My son, who will be 3 in January, has resisted attempts at potty training thus far - he always answers "No!" if I ask him if he needs to go to the potty, and he will kick and scream if I try to get him to sit on it. So while we're taking a break, I put him on cloth training pants so he could at least tell the difference between wet and dry.
Unfortunately, he doesn't seem to care if he's wet or dirty. He once sat in his own puddle of pee on his booster seat, happily eating his snack, as if nothing was wrong.
Everyone has told me that he probably wasn't ready to potty train, but how about getting him to start caring about being wet or dirty? Is this something that just clicks in one day, or are there tips & tricks I can do to help him understand that he should mind being wet or dirty?
Yes, it just clicks one day. Like my Granni would say when I was struggling w/ my sons' developmental milestones, "Honey, when he graduates HS and walks across that stage, he will be potty trained, don't worry."
Oh, and neither of mine ever cared if they wet or dirty........I guess some do and some don't :)
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all 2 and 3 yr old love the answer no. in time he will care.he may not be able to tell the sensation of when he has to go. and forcing him to sit on the potty is the worst thing you can do. I tried a few months back with my 2 yr old and he sccreamed like he was bieng beat. I gave up and waited. now he takes his own diapers off. so we let him sit on the potty seat go or not to make friends with his potty seat. today is the first day of training. last night we played his idea of pulling pant down and sitting on potty. everytime I tried to put pants back on he would sit on the potty and laugh. as long as he is getting comfortable with the potty I don't care. It is his idea not mine and its a game to him but he doesnt understand doing this i am actually the one who is winning.
Caring about being wet and dirty coincide with a child's readiness for potty training. There will come a time where he will get upset when he has an accident, trust me on this -- but probably not at this exact moment. What I would suggest you do though, is make sitting on the fun event for him so that he will want to go to the potty even if he doesn't feel like he has to. Fill a basket of toys and books that you know that he would really, really like and that he doesn't have already and keep it out of reach. Only let him play with those toys and read those books when he is sitting on the potty. Have him sitting on the potty after each meal for about 3-minutes. You may need to switch out the toys and books every so often to keep things fresh and interesting for him. If you do this, he will be more likely to want to sit on the potty even if he doesn't have to go and the more often he sits on the potty, hopefully, the more likely he will to go there even if he is not feeling the immediate urge to go to the bathroom. And then you know that once he does something on the potty, you have to make it a whole blown out potty party to reward his success.
Hope this helps.
We had the same issue with our 3 1/2 year old son - he adamantly yelled "NO" if we asked if he needed to go, and 5 minutes later would go in his pants. We had been struggling for about 6 months trying to get him to dislike being dirty and to get him to go.
We had a huge breakthrough about 2 months ago, and he's been 95% trained (even at night!) ever since. We prepared by trying to figure out when your son goes according to his schedule. Also we bought lots (like 20 pairs) of underpants that he'd be excited about (ours are Toy Story 3 and Thomas train pants). You might want to get some of the plastic covers (I think Gerber makes them) for when you're out & about. Don't use pull ups or use diapers at naps, and I have to admit, we made a decision that if he #2ed in his underpants, we'd just throw them away vs. deal with a big cleanup mess. It's so not worth it! Our breakthrough week came when my husband and I both had vacation and we made it potty training week. We had a potty chair that we took from room to room so it was always close by. First thing in the morning, we put him in front of cartoons on his potty for a #1. Then about 15 minutes after breakfast, it was back on the potty for a #2. Then we were good to go for about 2 hours of activity, and we put him back on the potty for a #1. Then lunch and nap time. Immediately after nap it was back on the potty... and so on. We put it in front of the TV, or with books, etc. so it wasn't isolating. And we made deals with him if he said no - example: Everybody has to go to the potty before snack time. I can have snack, because I went to the potty.
It also helped us to set a timer - it sounds ridiculous, but we set alarms on our cell phones to go off every 1.5 hrs, so we wouldn't get distracted and not take him.
The other thing we found was that if he didn't drink anything for about 1.5 hrs before bed, he slept through the night and doesn't need diapers.
Every kid is different, so don't stress too much! But hopefully this will translate into success for you too! Best of luck!
Try letting him run around naked. They don't like it when pee runs down their legs.
My son never cared if he was wet or dry even at 4 when we finally got him potty trained.
Good luck. I am there with my dirty. She hates being dirty, but wants nothing to do with the potty. Luckily she is in preschool and her teacher said to send her in underwear and she will help potty train her. Maybe it's just a matter of needing to see other kids doing it. Good luck, we are in the same potty boat :-D
