My Son Has Been Peeing Everywhere!

Hey A.,

My son did it too! I thought it was weird and gross when it happened (6 years ago), he was peeing under his bed, but reading this made me remember that he did it too and, quite honestly, made me feel better. No worries, my dear, he is not a freak. Have no solution for you though, but good luck.

OK, normal weirdness of boys aside, you're right, it's a wrong behavior that needs to be stopped.

First he must understand from you, that this is totally not allowed. Not funny, not shocking, not impressive, not anything, just not allowed. Once you know he understands that, make sure he understands that he will absolutely have a consequence every single time he does it.

You will be calm, cool, in charge, and he will have a consequence. IN ADDITION to the fact that he has to clean it up. Cleaning it up goes without saying. He must clean up his own mess, but that's not a consequence for wrong behavior. I wouldn't ask him why, its too much dialogue and attention-what would the right answer be? don't let him control the situation, just teach him it's not allowed.

So, yes, make him clean it, even if you secretly have to finish the job, make sure he has a laborious task. ALSO implement your most effective discipline based on what works for you at other times-as in makes wrong behaviors stop. Make it the maximum one he really wants to avoid. 5 is a little old to invent a new one. Use the best of your arsenal. You want this to stop. If you ever catch him in the act-this is the best time to teach him. Calmly implement discipline immediately. But even if you don't find it until afterwords, he's old enough to have a consequence after the fact. And he must always clean it. Good luck!

Hi A.,

No punishment please.

Contact your local family child development therapist.

Good luck. D.

A.,
I am still laughing :)..... i KNOW YOU ARE not .
well, your son [ if he has never did this before] 100% garenenteed he saw D_A_D_D_Y, a T_V_ show, M_O_V_I_E, a N_E_I_G_H_B_O_R_, or a K_I_D_ in class do the EXACT SAME THING !!!!!!!!!!!
However , a 5 year old thinks this is ' cool' and 'fun' ... he has NO IDEA MOMMY IS CLEANING UP AFTER HIM ... no CLUE .. he is 5 yr. old .
now, you certainly CAN NOT SCARE HIM for FEAR of him now REFUSE'n to pee [ now you have medical bladder/ renial issues] !!!!!!
YOU HAVE TO EXPLAIN [ daddy can help you with this one] ALL BIGGER PEOPLE GO IN THE TOILET [ potty whatever word he uses] LIKE MOMMY ,DADDY, BEST FRIEND, COUSINS, ETC ....
[ You may get the answer @ this point ....he may say no no my ' friend' goes in the garbage can ' ] chuckle ...
YOU give HIM 2 choices
a- the toilet [ unless an er. on roadside, camping etc if you travel or camp]
B- you MUST wear ' PULL-UP" until you stop ...
then reward him with something [ chalk, bike bell , ]and of course ; MAKE SURE HE KNOWS YOU and daddy NOTICED HOW HE WENT INTO THE TOLIET .....
keep this s-i-m-p-l-e ... or you will have years of issues .
mommy , he really has no clue pee stains , smells, and you are ready to blow ...
please print this question with all the answers
SAVE this one for HIS BABY BOOK !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
a grammy

I think it is probably a phase. I too smelled the strange smell and realized it was coming from my son's trash can. I asked why he was peeing in the trash can, and he said it was fun! I think it might be a control thing - can I hit my mark? This was about 4 months ago. I made him clean out the trash can, and haven't had any problems since. Have you asked why he is doing it?

Little stinker is marking his territory...lol. I have all daughters, this really must be a boy thing. I would keep telling him it is not allowed and timing him out each time/taking something away. God bless mothers with boys, some of the posts make me laugh so hard :-)

Hi A. -

I have not personally had this happen to me, but my first thought is that he is trying to get attention. Even though you do not think anything has changed, he might. I don't know how much time you get to spend with your son, but when I was having behavior issues, I started having "special time" or "Mommy and me" time with my son. Which Special Time is spending 10 - 15 minutes 2x's a day with him. And during that time we would do an activity that HE wanted to do and I would give him my undivided attention for that 10 - 15 minutes(no phones, TV's, Siblings) When I spent this time with him and he got my attention like that....the other issues, went away. Something to try.
I would not punish him, I think that would only make the situation worse. It sounds like he is looking for attention and kids will take attention in any form....good or bad... so spending some quality time with him may end this situation for you. Hope this helps
Have a great day!

A.,
As the mother of a 5-year old son, I can tell you that this is normal 5-year-old behavior. A friend of mine has a son two years older than mine. Two years ago when he was 5, she told me that she kept smelling urine in her house and found that he was peeing in different places. I thought this was odd until my son began doing a few months ago when he turned 5.

My son has done it a couple of times out of retaliation and a couple of times for fun. There is no need to ask why. Whenever I sent him to his room for time out, he would take his clothes out of the drawer and pee on them. He was angry at his older brother so he went into his room and peed. He used to watch TV in my room sometimes and he would pee on the floor for fun. After he began to receive consequences for his behavior, he stopped doing it.

Urine is a very strong smell and intensifies as it dries. I used Renuzit pet odor remover and it worked wonders. Febreeze also helped too.

I have four sons and let me just say, boys do not possess common sense! They also are very curious. This is probably a fun game of "aim and see where we can land the pee."

I think having him cleaning it up is a good idea, may not be as fun if he has to face the consequences. Just be sure to give instructions on how to do and then not much attention after that for it. The less attention he gets for having done this the better. Ignore any whining or complaints and don't let him have any privileges till its done. You can be sympathetic to his complaints but let the consequences speak for themselves.

Also, finding other things to praise during the day may distract him from wanting to do this and put him on to 'working to please mummy' track. He will focus his efforts and being a good helper, listening well, being obedient etc. Make sure you find specific things to praise in these areas or its just empty praise.

Good luck and Arm and Hammer carpet freshener with baking soda in is great! (You can even get a pet odor one).

I've never had boys, so I'm no real help. But if you punish him, make it fit the crime. It'll be more hassle, but you can make him help clean up, learn how, and DO IT by himself -- which will probably convince him it's WAY easier to simply do it in the toilet.

When he uses the dog bowl, he should apologize to the dog, then wash the bowl and provide clean water. Worse case? You could make him wash the bowl and use it for his own supper, letting the dog who knows better than to pea in the house, use your son's supper dish. That'd get the point across . . . and hopefully gross him out rather than feel like fun.

Hi A.!

My 6 year old went through that weird phase. I kept smelling pee in his room for about 6 months and would mutter under my breath thinking the dog was doing it.
I had the carpets cleaned and the smell would not go away.

I finally figured out that the little knucklehead was peeing in his closet. When I asked him why he could not give me a reason!
I had to stay on him for a good month or so and I would go in and check it every night with him beside me.

My punishment's included taking away the ever important Nintendo DS or no tv. I also threatened to "clean" his room. My kids hate that because when mommy cleans their room she gets rid of toys!

That worked but like I said I really had to stay on him!
Good Luck!

Wow, I can't wait for this faze, LOL. I bet someone, somewhere (school???) peed outside of the toilet and he saw. I would make him help clean it up and also tell him he is going to lose something precious ( toy, TV time, special snacks etc) if he does it again. I bet after losing a favorite toy or treat once or twice for a set amount of time he will get the hint. I hope for your sake ge does!!!