Potty Training - Leesburg, FL

My son is about 3 1/2 and has just passed the potty trained for #1 in about the last 2 months, still working on #2. I just had to wait till it was time and something else to kinda enforce it was-he had plain white underware & didn't like to wear them but he loves trucks & cars so we went to Walmart & I told him he could have the "Cars" underware if he promised to wear them and no more pull-ups. Within 3 days we were going #1 in the potty everytime (unless distracted) and he would tell me on his own when he had to go. It just seemed to take something he really wanted/liked to get him into it. We are working on the #2 and are getting better at it and the night pull-ups are staying dry 5 out of 7 nights now. All kids are different but the average age I was told for boys was between the ages of 3 & 4. Good luck & ya'll will get there soon.

This is probably not the response you were wanting to hear but maybe he's just not ready yet. I am not an expert, but I read tons of books/magazines about little ones, having one myself (daughter, age 3) From my personal experience I tried to encourage my daughter to potty, it seemed hopeless. Every once in while she'd do it in the potty and we'd make a big deal about it with praises or prizes. But then the next day its like she completly forgot everything we learned. Finally, after a few months of hits and misses, not much progess, she just got up and said 'I'm have to pee' and she did..again and then later on again. Its like a light bulb just flipped on internally. Of course there are occasional accidents when she is really busy playing with a friend, but even those are fewer now. From my experience its just a matter of time and being ready when that time comes. And it will come, sooner than you think.

I know boys take a little longer to train. Have you tried having him watch Daddy go to the bathroom or a big sibling? I have heard of this working . Also, the potty chairs that are made to turn colors when the child hits the target. Some type of positive encouragement/reward system may have speed it along too.

N.,

He may not be emotionally ready for it. My son was 3 1/2 before I could get him to use it. I have a niece who was even older. They were both physically ready, but had their mind set they were not going to use it.

Good Luck.

It becomes a battle of wills at that age. My daughter went through the same problem. I read in Parent magazine that when a toddle thinks they master something, they move on without a thought back on it. With my daughter, it was summer, so it was a little easier to do this. I let her run around naked. Without the diaper or training pants on her. If she peed on te floor, I made her help me clean it up. I involved her in the process, which gave her some control of the situation. I had a drawer where I kept her diapers at the time, and I replaced them with panties. She would go to get me a diaper, and there weren't any. She would get a little angry with me, but I told her they were all gone. Now, I still put a trainer on her at night, which seems silly, but after awhile she stopped wetting it at night, and I moved to panties all the time.

If she had an accident in her panties, I made her stand in front of the sink and rinse them out. I also made her help me with cleaning the area she had messed up. Changing her clothes, bed sheets, etc. I guess it sounds a little tough, but at that age they can grasp the concept of consequence. Before too long, she realized that having to stop playing to help clean up her mess took longer than stopping to go to the potty.

It was a process, and it didn't happen overnight. We had accidents, and I never berated her for them. I was very patient, which was hard for me at the time, but I took the time with her to help her understand. But it did happened. It's all in the approach, I guess. Every child is different.

With my son, he was three and I had just had his sister. I was chnging her siaper one day when he walked up to me to tal me he pooped and needed to chnage his diaper. I was so tired, and coudn't imagine doing this for the next few months. SO I looked at him, and I told him that this wasn't going to happen again. He was old enough to understand when he needed to go to the bathroom. I also took away his diaper drawer, filled it with underwear, and told him from now on he wasn't wearing a diaper again, even at night. I went through the same process with him. He hated cleaning up his mess, and it only took a few mistakes, until he made less and less of them.

I hope this helps you. Good Luck! email me at ____@____.com if you need to vent. And you will.

Well, 2 1/2 is still pretty early. I'm having the same problems as you and my son will be 4 in February!!! Some kids just do it later than others. My son doesn't tell me he has to go either. I have to take him to the potty and sometimes he's resistant. I don't think it's something that can be forced. He'll do it when he's ready. I don't think there have been very many (if any) kids reach kindergarten and not be potty trained!

Seems i may be the only one who feels this way, but if he has done it already before and he knows what it's for, i would continue to try with him. He will eventually get it that that's what he has to do. Of course, don't push and force where he's crying, because that won't make a difference, but just keep on reminding him and putting him on the potty, even if he doesnt' go, so he knows that that's where it's suppossed to go. He'll get the idea and once he starts to actually want to go on the potty, the hard part of getting him used to it will be over! good luck!

Hi, if the school doesn't have a rule or issue against it I wouldn't push it. he sounds as if he's just not quite ready emotionally. I know a child that was TOTALLY potty trained and fell off the wagon so to speak at 3 years old. Eventually she got back on the potty. Her pre-school doesn't allow non potty trained kids. He won't go to college in a diaper ;-)
Good Luck!

N.,

My oldest son was 3 1/2 by the time he was potty trained. There is no one way to go about it. All parents and kids are different. I thought about what I needed to feel prepared and stopped comparing my little one to others. That made me feel more at ease! I got myself a book (Mommy I have to go Potty!), so that I felt like I knew what I was doing and what my son was experiencing. Then I just waited and watched him for the signs. When he was ready, it was easy! I got a lot of grief for not training him earlier, but that would have been wrong to do to my son and me. Potty training should be a positive experience, not a nightmare. As one of my friends said "How many 15 year olds do you see still in diapers?". It will happen for your son. When you are both ready.

i am not sure this will help but my son is the same he was going even at daycare and now he just stopped , mine my daughter was not this hard but my son just stopped not interested anymore. i know i can't help but now i dont feel so bad that my son is not the only one i figured i will just give it time i dont know whatelse to do