Ideas on How to Potty Train My Son

Yes boys are a pain in the rear to potty train. My son didn't really get it till he was about 4. We found that he was more egar to learn if dad showed him. I guess it was a guy thing. It was also the time when he realized that dad does all these cool things like fixing the house and working on the motorcycle so he always wanted to be around dad. So my husband would take him into the bathroom with him and show him how men do it! LOL and you had to say men, it made him feel bigger! Then he would want to try it. Sometimes he got stubborn about it so we took a break for a day and start again. Then one day he just woke up and was doing it on his own. It just takes time he will get it. Good luck!

Boys definately take longer to potty train. I have a daycare and all the boys that have come through usually are not fully potty trained till around age 3 or 4. With my experience I have found that the key is to start about 5 months before they are 3. You have to be patient and consistant. Emphasizing the consistant. If you work everyday with him and take him in to the potty every hour to hour 1/2 he will get it. After about 2 months if this you introduce asking him if he has to go potty. In the beginning he will either say no, but you need to take him anyways or he will say yes and he may not go. After a while of asking him he will start to say yes and he will actually go. At this point if you feel he is telling you yes because he does have to go make sure when he tells you no you do not push him to go. Just ask him about 20 minutes later and most likely he will say yes. The next step is to teach him to tell you he has to go potty. For this stage I ask him to show me when he has to go. I put his hand on his pee pee (outside of his pants of course) and say pee pee. Then I say "what do you do when you have to go pee pee" most of the time I have to repeat it a few times for a couple days. I continue asking if he has to go pee pee and if he says yes I say "how do you show me" After a while he will pat his pee pee. When he has got that down show him poo poo by patting his behind. Now hopefull soon enough he one day will come up to you and say I have to go pee pee tapping his pee pee. This process should take about 6 months depending on the child. For me because I have a daycare it takes almost 8 to 9 months because on the weekends the parents do not continue potty training. Usually at the stage where I have them tapping on their pee pee is when the parents get involved because now the child is asking and now is easier for the parents on the weekends to potty train.

good luck

I am potty training my 3 year old now. I ask him every half hour if he has to go potty, or take him in there. Then when he goes, I have special fruit snacks that he only gets when he goes on the potty. NO OTHER TIME. Now he makes sure he goes and when he goes I make a big deal out of it. I put him in pull ups and told him these are big boy pants. Half the time i find him sneaking in there and going himself. Good luck.

Yes, it's true that there has to be some sort of desire from the child. Has he showed any interest or signs? My daughter was 3 before she completely potty trained, but she showed signs such as being dry overnight for several nights in a row, being proud of sitting on her own little potty, and wanting a wet or dirty diaper off RIGHT AWAY, even if it was barely wet.

Maybe get him some books about the potty, or if he likes Elmo, there is an Elmo video about using the potty. Really, don't worry, he will not be wearing diapers to kindergarten, grade school, or college. Does he have some little friends who are already using the potty all the time? That can help reinforce the potty as a good thing, as in 'big boys use the potty, and big boys get to do x thing'.

When my daughter expressed an interest, I put her little potty out and started giving her lots of water. Every 15 minutes we sat on the potty for a few minutes and read a story. After the third time, she went in the potty! I jumped up and down and clapped and made a complete idiot of myself, but within a week or so after continued praise and asking her very often and tuning into her cues, she was dry during the day for the most part. I think once your son has an interest, it will be very easy.

B. we had been potty training my son for over a year. He just turned 3 last month and did it himself one day. I had just kind of let the potty training thing go for a few weeks and then he told me one day he wanted to wear his big boy undies. He had a few accidents maybe 2 or 3 a day and that was it. He hasn't had an accident in a long time now. We had tried everything too - pullups, potty charts,rewards, letting him pick out undies. I think the only reason it happened was because he decided he was ready. He will do it eventually! I would just continue to ask him frequently if he wants to use the potty. If he says no then leave it alone.

Good luck
L.

I potty trained my son right after he turned 2. He started showing intrest in the potty at around 16months. So thats when i started teaching him about the potty and what not. After his 2nd b-day i went full force into it. Threw away the diapers and we went and bought a stool for him to stand on and big boy underwear!
It was a rough week that week, i used cheerios, a target... i never bought pulls ups (i figured he would use them as diapers) and nothing was working. He would also pee in his pants and not care.
I thought well maybe he is too young ... but he was just being stubborn and using it as a power thing! I went onto Dr. Sears.com and read about different potty training and he had one... "bare butt potty training" http://www.askdoctorsears.com/html/10/T106600.asp
in a nut shell... You let him wear nothing but a t-shirt and it teaches him control. He can feel when he needs to go with out the comfort of something, diaper/pull up/underwear/pants etc... in the way. When i did this method my son was completely potty trained in 4 days. He still has accidents here and there but that just takes time and bladder control. (he is 2.5 now) I also used Food coloring in the toilet. One drop and when he went pee he would "stir" the colors around and or sometimes it would change color (blue with his pee made it green ;) )
Good Luck and just be patient and its SOO rewarding!!!!!!!!

Hi B.,My first boy potty trained really easily when I switched him at 2 from diapers to big boy underpants. My second son was very difficult to train. Like you, I tried everything. At 3, I was too embarrassed to keep him in diapers any longer. He was a big boy and looked even older. So I rolled up the area carpet, put waterproof mattress pads on the furniture & his bed and just stopped buying diapers or pull ups. He didn't care if he messed his pants and would just go around dirty (so gross!) But after several few months (instead of days like my first) he was trained and stopped having "accidents." One reason I stopped with the diapers/pull ups is that a friend of mine had a grandson who still wouldn't poop without a pull up as a 5-year-old going to kindergarten. By that age, he could hold it a really long time and that can cause a whole bunch of problems, he ended up having to go to the hospital. Going poop on the toilet was downright taumatic for him for some reason. I think it's much easier to conquer this fear earlier. When something like 85% of children are potty trained by 2.5 - there's no reason to think that we can't do it, too. Persistance pays off.
P.S. - really liked the idea of reading together on the potty as a relaxing thing to do.

My son goes pee just fine in the potty but refuses to poop. What finally worked for us to get him to at least stop wetting his pull-up's was to teach him to pee standing up just like dad. We call it making bubbles. I bought a very inexpensive stool at target (right next to the toddler potties) and he uses it so he is tall enough. My son will be 3 next month and as far as that part of training we are done, now if we can only get him to stop pooping in his pants like will be great! Good luck.

I'm a seasoned mom of three boys, former nanny, teacher, and daycare worker. If your son is not yet three, you may need to have more patience. Many boys are not ready to be fully potty-trained until much later than girls - ESPECIALLY if he is the only boy in the group and there is a large age gap. If you start too early, you may be setting yourself (and your SON!) up for many months of frustration. I advise relaxing, backing off, and waiting until he's about 3 years and 3 months before really trying to 'train,' of course get some books, the Bear in the Big Blue House Potty Time video, etc. but just enthusiastically share them as regular entertainment. It may come to him naturally before then (3.25-3.5 years), but don't worry if it doesn't - it's better to make the transition quickly - when he's ready - rather than having the process take months and months because YOU are ready and he is not. This will help avoid bad habits and resentment/or defiant potty training behaviors (I won't go into detail, but boys can get pretty creative). When you AND your son are ready to try again, I highly recommend the "Potty Training in Less Than a Day" book/method. I've seen it work fabulously for several families, including my own. And remember - he's not going to go into kindergarten in diapers, so there IS light at the end of the tunnel. Good luck!!!!

He will let you know when he is ready. The signs are usually if he wants to be changed right away after an accident or just showing an interest in general. Some might say it's too young to try and train before 3, but it's good to introduce him. The negative side to training before he's ready is a possible loss of interest in it later due to too many failed attempts, seeing stress in you causes him to stress and on occasion, regression. Boys ARE harder than girls, but when he's ready, it will be super-easy for you. You could try making it fun for him, get a fun potty-chair or put a target in te toilet, ave him play "hit-the-target"

Oh and my son was 3 almost 4 when he was fully potty trained.

Try a potty watch! It worked GREAT for us! It gave our son the independence he was really wanting in the process and us a well-timed interval that prevented most accidents. Some kids take really well to the potty watches. Good luck!

The bottom line is that he WILL eventually and when he is ready. 3 years old and in diapers/pullups is NO big deal!

This may sound (Nuts) but,I was desperate, My son was so stubborn.Kids that age are becoming so independant,and feel they are being bossed around,manipulated! lol Sooo I put a few of his (short) favorite books,plus some new ones, in a container in the bathroom,and when he began dancing or after a meal,or lots of fluids,I'd say...Hey Want to read a story? Yesssssss!! lets go sit on the potty and I;ll read you that one you like about.....It took me a few minutes to read that little book, and it must have relaxed him enough to do what he needed to do.It didn't take long before he was asking to go read.You see,I took it from a demand from me,to A request from him.That took away the threat of my pushing him.It only takes a few minutes as long as you make them short stories,after a while,I'd find him sitting on the potty attempting to read his own story lol.it sure payed off in the long run.Good luck to you B.