Potty Training - Katy,TX

I think at his age he is ready and you said he does go on his own sometimes. Toddlers love a response, so I would do 2 things: 1) I don't really think M&Ms or similar small treats really work that well, but worked well for my son was lots of praise, high fives, "wow, you're such a big boy" etc. And we would go through it all again when my husband got home "Daddy, guess how many times he pee peed on the potty today" and more high fives. 2) given that they like a response don't give him any attention at all when he has an accident. Depending on his ability to clean himself up either totally ignore it or simply say "Here is a towel and some dry pants, let me know if you need help" and continue doing what you were doing as if he hasn't done anything worth talking about. This does not mean ignoring him with regard to other things, just don't talk about the accidents at all.

With my son, nagging him about going only served to do the opposite of what I wanted. If I suggested he go pee there was no way he was going to sit down. You can provide gentle reminders if you want "The potty is over here whenever you have to go" I also found it worked well for us if I announced to him that I was going, I'd come back out of the bathroom and he would have pee to show me. It's like bringing to their attention that going potty is an option, but not suggesting it has anything to do with him.

Also keep in mind that he is only a week into it. He will get it eventually.

Don't worry he'll get it. Keep trying.
One thing that helped us was someone told me to ask him 10-15 mins after he drank something if he needed to pee. Every time. That seemed to work for us. Also we used a potty stool and that helped make things easy for him. Also, used the potty treats (M&M's too). Keep at it and don't get discouraged. Hang in there. He'll get it. :)

My son was doing really good for a few days at the same exact age as your son, then all of a sudden he wanted nothing to do with going on the potty anymore and he would get mad if I would try to get him to go. I let it go and didn't try making him go anymore, 3 months later he started telling me every time he had to go (this was out of nowhere without me nagging him about it) and never looked back! Only problem we're having is pooping on the potty. He has done it in the past, but for some reason he is not willing to do that, but he is completely trained when it comes to peeing. I think you might just have to back off and give it a little more time. My son will even use the bathroom in public now and that is something he wouldn't do when he was your sons age. Good luck, I know how frustrating it can be!

Ive read somewhere that you should try to introduce the potty before 28 months and after that it is much harder to potty train....maybe you waited too long..not saying that you cant potty train him, but it will be difficult. Just be consistent

The only problem with "3-Day Potty Training " is the name, because it implies it will be short and easy, and it rarely is ; ) My grandson trained at 32 months in 4 days, day and night training completely (no accidents) but Mom had been talking about it and letting him see her and dad use the toilet for 8 months!

And I agree with V K., the longer we wait to train past a certain age, the more set in their ways our children become, and the harder it is to train them :( I didn't act on my guy's interest at 21 months, and I can now see I missed my window of opportunity so it's a little slower going. I've also read that girls are typically ready physically to train at 22 mos, boys about 3 months later at 25 mos. And, prior to disposable diapers and pull-ups the average age a child was trained (not starting) was 18 months.

The goal of "3-Day Potty Training" is to teach your child to recognize the urge to use the bathroom, and it sounds as if your son did that since he was going solo on his own. That said, I would take a total break from the potty, leave it out and in sight but don't mention it for a week or so, then re-group and start again.

When you begin again I would leave him bare-bottomed as much as possible so he has easy-access to the potty, not use pull-ups but cloth training pants and plastic pants over them (I bought both at Target in the baby/toddler section, they were next to regular underwear) so he really feels the wetness and yuckiness next to his body, have him clean up the messes and change any messy clothing, stop rewards and sticker charts (see my personal exception below), wait until he's mastered PT 101 at home before suggesting he use a public restroom, and get a potty seat that goes on the toilet for encouraging him to use the big potty when you begin that, along with a stool to make it easier for him to get up there.

1) Set regular times to tell him (don't ask) it's time to use the potty. With my guy (27 months) it's when he wakes up in the morning or from naps, before going to sleep either time, and after meals or drinking. The rest of the time he can use it on his own, which he sometimes does, and I will suggest it if I notice any signs.
2) Encourage him profusely for successes and trying, give him a "high-five" and clap. (I go all out clapping and praising him and he loves it. He stopped asking for stickers, which he'd wear a few minutes and then forget about, and I discovered that Dum Dum pops are a great incentive to get him to poop when he resists and is trying to hold it in. I'll give him one each time he poops until he's doing it regularly on his own and wean him off them.)
3) Hold off putting him in regular underwear until he's going regularly on his own, use it as a "big boy" incentive.
4) Show him how to rinse and wash out his pants in the sink, Zote is a pink laundry soap that works well, then the next time and so on he does it on his own. This worked with my nephew, he never had any accidents after he washed his out the first time.
5) It sounds like you are doing great, and I know it's draining :-/ But hang in there!

It sounds like he is not ready potty t te ainung is a developmental thing and the magical 2 age is not always right. My son was almost 4 before it clicked! Wait a little longer, don't let it be a battle.

My feeling is you can wait and let him learn when he is physically, mentally, developmentally ready or you can train yourself. If you are setting timers, reminding every hour, etc.-which one of you is trained?
He can do it for short term, but he's not ready for the commitment. Is it such a big deal? My older two were closer to four when they trained and they did it in a few days with no backsliding or fears or real effort on my part.
The youngest tried training herself at barely two- she wanted to be like her big sister- and she did it. For about three days. Once she proved to herself that she could, she didn't care anymore. So we backed off and waited until she was closer to three and then it was easy.
I guess it never really mattered to me enough to make it a huge deal. When they could really understand what they were supposed to do and physically do it, then they did. Before then, a lot of the time, you are just training yourself. (And yes, there are kids who easily get it before that age for whatever reason. I'm just saying if they don't, it is not the end of the world.)
Good luck.

Readiness happens on several levels: physical, neurological, verbal and emotional. Your son sounds really close, but is perhaps not emotionally prepared for the ongoing commitment. It might help to make it more of a game, which seemed to get my grandson over that last speed bump. He loves dinosaurs, so when I could tell it was time for him to use the potty, I would go into the bathroom and begin noisily throwing out all the dinos that were crowded in there. My grandson would appear within seconds to help me out, and would finally carefully remove a few baby dinos that were taking up space on the toilet seat. Then he's proudly take his pee (or poop).

Another game is target practice – if your son stands to pee, you can throw a few cheerios in the water so he can try to hit them.

But think about his interests, and see if you can come up with a game that would entice him. It has worked well for several toddlers I've known.

Also, you might find this comprehensive website helpful. It gives a few variations on"readiness" checklists, plus tips on various training strategies, the best ages to start them, and the advantages and disadvantages of each approach: http://www.parentingscience.com/toilet-training-readiness...

There are some great suggestions here that I am definitely going to take into consideration because I have been struggling with potty training as well...another reference that has been helpful for me though is this potty training guide I found on SkinnyScoop:
http://www.skinnyscoop.com/list/eden/tips-for-potty-training

I think we make WAY to much out of scarring our children with potty training. Goodness. My daughter did pretty much what your son did, great at first and then wandered off the reservation. Look, no offense, but I did not determine she was not ready or that it hadn't clicked. I didn't try to analyze the situation. She proved to me for one week that she could do it consistantly and I determined she just decided it really was a lot easier to go in her diaper and let me change her when she was ready then stop what she was doing and go. So I stayed on course. Never mean, never took privleges away, just made it clear that I was the parent, she proved she could do it and that was pretty much that. And yes, once she even cried when I made her go to the bathroom, but she went. And two years later, when she was four and I was watching a friend's daughter and had to change the diaper my daughter asked me why she couldn't go in the toilet. I explained she wasn't potty trained yet, she asked me what's that I told her and even asked her if she remembered anything. She didn't, I even told her about crying, holding her little dolphin stuffed animal and nope. She did remember the "Grover has to Go" book and that was it. So really, you won't scar him if you aren't mean. Just stick to your guns. Might it get easier in a few months? Maybe. Or maybe he's playing you and it will only be harder.