I Am Going to Try to Climb the Potty Training Mountain!!

A trick that my daughter used with her son was to put (flushable) confetti into the potty and toilet, and tell him to sink the boats. This was a fun game for him, and it helped him to learn to aim as well...

Potty training can be a lot of hard work! It sounds like you have a great plan going. I used the Potty Watch (avail. from One Step Ahead) for my last son. It plays a little ditty every 30, 60, or 90 min. and has words you can sing with it if you want. So the timer lets the child know it is time to try. It is not water proof though. A kitchen timer works too, but the watch will auto set after it goes off. At first they seem to need to go every 30-40 min., at least my boys. But if you want to ease into it and make it less frustrating for them every hour may be a better place to start. If he is sitting on the potty at regular times, he will be less likely to need to go and head for the corner. We so wish we could rush them through this process as moms, it can be so nerve wracking for us, but it really takes time in most cases. Hang in there!

When I trained my 2 1/2 boy, I rolled up the rug and took off his pants. But we were starting from scratch - it sounds like you've already begun. He had a kid potty that I put in the den with his favorite shows on tv, or we would sit on a towel and do puzzles or games - but being naked meant that he could associate the signal with pee coming out. I got a clip art picture of his potty seat off the internet and taped it to a tupperware container of m&ms and every time he went he got a couple. Sometimes, if he made a boo-boo, but tried to get there, I would still give him one. Good luck!!!

When I potty trained I would sit my son on the toliet every hour. If he went, then he got two sweet tarts. If he didn't, he didn't get any candy. I didn't want him to think that he could get candy anytime he sat on the toilet. After a few days, he got the hang of knowing when to go himself. It has now been a few months and he usually just goes to the bathroom by himself, but I still do occassionally remind him if it's been awhile.

Go for it! You can do it! So can he! I would not wait. I think the idea that "boys train later" is a fallacy... we just expect less of boys and LET them train later. (Sorry if that sounds harsh!) Boys will wear diapers until they're 5 if we let them. And we tend to let them because life is easier with disposable diapers and because we hope that someday they will just do it on their own. My daughter trained at a little over 2 1/2 and my son trained a month before he turned 2! He was WAY easier. Much less drama and emotion. He trained without all the bribes, praise and cajoling that my daughter needed. I know he's not the "norm" but a generation ago many kids were trained before 2.

Of course, all children are different, but don't believe he's not ready at nearly 3! If he's going outside to pee, he knows he's gotta pee. And, unless there's a medical problem, a 2 year old knows when he has to poop because he must actually use muscles to do so. Many will hide so that they have privacy. They know they're pooping, it doesn't just happen.

I would get rid of pullups/training pants right away, except for naps and sleeping. We called them "big boy sleeping pants." Put him in underwear, or let him be naked during the day. It's a pain for you because it means you can't go out much and you will get accidents when you do. But kids know when they have a diaper on - it's permission to go whenever and wherever. Once you go to underwear, you can't go back. It is confusing for the child and he will realize that it's just "easier" to go in a diaper and resist training. The first 2 days will be messy, but he's shown all the signs that he knows when he needs to go.

Okay, so my son trained early, but we had/have many more accidents than my daughter. If she says she has to go, you have a reasonable period of time to get her to a potty. If he says he has to go, you have about 60 seconds to get him there! I've noticed this with lots of boys. They don't seem to recognize it or tell you until it is imminent. Being naked was what did it for my guy and then I'd dress him in shorts with no underwear for a while. Sounds silly, but he didn't have accidents that way. And, a year later, he has never had a poop accident, EVER. His accidents are always of the "just didn't quite make it in time" variety.

Not that you need to put him in school right now, but most pre-schools don't accept kids until they are 3 and potty trained... there's a reason for this - most 3 year olds are absolutely capable of being potty-trained! Certainly, there are exceptions to this, but your average 3 yr old is totally capable. It takes a good week of diligence on your part. Set a timer and take him potty every 30 minutes or every hour. Don't ask if he has to go... when the timer rings, just say "potty time!" and take him. Give him lots of praise and rewards, if that works for him. He is ready. If you wait too long, he'll just be ready to say "NO."

I was dreading training my boy and he ended up being a breeze. Who knew?

(just my humble opinion) :)

I spent a lot of time searching online when I felt my son was ready to be potty trained. It is hard to find any information on exactly "how" to potty train a child. I found a great article written by a mom of 5 (all potty trained) about how she trained her kids. I can send it to you if you give me your email address. I cannot send it through mamasource. It really helped give me the confidence to go all the way and my son was trained mostly within a week/fully within 2 weeks and he rarely has accidents (almost never). He is now 3 1/2, he was trained at around 2 1/2. The article basically says to just give up diapers during the day all together - which it sounds like you have already done, but it gives a little boost to your confidence that you are on the right track. Send me your email if you would like me to send it to you. I have sent it to other mamasource moms.
K.

You really have to do what you feel is best. My little boy was trained a month after he turned 3 with no accidents-he just got it. However, when I tried a month before he turned 3 he didn't get it at all and had accident after accident and that to me is not worth it. So first and foremost you have to decide whether or not he is ready and it sounds like he gets it so now you just have to be consistent and take him to the potty-thats what gets hard because you have to be on top of it for the next week! Between girls and boys and timing I think it depends on the child because my little girl trained earlier and pretty much trained herself. I think its personality more than anything. Good Luck! M.

Hi P.,

I would wait until he is 3 or 3.5. I've herad boys do better with potty training later than girls.

K.

Honestly, don't push him at all. You can go all out and do the potty training in one day sort of thing, but my point of view is that when your son is ready, he'll do it by himself.
My daughter (2 and a few months) all of a sudden decided to go on the potty. We let her wear pulls ups or underwear, whatever she wants to wear at the moment. If she wets her pants, oh well. We just always have spare underwear and shorts with us. We're just letting her dictate her potty training. And to tell you the truth, it makes it so much easier on us. We're not stressed out at all because we're not forcing anything on her. And we have an 11 month old at home too, so we really don't have time to get stressed about MAKING her go on the potty. She'll do it 100% of the time when her body tells her it's the right time.
Good luck!

Hi there,
As a parent educator I have some experience with this one. All parents want the potty training experience to go really well. Sometimes that happens and sometimes it doesn't, no one can predict the outcome. The only thing a parent can do is watch for the signs and choose the RIGHT time to begin.

AND I hate to be the one to tell you this; this is probably not the right time, even though it LOOKS like he is showing all the right the signs. Let me explain and maybe this will help you see why he's in the corner or outside peeing in his pull-ups.

Your son has just entered the developmental stage where he'll say NO to anything so he can see how much control he has in his world. If you begin full on potty training now you'll be hearing a ton of NO’s when you ask him if he needs to go potty and then a few minutes later he will go in the corner!

You are decoding the signs correctly; he has shown you some interest and he has shown you that he can do this because he’s doing it several times a day! But the reason he’s going several times a day is because he’s doing it on his terms, there’s no pressure-just applause. He is just as happy to go in the potty-as he is NOT to go in the potty, at this age.

In order for success to follow this first attempt at being interested, you need to wait for him. Most parents see the 1st MOMENT of interest in potty training as “this is it-no more diapers!” Then the parent begins asking, "do you need to go potty?" over and over again. As soon as the parent begins asking those questions the focus, at this age, switches from interest and applause to trying to see who’s in control, Mom or me? And then he says NO I don’t have to go and goes in the corner.

Full on potty training at this age can turn into power struggle after power struggle. That’s why most parents say potty training is such a big deal; most have leapt to potty train when the child was only showing mild interest because there’s applause. The easiest way to potty train is to be supportive and let the child take the lead.

You’re child may be different and may be able to get the entire process now and you’ll be done. I sent this post not to discourage you, but for you to use as a reference if things don’t go as you hoped.

The easiest way to do this is to make, how we get you out of diapers, just a fact of life. You can tell your son “you can have a pull-up on as long as you’re going in the potty. If you go in your pull-up, after I clean you up I’ll be putting you back in diapers. Then when you show me you can go in the potty, I’ll put the pull-up back on.”

Make sure there’s no anger or consequences; that way there’s nothing to kick off a power struggle. Your boundary is showing him this is the way we do things in our house. Be uninterested, even though you’re excited to be almost done with diapers, and then wait and watch.
P.S. Pull–ups feel like diapers to children, so it tends to confuse them. Try cotton underpants to show him the real difference, but wait until things have moved along a little more in the process or you'll be washing all day long.

Boys usually get interested somewhere between 2.5-3.5. And boys need to be REALLY interested in doing it to be successful. Then it seems like they potty train themselves over night!

Also, having helped many, many parents’ potty train, I’d like to suggest the following.
If you do use a reward (it’s not needed-just the excitement and applause alone usually work) use the jellybeans only for the time when he does go potty and not for the times when he makes an attempt at going. That’s too confusing. He can’t figure out if he’s getting the jellybeans for saying he has to go or if he’s getting jellybeans for being successful at going?

I know this information is not what you hoped to hear. And you may have one of those children where this doesn’t apply; I’ve not met your child. Research has shown that boys do seem to take longer to become potty trained than girls. Let this be fun and filled with excitement. Let him take the lead on this one while you just respond to what he does and you’ll be done sooner rather than later. Good luck - Mommie Mentor

I had to make new games and make it fun for my girls. I changed rewards to keep it new and I also let them run around with no pants or underwear/diaper (yep, naked) for about a week straight, because they would go in the potty if they had nothing on, but in their pants with something on. I used a chart system once I knew they had it and rewarded with stickers (they figured out how to get the m&m's by just sitting down and not really trying- kid's are so smart!) and bubbles. Maybe try putting a cup of cheerios by the potty and letting him throw a couple in and try to hit them while peeing, anyway. A bucket of rewards, cheap-from like Walmart, that he can work towards. If he loves music, painting, whatever, try to work that in? I think that is all I have for ideas! Hope you figure out what works for you all! Good luck!!