Ideas on Potty Training

My brother got my nephew potty trained by giving him a skittle every time he went to potty. My nephew was telling him he needed to potty every two minutes and would produce a trickle each time to get a skittle - but it worked very well.
I tried a bunch of stuff with my boys - what worked best for me was a little reward book and stickers - they got to choose the sticker and place it where ever they wanted in their little book. Once they had so many stickers, we would go pick out a trinket from the dollar store or go to lunch someplace they really wanted ( McD or some such place) Not my fave, so we seldom go - they felt empowered because they got to choose. Good luck!

He will do it when he is ready. Have all of the things he needs to be successful like a small potty and a smaller toilet seat to put on the big toilet. This way he can use either. Try to remind him occasionally but as long as he seems to know what to do HE will decide when he is ready. Be patient and it will click one day, when HE is ready.

We were told to let our son not have any pants or underpants...after a weekend of him being naked (with only one accident!) he was fully potty trained...it was very interesting. It did dake a few extra days for him to be comfortable going poop on the potty, but overall, it was an easy time (and after our twin girls took forEVER to potty train, I wish I had known about the naked theory :)

Try making it into a game, i.e, " I bet you can't beat me in a race to the potty when you have to go..." and then try racing him to the bathroom... let him win (of course) and then act so exasperated that he beat you!

B.,
I just trained my 3 year old over Christmas break. He never would tell me at first either.
Basically, here's what we did:
First we went straight to big boy underwear. We only used Pull Ups at night and only for about 3 months.
Second, my son was really into Cars the movie so I bought 10 die cast cars. I made two charts. One with the word PEE and one with the word POOP. I made a racetrack inside the letters. I then bought 2 packs of Cars stickers. Every time he went pee he got an M&M and got to put a car sticker on the pee chart and the same for pooping. I told him that if he got 5 stickers on the pee chart that he would get one of the die cast Cars cars that I had bought. He only had to get two poop stickers to get a Car.
I know that it sounds complicated but I got the idea from one of my best friends who trained her son in about 2-3 weeks. It worked for us. He trained in about 2 weeks.
I blogged about it on our blog at www.thehamiltonsdfw.blogspot.com. If you go to the blog you'll see pictures of the charts that I made and hung on our fridge. I think I posted it in February.
Just let me know if you have any questions. My 5 year old daughter trained so quickly when she was 2 - I was very nervous to train my son because I had heard boys were more difficult to train but he was pretty easy as well :)
D.

B. G., You may be dealing with a power struggle. Make sure that he understands that he has no options. I potty trained my son on a Sunday afternoon in the bathroom and a glass of water, we must have been in their a couple of hours, but he got the message. Your son is old enough to know what he is doing, a 3 year old can be very smart. Just a thought, give it a try. Some kids have a very strong will.
J. W.

our 3 yr. old did the same thing. They will slowly learn the feeling "to go" . It may take a little time but he will learn. When he does wet his pants, do'nt get up set. Just take him to the potty . Ask hin if he like the wet pants. Of course he will say no. Then let him know when he first feels his self wetting in his pants, to run to the potty. he will learn it soon enough.

We just got through potty training our very stubborn 3 year old son. He knew how to do everything also, but just thought it was more convenient to go in his pullup. We finally just picked a day and told him that on that day he was a big boy and needed to start wearing underwear. I fixed a bag full of special things (new big boy underwear, special foam soap, a special hand towel with his name on it, M&Ms for when he went, and a new water bottle - so he would drink plenty of water to go.) We gave him the package when he woke up. I think the first day we had about 8 accidents, but we did not go back to pullups. We wanted to send the message that we knew he could be successful in going to the bathroom. The second day I think we only had 4 accidents. Each day got easier and easier. Sometimes he wore the underwear and sometimes he went naked. He was the most successful when he was naked.
Just remember that every child is different and what works for one may not work for another. Good Luck!

I had this same problem a couple of months ago training my son. With my daughter she always told us so I didn't know what to do. All I can say is that it just takes time. We started potty training him on his second birthday (Feb.) and by middle of March he was telling when he needed to go. Before then I would have to take him every 2 hours and he would alway go for me, but never told me I need to go. We tried everything rewards, candy, and lots of praise. Finally I got out a sticker chart that seemed to help. Who knows maybe it all just clicked and the sticker's had nothing to do with it. Boys just seem to take a little longer hang in there he will start telling you soon.

I know this is probably not what you want to hear, but our pediatrician told us you are not suppose to train your child, but let them train themselves when they are ready. For one thing, she said there is something down there that has to develop to give them the sensatin on the inside to know when they need to go and some do this later than others. She also said that if you forxce them, later they will rebel and have accidents on purpose. I tried at two with my daughter just as you said and it did not work, after talking to the pediatrician I gave up and did what she suggested...leave the potty seat out, read potty books, when she instigated it praise her and wait until the next time. At 2 1/2 she was going on her own more often, even pooping at times. Then one day her baby sitter called and said she had been going potty all day on her own terms!!!!! We were done (with tt) so we wore pullups until she was ready to poop in the potty (took about three months) So easy!!!

What finally worked on my 3 year old grandson was chocolate. They bought a bag of hershey's kisses and everytime he poops in the potty, he gets a kiss. Now, he will try even when he doesn't need to go. It worked like a charm!!!

D. Kimbriel
Grandma to 2 beautiful boys

My daughter is the same way. I think it is just an age thing and they need to be reminded to go. I would say she only tells me that she has to go 10% of the time. Most of the time I have to remind her to go. They get busy playing and forget or just think that they can hold it a little longer. I am thinking that will start to improve with age. I have also heard that sometimes with boys it takes longer. I would just enourage you to continue to remind him to go and reward him when he asks with a sticker chart or other type of incentive that you feel would have some impact.

We started PTing our son at 2.5 and he did great but would NEVER tell us until about 3 months into it. We used the book by Lois Kleint which is awesome and worked great. Even she says it takes a few months for them to start telling you instead of the reverse. I still ask him every two hours or so but he has started finally telling me which is great. Just keep asking him until he will eventually go on his own or tell you...it will happen eventually!

Get him a potty watch!! it works great!

I was having alot of the same problems with my 3 yr old boy as well. I finally just started telling him to go potty every half hour or so. He eventually just got in the habit. One time I forgot to ask him to go and it had been an hour or so and he went on his own. He's been doing great ever since! I also had bought him spider man underwear (his favorite action hero) and told him when he could go potty for 3 days strraight, he could have the big boy underwear. It was helpful to have something tangeable to "bribe" him with. Good luck, I know this can be frustrating...

Fruit Loops, is what I used to Potty train both my Grandsons, at 18mons, just sprinkle some in the tolet, and I made a game out of it, They loved it! trying to aim at the Fruit Loops! Try it and good luck!

If your son is anything like mine, he may want to do it all by himself? Including taking himself, undressing himself, flushing, etc. For us, I left my son naked from the waist down. We put a small potty in his playroom, next to the train table. That way, he doesn't have to be away from playing. Just put a towel underneath to catch accidents. Good luck, I think you are getting close.

we are going through the same thing with our almost 3 year old. She will Not tell me she needs to go, but if i put her on the potty she will maybe only have one accident in a day. For the last two days i've told her she isn't allowed to watch tv unless she pees in the potty. Everytime she asks to watch tv i tell her she has to pee in the potty first. Usually a few minutes later she tells me she needs to go potty. After she pees i let her watch one 20 minute show. She has never asked to go potty before so i feel like it is a huge improvement.

I also printed of a reward chart from chuckecheeses website. If a child goes potty all day for 14 days chuckecheese will give them free tokens.
i felt like that was a little too long for her right now.
so i also bought a diego video and if she stays "clean and dry" all day long she gets to stay up past her bedtime and watch a diego video. So far that hasn't happened yet but she asks about it all the time. And i "think" she understands.
From what i understand the key to potty training is that the child has to want to. Now matter how much they understand and are capable they have to want to. while candy has been a temporary insentive so far tv has been the only thing that has really driven her.
nobody changes unless it has become to uncomfortable to stay the same . . . right!?

oh . . . the only way my sister potty trained one of her boys was the naked thing. i haven't tried it yet but it might work!