Potty Training Methods, Books, Info

I would add to the list of incentives, stickers. You can make a special trip to get stickers just for the potty. Then he can be proud of his accomplishments each time he puts a new sticker in the potty or counts them.

I would also recommend getting him into using the potty before bath and bed times, then transition into the busy day time hours.

I,too, recommend the "potty training in a day" method. I did opt for the 1 day "boot camp" and although there is definitely prep work for YOU to do (and I do feel the doll is necessary), it is definitely worth it. I did it with my son and he went from diapers to underwear in 1/2 day--seriously. Good luck!

T.

easypottytrainig.com was so helpful. My daughter was potty trained in 4 days. Thats completely - no pull ups, no accidents.

There's a fun book for kids called "The Potty Train" - it has some fun rhyming phrases and make it a blast for the kids, especially little boys who love trains!!!

buy potty floats it makes it fun for boys to aim and its easy to clean once he is confident buy him under wear let him pick and you are good S. weiss

My dd is loving the DVD "Go Potty GO" and she sings the song as she runs to the bathroom right now. We also got the book the Princess and the Potty, and The Potty Train. Just so there are stories of other kids going potty. We are also using a method a friend used with her kids that seems to really be working. We went and got small toys that are about $1 or less each. I got matchbox cars (She loves them) some bracelets and those sponge animals that grow in warm water from the little pill. They were the cheapest and she LOVES them! lol. anyway if she pees in the potty she gets to pick one. If she poops, the first time she gets a complete poop (we altered this a bit because we got 3/4 of a poop on the kitchen floor and the last of it in the potty lol) in the potty I got her some princess play shoes (they were $2.95 so a little more but not much) so she is really looking forward to that. The poop is a little harder to do for her. after that she will get to pick 2 things for the poop and one for the pee. We've been doing this for a couple of days now and she's getting pretty good at the pee part! and we took a break yesterday (I know some people will be mortified but I think she needed the break and I definitely needed a reprieve to stay patient with the process) But she still of her own choice ran and sat on the potty between diapers. She asked if she could put on her big kid underwear in the morning when she wakes up. (Big Kid underwear is a phrase from the Go Potty Go DVD)
I like this method because it is a reward system, no punishments and it is making the process enjoyable for her and for my husband and I. When she misses and goes on the floor we've said "We'll get it next time!" She says "Oh no!!!" when it happens. She doesn't need anyone else making her feel bad. Then she'll go in the potty and she says "I got it next time!" so cute.
Good luck!!

We loved "Toilet Training in a Day" by Azrin. There is also "Potty Training in a Day" which sounds very similar although I haven't read much of it. We did one without a doll and one with. I would recommend the doll, though. We plan to use Azrin's method again. GL!

I read all the training books and none fit me and my personality or my kiddos. I think going at it with a relaxed but consistant attitute was most successful...at least for my two boys. One wasn't ready until almost four and my other was done being trained by age three. I think the key is that you do it when they are ready. Both my kids were trained in one or two days...with a few accidents of course. We did reward with a couple of m&m's per potty trip although both kids figured out how to trickle out some pee just for the candy, but I didn't care as long as we were going in the right direction. We also kept the kids naked a lot and let them even pee in the yard at times. Be careful where you go for the first couple of weeks as some places have better potty options than others...some don't have any. Flatirons was great because they have a smaller toilet at the downstairs family bathroom. My kids were afraid of the big toilets some places have. Good luck!

I got a book from the library called something like "Toilet Train Your Child in One Day." It was from the 1970s and the cover and layout were very dated but it was a great resource! I didn't bother to campaign for a one-day training process since my son was like yours, just starting to show an interest, but I loved the approach of positive reinforcement. The basic suggestion is to offer a few salty snacks and treat drinks (becasue the more opportunities your child has to practice, the more opportunities there will be to reinforce success) and praise the child for staying "clean and dry," not for sitting on the little toilet or whatever you're using. . . as in, "Here's a pretzel for you--you are so big and you are staying clean and dry! You know how to use the toilet to stay clean and dry! You can have a juice drink!" This went over huge with my son because usually I'm all about water and healthy (read "boring") snacks. So the treats really had his attention and worked to give us more opportunities to practice. Using a baby doll to impress was also helpful and helped me hone my theatrical skills, ha, ha. (This time around I actually have a real baby for my middle boy to impress--no prop needed!) The book also details this aspect.
Learning to use the toilet was still a process, but I didn't find the process so burdensome. I liked that I was praising for the real result I wanted (cleanliness) not just a piece of the behavior (sitting on the toilet). It was gentle and positive and easy to be consistent with.
I'm sure you could find this book for very little on Amazon or Powells.
Good luck!