I have 3 year old twins (boy/girl). My daughter is potty trained, but my son has very little interest in training. We've offered rewards and incentives, and taken toys away when he refuses to try, but nothing seems to be working. They were three in October. Any good ideas?
I believe a lightbulb went on in my son's head yesterday! Of all days........the day I send out the request. He has been asking to go potty all day, and even stayed dry at preschool. This morning, he actually got up, took of his wet diaper and stuck it in the genie...........put on a dry pull-up and got himself dressed!!! Who is this little boy??!!?
Thank you all for your suggestions. I can't believe he's FINALLY getting it! I guess it is just a matter of waiting until they're ready! I should've known....
My advice is to back off and try again in a few months. There should only be positive rewards when he does do well. It's my opinion that there should NOT be negative consequences when he doesn't try- don't worry, he won't be 18 and still in diapers.
Something that helped when training our son was to show him that he could stand up to pee. Once we showed him that it was okay to stand up to the toilet to pee, but that he needed to sit to poop, he took right to it and never looked back. But I think that the key here is for him to know when he is just needing to pee and when he needs to do both (so you don't end up with accidents on the floor). Good luck.
Don't push he will do it when ready. Boys are like that. I had a friend that her son refused until 4 years old and it was a power game with him. The harder you push the more time it will take.
C. B
my son is almost 4 and a half, and is just now potty trained. Yet my 2 year old daughter is asking to go potty. Boys take longer, most of them aren't trained until at least 3 and a half. They do it when they are ready. If you push to had they will fight and resist it more. Sometimes it just needs to be thier idea, not yours. I workied for over a year trying to train my son. Prizes, rewards of all kinds. I even took the diapers away and made him wear underwear. He didn't care, he had no problem sitting in it. What finally did it for me was my mom. We were visiting my mom and he saw his cousin go potty, so he wanted to try. He went and everyone cheered. My mom told him that if he went potty like that for at least 3 days she would take him to a movie. It took a week, but he got to go to the movie, and bring his cousin along. I don't know why it worked for her, I tried that, it didn't work for me. But I think part of it was timing, he was just ready. Be patient he'll come around.
My three year old daughter had the same probelm. the thing that finally worked like a couple of months ago was we took her to the store and she picked any toy she wanted we grabbed her favorite candy m&m's individual packs and the party 10 pack of playdough. Every time she went wet or at least tried she got a small pack of m&m's every time she went mess she got a playdough and when all the playdoughs were gone she got her big toy she picked out. for some reason this worked we had tried so many other things before and for some reasonthis one clicked with her. good luck!
Try having someone outside of the family call in and pretend to be his favorite character and ask he be a big boy. That worked with Santa and my daughter big time. She hung up the phone and it was done! :)
Also boys can take longer. Just be patient, be matter of fact and if he wants big boy priviledges he needs to act like a big boy. Just don't compare him to his sister in front of him or he will regress worse and resent his sister.
Try having daddy try. Since they have the same parts and all it might be more interesting. A little trick for potty training boys in my family....play sink the cheerio :) First have dad show him how its done, they let him try (be prepared to clean up the first few times) it's like a game, and he might be more apt to putting the potty in the potty if its fun!
P.S. Keep the cheerios high up or else he'll dump the whole box in the potty!
I know this may sound a little weird but have you tried turning it into a game? Put cheerios or fruit loops in the toilet and have him aim for them! I am not sure if this works on all of them, but it seems to be working on my nephew and he will be three in July. Sorry :( Boys are also harder to potty train than girls. See if that works. Also how about giving him something special that the others do not get? When he goes to the bathroom then he can have a secret prize that he gets. I am not sure if any of this are things you have tried but they seem to be working for my nephew. Good Luck and let me know what works!
J. S
Patience. He'll do it when he's ready. I would bring it up every 2-3 weeks but if he won't even try, no sense on pushing it or he won't train at all. Many boys aren't trained until they are 4 or even older.
Put everything away & make no issue of it. He'll train when he's ready. If not, peer pressure of Kindergarten will cure him fast. lol. Seriously though, when he's ready, he'll go. Right now it's a power trip game & he's winning.
I have 8 yr old g/g twins, a 6 yr old boy & a 2 yr old boy.
L.
