Potty Training Advice - Battle Creek, MI

Well, I don't know if I am the best source because my son is 3 1/2 and REFUSES to use the toilet. These ideas may work for you where they failed me: the video Elmo goes Potty (or something like that), children's books encouraging using the toilet, a prize bag kept in the bathroom, spending a week letting him run around without a diaper and catching him in the act. I even tried taking him to the store and picking out his own toilet seat and big boy underwear. He cried and backed down the aisle away from the toilet seats. If all else fails, find a preschool that is more accomodating. I am lucky that ours is very flexible. The naked baby worked great for my first child. Good luck!

I am a mother of three (8,3 & 1). My 3 year old was just recently potty trained. The biggest suggestion I have is not to rush into potty training - that will only make things harder and difficult on the both of you. I sure you have heard this before, but boys usually take longer to train. I never rushed my oldest 2 while we were potty training. Is your heart set on this preschool, because there are other daycare centers/preschools that will work with your child while he is potty training. With my 3 year old we used pull ups for about 1 year and he never really had an interest in using the potty. Around Christmas I realized he was just being lazy - we had been using potty books, stickers and charts. At Christmas he was just shy of 3 1/2 and Santa brought him some cool action figure underwear (spiderman & superman) - he had maybe 3 accidents and then no more. The key I think was making his potty training experience positive and letting him lead the way. When I was able to tell he was ready we got the underwear. We did continue to use pull ups at night for about another month or so, until we ran out, then we got a plastic sheet and cut back on the drinking time before bed and of course gave him a few special morning snacks (i.e. yogurt drinks, or something special he picked out for breakfast) to reward him for staying dry all night.

Good luck to you and seriously look into another preschool program, after all he is a young 3 and he'll have years to come of schooling. Another program will help him socially and you can always use the program you are interested in next year.

Put him on the potty once in a while even if its just to sit him in the seat with it closed with his pants on just dso he gets comfortable with it! Then ever now and then pull his pants down and tell him to go potty! Also have your son go into the bathroom with your husband wheile hes going potty, this helps with the whole concept. And when you put him on his potty tell him you gotta go pee pee!Do you gotta go poo poo! And even when hes not on the toilet teach him those words! I've done all this with my daughter! HEr first really potty training day! She went 7 times! I poop and 6 pee!And I noticed they won't do it untill they're ready either! So just be patient!oh ya and if he ever taked off his own diaper then take him potty!

one fo the easiest things is trying to get rid of the diaper by buying big boy underwear and haven him in those periodically during the day putting the potty chair where its easily accessable and maken a huge big fuss the first time he uses it; he really has to be physically ready though too. good luck; ps.. m&m's are great "rewards" and it's easier during warmer months when he can just run around in his undies.

My daughter turned 3 last September and I was hoping to start her in Preschool then but like your son she was not potty trained. We tried but she had no interest. Most preschools require that the child be fully potty trained so my daughter was not able to start school in Sept. We talked about school all the time and I made it a point to drive by a school during the day so she could see all the kids outside playing. She started saying that she wanted to go to school so I told her that she can't wear diapers at school and that she must use the potty like a big girl. That struck her interest and motivated her. It took a few more months but by the 2nd semester she was fully-potty trained and was able to start school after Thanksgiving.

So I wouldn't force the issue because if your son is anything like my daughter he will resist. I truely believe that they will do it when they are ready. Just start talking about it. Get a book and/or video about it and have the potty ready for him. If he is not ready by September he probably will be shortly there after.

Good Luck.

I've always known that eventually I'd have to potty train my daughter so from the time she was only months old I would take her with me into the bathroom when I had to go. She just turned two in January and I bought her a potty about two weeks ago. Every time I go to the bathroom, she insists on going with me. She pulls her own pants down and sits on the potty. She's been refusing to allow me to take her diaper off so she could sit bare-bottomed but my ex came over tonight and ended up using the bathroom and of course she had to go in there also. He got her to take off her diaper and sit on it bare bottomed. Finally. I've also noticed she's now fascinated with panties. I can't keep her out of my drawer and every time I turn around she's wearing a pair of mine. I'd get her a pair of her own but she couldn't wear it without the diaper so I'm waiting until she's further along in the potty training before doing that. I'll want to use them later to encourage her to ditch the diaper.

Anyways, what I'm getting at is kids will copy their parents and older siblings. He's still young enough that you can take him to the bathroom with you and you can also have daddy take him when he goes. Whenever you're at your family's home, let grandma/pa take him with them when they go also. Get older cousins, especially those closer to his age that are trained to take him with them. If he sees everyone else doing it, he'll eventually want to do it too. All the other advice I've read on here sounds great too. I plan on using them when needed for my daughter. She's just turned 2, though, so I'm not too worried yet. :) Good luck!

Hi C.,

I gave my son (who turned 3 in November) "pee-pee stars" when he would go on the potty. I had the chart on the fridge so he could see it. First I used a little potty in the bathroom, which he still uses sometimes. He got really excited about going to the bathroom because I made such a HUGE deal about it. I would cheer very loud, clap my hands, give him huge hugs. and we did the (this will sound weird) the "pee-pee on the potty dance". I told everyone HOW GREAT IT WAS in front of him. Then he got eager and wanted to put the stars on by himself, and he was very proud of himself. ***Going poop on the potty came much later than peeing! Ask him CONSTANTLY if he needs to go (esp. as soon as he wakes up). and if he gets to the potty as he is peeing, congradulat him anyway, even if he missed it by a matter of seconds. At least your child will recognize when it is 'Time', you know? My son is 3 and still needs a pull-up during naps and sleeping through the night, so don't worry! Take baby steps, and get him really into going pee on the potty during the day first. Get him so excited about doing it. This worked for my son. And from what I understand, boys are easier than girls. Lucky us! What also worked, was keeping a diaper off of him and letting him pee his pants a couple of times. I know this sounds bad, but TRUST ME when he realizes he went to the bathroom in his pants, he will want to go on the potty next time. Dont get mad when this happens, just let him know that it is ok, but next time let you know so you can make it to the potty. This happened about three times with my son (at your son's exact age) before he told me before he went, and made it to the toilet. If he is around running water (or washing his hands) it might trigger it. In the mornings when I was first potty training him, i would sit him on the potty and run the tap. It works. If he hasn't gone in awhile, put him on the potty and run the water. If he goes in the potty- make a big deal out of it. This might get you on the roll...I hope all of this helps. Good luck! C.

Your son may not be ready to potty train. The average age for Potty Trained boys is 3yrs and 4months old.

and honestly, he may be too young for preschool too. he won't be 3 until after the school year starts, and all preschools that I know of request FULL potty training, occasional accidents are ok, but cannot happen very often.

I see you are looking for social interaction for him, and a break for you.

Have you considered some playgroups,

I hope it goes smoother then it has for me with my son who turned 3 in September. He's still not potty trained!!! I was hoping for preschool in January but that has come and gone. I did read a book that might help your son though. It's called "Toilet trained in less then a day". I have had several people tell me it worked great for them, it's pretty old but the technique seemed good. It just didn't work for my hard headed son. I got it from the library because I couldn't find it at the stores.
I'll tell you that potty trained for school is usually totally potty trained, no pull ups or amost trained. A family in my 4 year olds preschool almost got kicked out because the daughter had an accident the first week of class. She would have been gone if it happened again. Most preschools I've heard of are the same way. Maybe you should check out a day care that has a preschool program. Sometimes they are less concerned about totally potty trained kids for preschool. You could drop him off in the morning and get him at lunch or even do full days 2-3 days a week. That way he gets interaction with other kids and you don't have to feel bad. Hopefully he gets there for you, good luck!

I was much like you and actually my child was a bit older. Most preschools will not take them unless they are completely potty trained as they are not certified or prepared according to federal standards to take care of the waste so even pull ups don't cut it. As a Kindergarten teacher I must ask why you would send your child at only age 3? Unless they really need it our you need some sort of daycare I would suggest you wait a year for preschool. Acording to his age if he starts at three he will be attending preschool for 3 years because I highly suggest that with an October birthday you don't send him the year he turns 5, please wait until he is 5 going on 6 during his kindergarten year. As for the potty training its all a waiting game and they will get it when they want to, especially boys.

my son is 2 1/2 and we just finished potty training him, I started by bringing out the potty chair, it was in the living room so he could get used to sitting on it w/ his clothes on, then we moved it to the bathroom and I only changed him in the bathroom, and even if he already went we still sat on the potty and sang a song (twinkle twinkle is my sons fav) then I would set a timer and take him every hour, if he went I would reset it for an hour, if he didn't we would set it for 15 minutes and retry then, we didn't use pull ups, just went to big boy underware which he loves, he does really well, stays dry almost everynight even, he still has trouble at public restroon, but it's getting better everyday- good luck

Hello C.,

I started potty train my son at 2 by just introducing him to the potty. I would let him sit on the potty with no pressure. As he was sitting there I would talk to him about going on the potty. He took to it really quick. Also whenever anybody else went potty we would make an annoucement that so and so went potty. He did pretty good pooping ot the potty, but we did have to give him a matchbox car everytime he went poop on the potty to get him to go everyday. Big boy underwear definitely helped. My son is currently 2 1/2 and is potty trained. Good luck, try to make it fun.

A.