Potty Training a 3-Yr-old Boy

We ran into the same thing when my son. Shortly after he turned 3, my husband and I took the week off, and after two days of letting him run around with no underware/pull-up on, he was trained. It was like he got distracted when he had underware on and had always had accidents and pull ups where just a diaper to him. But when he didn't have something covering him - he was more aware of the urges to go and it's been good since. Granted we had an accident or two the first day, but that was it. On the third day, we had him in underware and had to remind him at first, but it was good from there. He was 3 yrs, 3 months when we did this. Good Luck!!!

I really like Sandra's response because a similar method worked for us. Before potty training I had a very "hands-off" approach in mind. We started around 2 and my son would sit on the potty with his clothes on but was terrified of it if we suggested taking off his diaper. So I decided he was not ready and we just waited a few months, letting him sit on it whenever he pleased. But after a while I felt like we were never going to progress, and as much as I would have liked to wait until his time was right, the preschool he started attending at 2 yrs 9 mo requires them to be potty trained by 3 yrs old, more or less.
I think they get so accustomed to going in their diapers without thinking about it that they need to experience "going commando" for a while in order to learn to pay attention to their bodies. The nice thing about this approach is that you are still pretty much letting them do it on their own. Some encouraging is not the same as bullying or controlling. You can calmly ask if they want to try to pee or poop, and remind them without being too pushy. For us, although their were set-backs, the first day that my son started running around with no diaper, he used the potty and continued to train himself after that. Anytime he got mad at me for asking or refused the potty, I would say ok. He also had a nasty fever one time and he was in diapers for a few days, and it was hard to get back into it after that but within a week, we were back on track.
He will be 3 on Jan 12, and he now only his a diaper at night (we co-sleep) and he'll even pee in a toilet when we are out with my help of course. I'm so proud of him! He still won't use the toilet-cover potty at home for some reason ... still has a floor potty. When he started preschool 2 days a week there were many accidents, so the next week I just brought his potty in. After 2 weeks of that he was fine to use the potty they have there.

Whatever you do, best of luck!
ps. Forgot to mention, the cookie-reward system worked well with him too! Especially when he was starting to poop in the potty, we had to up the anti a little because he was nervous about it.

Greetings from another alumna of the hands-off school ;). My question is, have you tried giving him pants-free time? Just have him run around at home with no pants, underwear, etc.? With my son, we started with that, then moved to underwear-only, etc. A lot of kids will pee/poop in the underwear b/c it feels like the experience of having a diaper. If they actually see the stuff coming out of them, that can motivate them to scoot over to the potty.

You could try a rewards system. Stickers on a calendar/chart work well for some kids. We did stickers for reading at age 4, but not for potty training. For potty training, we let them choose a single life-savers fruit candy EVERY time they went potty on their own with success. If they went and tried and nothing happened.. no candy. If they peed/pooped their pants/undies.. they got nothing. If they were running hard to make it and just didn't quite get their clothes off/down fast enough.. then they DID get to choose. And for every success where they made it in time, as well.
They WANTED to go, because they wanted to pick a candy. Letting them choose the color each time was a BIG deal to my kids. That was pretty much the only candy they ever had at that point in their lives, and they were careful thinkers about which flavor/color they wanted.
It worked, though. Eventually, they get so accustomed to going when they feel the urge that they just forget about the candy and would rather get back to whatever they were doing before they needed the potty break. That, and the fact that after they pretty much had it mastered, I stopped buying bags of candy, and all the was left in the clear ziploc bag for them to choose from, was the candy flavor they didn't like. LOL :)

I, too, am a hands-off potty trainer. I was definitely ready for them to be trained at around 2 and a half. I waited them out and both my kids did it on their own at around 3 yrs 8 months. No bribing, no fussing, no fighting. For most kids, that is the method I would recommend. I know you're tired of changing his diapers. But if you push him before he is ready, it will only prolong the process. Just make an inner commitment to be patient. Repeat to yourself: It will happen. It will happen.

I tried waiting for my son to decide he was ready to poop in the potty...then I realized I would've been waiting forever. When he was 3.5, I finally had to force the issue. One day, I had been sitting him on the potty every 30 minutes, when I noticed he was heading toward his hideout so I followed him. I had his lovey in my hand and told him that if he pooped in his Pull-up, his lovey would be sleeping in my bed that night. He let me sit him on the potty, he pooped, I cheered, I told him that from now on, he was only to poop in the potty. And he was potty trained. Just like that.

Get rid of the diapers all together. Underwear only. No pull ups. He is
old enough to get it. Make sure you plan on staying home for several days
to get it going. My grandson wanted to go to a gym class desperately so
I used that as bait lol. The women at the gym told him he could not join
until he went on the potty. Low and behold that afternoon he took diapers
off. Never looked back. Two days later I took him back and signed him
up for the class. He was ready just lazy!