Potty Traing a Stubborn 3Yo Boy

I do not have a boy, I have a girl. But my grandma told me a little tip once and I have always followed her advice. She said to put a little bouncy ball in the potty and tell him that if he pees on it, it will move around. The only fun part is getting the ball out! But it worked for all of her 5 boys, some more stubborn than a mule. Good luck!

My son just turned four in December and fully potty trained a month ago. Yeah, it's a big pain when they're stubborn. We finally got him to enjoy going in there by making that his reading spot (I figure he might as well get started now, because that's where every man I know does his reading!). If your son isn't reading yet, maybe you could do story time in there instead.
Once mine got the hint that he was okay with sitting on the potty, we tried out the 'Shoot the cheerios' method, and he thought that was pretty fun.
I guess the biggest problem we had was convincing him to poop in the bathroom. To do that, we got rid of all the diapers/pullups, had him wear underwear, and just tried to catch him every time he got a little quiet. We did a lot of silly songs and sayings about "going poopy" (Oh god, he started saying them at family functions!), but eventually he thought it was funny to do his business on the toilet, so he started going in there even when he didn't neccessarily need to.

Hi J.,
It's been along time since my boys were potty trained, and it did me help having their father there for an example.
Maybe you have a brother, or a male cousin, your father maybe, who wouldn't mind letting the little guy in the bathroom with them. They wouldn't have to work on his training. But just so he learns it is normal for a man to stand, instead of sitting like mom.
Get him a stepping stool. The toilet rim is very cold and that will only slow the training progress. A potty chair may work for "Poo" (Which will come later. We all learn to "P" before we learn to "Poo"!) But with my boys anyway, they learned to "P" better in the toilet.
Even though we had dad for an example. He wasn't home with us most of the day because of work. What worked for me was colored paper. Tear a small piece and place it inside the toilet and try getting him to "P" on it. Believe me after the first time he accomplishes this, it will be a great game for him. After all he is a male! (Some people I know have used cheerioes, I myself don't like the ideal of food in the toilet. Am I saposed to eat them or "P" on them?)
Have you tryed running water? Try washing his hands first before he goes to the toilet. Playing in the water makes them have go. Makes me have to go too!! HA!HA!
Good luck! I hope everything comes out alright!.......M.B.

I'm still working on my own 3yo boy and we can get him to pee in the potty at home as long as we remind him to go every 15 minutes. If we've had a really busy weekend where he's been in a pull up all day and all night then we have to "retrain" him and ourselves by setting a timer.

I have yet to achieve the pooping in the potty but, his older brother was about 3.5yo before we finally had any effort there.

The trick is to be as emotionless as possible when you clean up. You just say, "whoops you forgot to make it to the potty" or ignore his cries that he's wet, let him stay in wet pants until he pees in the potty. Just say, "go pee in the potty"

It's been my experience that potty training will happen when it happens. You are giving it your best right now and your son probably is as well. Some children take a little longer to develop the brain/body connection. But it will come. Just don't get frustrated. You're doing a great job and eventually everything will fall into place for your son.

I had the same problem with my son. He knew how to use the potty, he just refused to do it. Finally he heard his daycare teacher telling me that in order to move up to the 3 year old class he needed to be potty trained. From that second on he has been using the potty day and night. Your son just needs to want to use the potty, otherwise, he just won't use it. It sucks but kids can be very determined.

Ther is a light at the end of the tunnel, I thought my son would be seven by the time he did it! I tried all the treats, etc. At first when he was younger, about two I started trying and from what I gather, I was to pushy about it, or nagging. I would ask him every 20 minutes or so and I think he just hated it. So I gave up and went along with the "he'll let me know when he's ready". Put a potty chair in his room, and in the living room, our bathroom is upstairs, and yes there was one in there too. When he was around cousins and other kids his age that went potty I just told him he was a big boy and he could do that too when he was ready. Thought the day would never come, he had all the tools and really cool "big boy" underwear I might ad. Then one night I put him to bed, went to check on him and he was sitting on the potty chair in his room. That was about 2months ago, since that night he's only wore pull-ups at night. It litterally happened over night. But when he did it I made a huge deal out of it, called grandma, everyone I could think of so he could excitedly tell them and get lots of praise.

Boys take longer for some reason...
My son turned three in December and is just now showing interest. He gets up in the morning and goes straight to the potty. I tried also, because last October he started school and he had to be potty trained. He never went at school so I never worried about it. I talked to my dr. in February and told him that I wasn't going to stress anymore about the binky or the potty because I decided he wasn't going to be six yrs old doing either of those. He agreed with me and he told me that when he was ready, he would just start going. A month ago he told me he was going potty on his potty (brand new potty that has been sitting there since Nov) and he went! He will not go anywhere else only on his "potty" which is fine with me because he will eventually figure it out.
I also have an 8 month old and I couldn't sit there with him all of the time. (he could sit there for hours on end)
good luck!!

I did not have to do this, but I've heard of locking yourself in the bathroom with your son for an entire day and put him on the toilet every 30 min. Be sure to reward him after going, but stay in the bathroom ALL day (at least 8 hours) and keep putting him on the toilet.

Be sure you have snacks, drinks, phones, pillows, toy, books, music, blankets and anything else you may need so you don't have to leave the bathroom. I wouldn't want to do this myself, but it sounds like your desperate. Best wishes.

Have you tried tossing a few cherrios in the stool and making a game out of it. When my ten-year old was three that is what I did and he was trained in no time.

you're pt'ing my son, huh? lol my son was introduced to the potty at 2 yo. it took til a wk after his 4th bday to be ready. Are they also working w/ him at his school/dc? If not, it's only going to defeat your purpose of working him at home. They need to be helping you pt if they aren't. We did the "shoot the cheerios" too...and the reading...and all the advice you've gotten so far is sound.

The biggest thing to remember is that he will not go to college in pullups... :) But he probably won't conceed to succeed til he's 100% ready. By encouraging him and rewarding him, you are doing the best thing.

What I found effective w/ my son was making a big ta-do of it when he went...stickers, kept lil prices (from like the $1) on hand for him...and we randomly gave them to him for his success. But we just said maybe next time when he didn't go on the potty...when he was upset by it...and encouraged him to try and use the potty next time...or reminded him. But never chastised him.

Good luck, Momma!

Maybe try to get a video or books that describe what he's supposed to do at your library so he understands a lil better.