I potty trained them all.
The secret to potty training is a potty schedule and panties.......not trainig pants or pullups or diapers, but good ol panties. What is hard, is that you will be doing lots of laundry for about a week or two, but the kids learn very fast because they don't like the feeling of being wet or poopy. With training pants, the kids feel it, but they feel it more when in regular underwear. Diapers and pullups don't work. It works for the parents because it is less of a mess, but it takes longer for the kids to be trained. The kids need to feel the discomfort and associate it with voiding in the toilet and not in their pants. This is quickly learned when putting them in underwear.
As far as the schedule goes, have your child sit on the toilet when she gets up, and explain the purpose of her sitting on the toilet. Also, have a candy/treat jar in the bathroom. Explain to your child that when she pees, she'll get one treat, and when she poops, she gets two. You can also use a sticker chart or something that is exciting to your child. (Candy worked really well for me because the kids didn't get it very often) Then every one and a half to two hours later, have her sit on the toilet again and explain what you're doing again, even if she doesn't have to go, still have her sit on the toilet. Repeating things to your toddler will help to ingrain the information in her mind. Have her stay on the toilet for a few minutes. If she is still having difficulty, run water from the sink. This helps associate the noise of running water with the flow of urine. Or take warm water, and pour it down the small of her back. This can help release the muscles around her urethera which allows her to void.
Keep the two hour schedule, and you can increase the time as you see fit. Or as she adjusts.
If you child wets her pants, stip her down in the bathroom and put her on the toilet so she associats wetting her pants with voiding in the toilet. And again explain to her what she needs to do. And then start your two hour mark from the time she voided in her pants.
The bowel movements were a little more tricky. As soon as I smelled one of the kids passing gas, we were off to the potty. They would sit on the toilet and I would explain what to do. It took some timt, but it eventually worked.
As soon as they go, MAKE A BIG DEAL about!!! :) This will make your child feel special. And be consistant. Consistancy is the KEY.
It was a huge accomplishment and something I was very proud of when all of the 10 kids in my class were potty trained. It took me about 2 weeks. The most difficult part was when the kids went home on weekends, the parents didn't follow through with what I was doing. So when Monday came around, I had to start over. But eventually it worked. It just would have worked faster if the parents were consistant too.
So, to sum it up......potty schedule, regular panties, doing lots of laundry for about a week, patience, and CONSISTANCY! :)
Let me know if you have any questions and best wishes!!!