Potty Training a 3 Year Old Boy

when i trained my son, i just let him run around half naked. the only time he wouldn't pee in his pants was when he didn't have any lol. if he had to pee, at first about half the time he'd tell me and we'd run to the potty. but after a week or so he hardly had an accident. but of course when we went out it was different. but i highly recommend this method. it worked really well, and there were less laundry hehe. good luck!

This is going to sound strange but the first time we had him potty trained we used baseball to get him to go. He wants to play baseball something fierce and we told him that if he wanted to play he has to go potty in the toilet. We had him done. he was in big boy underwear durring the day and pull ups at night, then we had some big changes that were out of my control and we have had to start all over again and the baseball thing is not working this time. So I would try to find something he really wants to do or have and use that as incentive. It worked the first time.

I also had to finally just take him out of pull-ups. We had some accidents, but finally he got the point. I also did the jelly bean thing and that worked well, cause he loves jelly beans! The main thing is to not show your frustration. This will stress him out and make it twice as much of a struggle. When he has accidents just say "accidents happen! we'll do better next time!" and then let it go. When he does go in the potty make a big deal and reward him. Eventually he'll catch on, I promise!!

What worked for my 4 kids and others I have told is... Just let them see you go potty. After your done applaud yourself like YAY! Mommy went potty! Dont forget to clap your hands together. Keep doing it. He will eventually want to applaud himself. Good luck

My son is 2 1/2 and I was having lots of problems potty training. I did a lot of research to find easier ways. I actually read a book called the potty trainer and she does it professionally. What we did is we took our son to the bathroom every 20 minutes. Yes I know that seems excessive but it worked. Sometimes he would go but sometimes he wouldn't. The main thing is to make sure that you are putting him in underwear. Yes he will have accidents but its all part of the process. I started on a Friday night so that I knew I had the whole weekend to stay home and work with him. By Sunday night he was golden. Now I did have a sticker chart but when he got 10 stickers he got to pick a prize out of the grab bag. We just bought little toys like match box cars and planes just liitle things hes interested in. You just have to be consistent and not go back to diapers or pull ups no matter what. Hope that helps good luck.

Hi M.,
We had the same problem. I tried putting him on the toilet every 30 minutes, had him eat salty foods and drink lots of water to make him have to pee more. Would make a big Hooray everytime he went in the potty or toilet. Bought videos on potty training we both could watch at Babies R Us a cartoon with a little bear in it. He started singing the song I like the way my Underpants fit. Sounds corny but it worked. He started peeing in the toilet. He really got consistent when I showed him how to stand and go. He like aiming at the water. Or you can put a tiny bit of soap in and he can make bubbles. Anyhow we got the peeing down by a few months before his 4th birthday and the pooping a few days ago. Good luck Oh yeah make him wear underwear not pull ups or diapers all day they don't like the way it feels when they pee and poop in their pants as much Its messy but helps alot.

ahh potty training a boy- it can be challenging- and I think it is as much about training ourselves as it is about training them.

the key is to be consistant yourself, take him to the potty every hour, no matter what until he shows a pattern as to when he goes...

then what I did that worked was to keep a bag of little candies in the bathroom drawer (jelly beans or something) and my son got 1 for peeing on the potty and 2 for pooping, and since we were at gramma's house alot, she also had a candy drawer in the bathroom

good luck!
K.
www.mamamonkey.com

Idon't know all that you have tried, but I know when I was training my oldest the doctor said that the sticker chart doesn't work if the reward is long term. He suggested that I reward her per day with a small reward and then a bigger reward for the end of the week. Young children have short attention spans and the further away the reward the more likely they are to loose interest in it. I have heard of putting a bulls eye in the toilet for them to aim their pee at. There are stickers to put in the bottom or I have heard of a floating one. Making a certain time for potty is a good idea too. Notice the times of day that he goes and take him in at those times or when you go have him try afterwards but don't make him sit there until he goes. My mom did that to my brother and she said it ruined his bladder.
I had a friend who lit a candle every time her daughter went and if she went she got to blow out the candle. Not sure if that is a good idea but letting him do something special everytime he goes would maybe help.

If you are using pull-ups, STOP!!! Put him in underwear, and make it a point of getting him to the potty. My son turns three today, and I feared how long it would take him to learn (and I wanted him in preschool next year, too!). It took one day of many accidents to convince him that the potty was a wonderful thing! The next day he only made a few mistakes, and by the end of the week, he was great! That was in March, and he might have a slight accident once every two weeks.

The reason I gave you the first advice is that I've seen parent after parent potty train for months with those things, and it takes forever for kids to learn because they work so much like diapers. Once kids experience pee running down their legs a few times, it's so unpleasant that they do what they can to not feel it anymore.

Good luck!

I agree with the other women's comment. Take him out of pull-ups. If I put my son in pull-ups he won't bother to go at all. If he has to pee on his pants he's more likely to get to the potty. My son is 3.5 and will use the potty most of the time, but never asks to go. I recommend getting an egg timer (to help you remember) and make him go every 20-30 minutes.

Another thing that works VERY well is to take away what ever he's doing in the moment. If he's playing with a truck, take it away and say, "you may have your truck back after you use the potty." Kids are very 'in the moment', so if you take away (and then give back) what ever he wants in that moment he will care more.

I tried using treats before I learned the technique above. Treats only worked once in a while because if my son didn't feel like having chocolate/a toy/whatever in that moment he wouldn't bother to use the toilet. However, he WANTS whatever he's doing in the moment.

I still have no idea how to make my son tell me when he needs to use the potty. He's never been a talker. I just try my best to stay on top of it and make him go every 30 minutes or so.