Potty Training - McPherson, KS

If your son is only 2 I think you need to back off and see if he has an interest in 6 months or so. I had 3 kids. 1st daughter was 3 1/2 before trained. 2nd boy started on his own right at age 2. 3rd a boy was 3 1/2 and still would go behind a chair to do #2 (What a mess) My grandson is now 4 and still has some accidents and totally soaks at night so everyone is different. Don't make it a fight or it will take even longer.

You said your son doesn't want to do it and yet you may need to tell him he's doing it and do it kindly but firmly. I am the mother of 8 grown kids and potty training was the least favorite of all things I did but I did learn that you have to say 'this is the day' and mean it and then be consistent in doing it from that point on. It's work for you believe me. I don't recommend pull ups as they depend on them. Little boy pants work best but are going to be messy so be sure you are prepared. Then take him every 15 min. or so and have him sit on the potty and keep at it all day. You'll need to set this day aside with no interuptions, and if he goes reward him. Not anything big but something. Sometimes I used marshmallows, just oneor two mini ones, for the reward, other times I gave stickers on a chart. It depends on each child what to reward with. If he doesn't go and it is a big job for you, DO NOT GIVE up or he's won and back to start. Keep at it so he knows it is to be done. Like I said, a big job for mom. And make it not a time for scolding him if he fails but do say next time we'll do better. For training my grandson that I babysat I got a potty that plays music when he went and he loved that and he was not wanting to be potty trained either. It was Fisher Price.

C.,

If your child doen't want to potty train, then it is not time yet. Every child has their own schedule. Forcing it only makes you angry and frustrated and the child even more unwilling. You will know when the right time is. I have three children, all of which I did not pressure at all and they all did it on their own in their own time. I really didn't have to "potty train" any of them.

Good Luck!

C., Some kids have a difficult time learning this...mostly boys. Your son may not be ready to do it. I suggest a few things;
1) Stop pushing him to go in the potty. Let him use his diapers/pull-ups and try not to say anything. I know I found my bugging my son actually encouraged him NOT to go. I think this was because he was getting more attention, even if it wasn't positive.
2) We put a "Goodies" basket on a shelf that was viewable from the potty. It was filled with those $1 Target things. Everytime he pooped in the potty he could pick out a treat.
3) We also invested in a video called "Potty Time", which we could only find in VHS on e-bay. It is really good for your child (but it will drive you nuts).
4) Last, if your son is holding in his BM's, you might was to talk with your pediatrician. Kids will hold in if it hurt some time and this only makes things worse.

Our two daughters didn't like the potty either, so we let them "poop" in their pull-ups and eventually they both just didn't like the feeling so they went to the bathroom. Our son still has trouble and he is four.

Well I was in the same boat but I didn't take the YOU MUST DO THIS approach that the other mom of 8 did. When he showed some interest I pounced...but after about 4 days it weened off and it took another couple of months to get him interested again. My son wasn't fully potty trained until he was nearly 3 and my daughter until she was nearly 4.

I will say I found the seats that attach to the regular toilet are MUCH better than the removable seats or the potty chairs. They immediately have a sense that they are using the "big potty" even though they have their own pull down seat that is smaller for them.

We used reward systems with both my kids. Stickers didn't do it for either (besides from the fact they stick them EVERYWHERE), but sometimes cheerios, marshmallows, or M & Ms will work. We also used toys from the $1 store and would recycle them back into the basket when he lost interest in them. The down side to the toys is once they start going on their own, you stop giving them the toys...then they realize that it really stinks to grow up b/c you don't get a toy everytime you go potty! LOL

We did, however, offer a large incentive (like a $30 present) for when they were finally potty trained...that meant no accidents in their pants during the day for an entire week. I do use pull ups but only at night time because I'm not a huge fan of changing bed clothes in the middle of the night. My son is now 5 and although he is still wearing the pull ups he has been dry now for nearly a month so we're pretty ready to stop with him as he is beginning to get up in the middle of the night to go the bathroom...my 4 yr old daughter however, is a VERY deep sleeper and is no where near ready to come off of them.

Keep the mood positive. It is extremely frustrating on occasion for both of you...especially cleaning poopy underwear several times a day (ugh). Never, ever punish them or scold them for going in their pants...accidents happen. The chastisement only leads to a more drawn out process. I will say that peer pressure and 2 weeks of 1/2 day pre-school worked wonders for getting my kids on board. :) Keep in mind he might still be young and disinterested...perhaps waiting until it gets a little warmer and just putting him in a T-shirt and letting him run around the yard will help to...I know that's how my BFF got her first son potty trained and he was going on the toilet within 3 days after doing that.

I also understand there are some videos and books out there Sesame Street and Dora come to mind. Although they didn't really work for me I have had friends say they worked well for them. Oh, and we also did a celebratory potty dance after every toilet deposit...which made it fun and made them feel good about the experience. Good luck.

If he's not ready - pushing him will only make it worse and he'll rebel. What we did w/ our son was do a weekend of no clothes in the house and then we didn't use pull ups because we noticed that it didn't phase him. That seemed to work pretty well. Everytime he went to the potty he would get to pick out a sticker - some ppl have used candy, etc... We also got him something called a Peter Potty - it's a kid sized urinal. If you look it up online you can find it. It worked great! Good luck.

Have you tried putting cherrios or other round cereal in the stool and having him shoot at them? This worked really well for my grandson.

I believe the bottom line is that a child will be trained when he or she is ready. You will only cause yourself undue stress if you try to put him on your schedule. My girl started showing signs of being ready when she was 15 months, but when we tried, she wasn't truly ready yet, so we stopped. I waited another year, and she was ready and trained in a weekend. Kids will go on their own time; relax and don't push it.
Some people have said to just stick a kid in underwear and they'll hate the accidents so much, they'll start going on the potty. This is such a myth; all kids are different. This method will work for some, but not all, so don't feel pressured to get your boy into underwear. In the meantime if you want to work on it, buy some books that he can "read" about the potty, he can wear pull-ups or underwear, and you can try just putting him on the potty every 30-60 minutes. Good Luck!

I've potty trained 4 of my own and too many others to count! (childcare) I have found many parents afraid to tackle this job :) First, I want to say - no normally developing child has ever gone to school NOT potty trained. It will happen, RELAX! (That makes things SO much easier!) You should be able to recognize signs of readiness: articulation of needs, awareness of them, some bowel control (knowing when peeing/pooping or need to - dry for certain periods of time), of course, being able to pull up and down pants is good / getting to the bathroom. These are the things to practice at every opportunity until you know all those steps are there - don't tackle it. When they are and you feel it's time - then jump in like the first mom said if you can. When they're ready, it really isn't too hard. Be 'in tune' with it! The more you push and make it happen without preparing the scene/ when your child thinks it is a game of power - OH THE STRUGGLE!! That's when potty training becomes miserable. Best wishes - happy patty training -

Totally agree w/sitting back and relaxing. You hear all these stories about kids PT'd at 2 or younger but no one ever says how often they have accidents or when they were really "fullly" PT'd by. My daughter has had access to her potty for at least a year (with the seat that goes on the regular toilet...we had a potty chair but it was way more of a mess and fight than it was worth...she was so proud of what she'd done she wanted to be a big girl and clean it herself...you can imagine the fun in that!). She would go in phases of interest but ultimately liked the freedom of diapers. I didn't fight it b/c the harder I fought, the harder she fought back. Eventually I had given her enough responsiblities that she loved in other areas (preparing her own breakfast, taking care of the dogs, etc.) that we had a chat about what a big girl she was and all the big girl things that she did all by herself and that I really didn't think that she needed diapers anymore. They are disgusting, dirty, smelly...the list was endless...and I'm not touching another one b/c I believed in her and that it was time. That weekend the diapers and pull-ups were gone (except bedtime though she has woken up dry every morning just fine) and all she had were panties. She is in charge of cleaning up if she has an accident and honestly, she is more disappointed in herself than we are of her (one tiny accidnent last week and that was week 3...not complaining about that one!) She turns 3 next week and keeps up with the 4 year olds at daycare a lot better than the 3 year olds so she is a little bit advanced. Stickers, treats, toys, etc. didn't work for her at all...reasoning w/her like the big girl I was expecting her to be worked a lot better.

Terry Brazelton has a good book on potty learning. He doesn't even recommend rewards, just let them do it when they are ready. They will be motivated when the time is right.

My daughter will be 3 in two weeks and she just trained. We bought the training pants from Target with the padding and she wore those with no pants. Once she realized the feeling of going in underwear, she didn't like it. Then we watched closley and took her to sit down when it was obvious she needed to go. After going the first time, it seemed to click and she's only had 1-2 accidents and will hold it through the night.

I agree that putting them in underwear gives them the opportunity to really feel it and save pull ups for sleep time. I even brought the portable potty in the car when we went to the park. They need to be ready, so be sure he is.

I have a son that will be 3 in March and he refuses to do it as well. I have heard over and over again that you shouldn;t even try to start potty training a boy until he's 3 years old. I was determined of course, but he basically refuses to go on the potty. He tells me when his diaper is wet or dirty, but just doesn;t want to go on the pot! I can get him to sometimes, but nothing near what it needs to be. SO, for now I've given up, but I have a plan. Once the weather warms a little I'm going to put him in regular underwear and when he goes he's really dirty himself and I'm hoping that then it will click that he HAS to go on the pot b/c I'm not using diapers anymore. I'm a stay at home Mom with not many places we need to be during the week so I think this will work, I'm hoping anyway. My sister has 3 girls, two were potty trained before 2 years and the other was close so of course it drives me nuts that my little sister did it and I can't! haha... But, I feel your pain as far as your son not being cooperative with the whole thing.