Potty Training Success at School, Total Failure at Home

Updated on May 28, 2011
M.D. asks from Hurst, TX
5 answers

My 3 year old has been successfully potty trained at school and wearing underwear there for months, without accidents. When we get him home from school, it's a totally different story. He refuses to go to the potty if we ask him if he needs to go and ALWAYS eliminates in his underwear (urine and feces). We use Pull-Ups at home, but have tried the underwear route too and there's no difference - he won't use the potty here. Do you have any tips/ideas about how we can get him to use the toilet at home?

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M.M.

answers from Chicago on

OMG I'm SO dealing with this!
My DS (also 3) seems to selectively choose who he's trained for...which leads me to believe that I'm doing something wrong.

For our nanny, and others, he goes just fine all by himself.
The second that DH or I are with him, it's messes all over the place. I'm guessing that we're not being consistent enough. But I have to PUT him on the potty every 30 minutes, otherwise he just refuses to do it for us.

So frustrating. Wish I had suggestions for you.
I'll be watching this for others' suggestions!

C.A.

answers from New York on

We were having that same problem. Then one day at school she had an accident and the teacher let her know that she was very upset with her. The next day she would not wear underwear at home. Then on the Friday she went to school and we have not had any problems since. Not at school and not at home. The only thing is she will not poop in the potty. When she needs to go she will ask for a diaper (pull up) and she goes in that and when she is done she asks for the underwear. She has been wearing underwear at night too and hasn't had any accidents. She will wake us up and tells us that she needs to go. We started giving her stickers everytime she uses the potty. We went to the dollar store and bought a roll of 180 stickers. They do the same for her at school too. We also make a big deal out of it. We yell and scream and jump up and down. At the end of the week she gets a reward. Whether its ice cream or a small toy from the dollar store. And we tell her " because you did so good on the potty this week go pick out a toy". She loves that. And then she tells everyone its because she peed in the potty. She is very proud of herself.
Talk to his teacher and see what she says. The communication between us and the teacher really helped her out alot. This way you can stay with what they do in school. Maybe that will help you. Tell them what is going on and get their feedback. Good Luck!!!

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J.B.

answers from Tyler on

I had the same problem with my daughter. She would always tell an adult she needed to potty anywhere she happened to be, but not me! Well, I had the supply of clean panties, you know. When I found out she was telling others, the next time she mess in her pants, I cleaned her up and then spanked her and told her she'd get that every time she failed to tell me or failed to go potty in the bathroom. It never happened again. She fully grown now, and no psychological problems!

A.C.

answers from Wichita on

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D.P.

answers from Pittsburgh on

It's often different at school--it's like they have Big Potty Parties there!

Give him some time.
Have you tried a reward chart?
Good luck!

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