Potty Training 3 Year Old Son - Big Lake,MN

We trained DS when he was 25 months. We just put him in underwear, told him pee and poop went in the potty and took him to the potty frequently. We did it on a weekend so we did not have to leave the house much. We did not do rewards, he was really happy when he successfully used the toilet. We did read Tari Gomi's book 'Everyone Poops' a lot while he was on the toilet (this caused us to spend an inordinate amount of time in the bathroom). He had a few accidents over the first week and then one or two over the next month. We had tried naked all the time for a day before underwear - he was perfectly happy peeing on the floor so we gave that one up right away. We wasted some money on pullups for a few days - he had no hesitation about peeing and pooping in them so I think they were worthless. We have friends who used the cheerios method to teach them to pee standing up.

I had the same struggle with my son and on his 3rd birthday I remember thinking he would never be potty trained! He, however, is a strong-willed child and wanted to do it on HIS time, not ours! I ended up not pushing him so hard to do it, but really praising him if he did. The one thing he thought was really "cool" was when he could change the color of the toilet water. We would put food coloring in the toilet (and let him pick the color, of course) and tell him to pee in the potty to change the color of the water. It was entertaining for him and got him to go (my husband's idea)! Maybe give it a try and see if your son likes it as well! Don't stress about it though. I know it is easier said than done because all of my friends said the same thing to me when I was going through the potty training stage with my son....but...they were right! Just know that it will happen. Good Luck!

K.,

Let's play a game of target practice or magic water.

TARGET PRACTICE
Place cheerios or fruit loops in the water: then it's ready, aim, fire!!! Have your husband start playing the game with him the first few times. After which you may have to get yourself a water pistol (heehee!).

MAGIC WATER
Put a few drops of food coloring in the water & have your husband show him how magically it changes color when he tinkles in it. from red to orange or from blue to green.

Worked great for me!!!

Good Luck
GMGB

We had to force the issue with our son. We knew he knew how to go & when he needed to but he just wouldn't. He went in his pull up because it was easier & he didn't have to stop what he was doing. So we just switched to underwear & that was it. He realized that things had changed & he had to change his actions or suffer wet pants. We never did have an accident.

good luck

Hi K., I can totall understand your situation. I ahve a 5 year old boy and it was challenging to potty train him. He loves to read books so I actually bought one of the potty seats that go in the regular toilet (to fit their bottom better then the big hole they feel they might fall into) and put a table in front of the toilet with books and over a long weekend I took him every hour and we read books then he started to go in there to read and started going on his own... I know all kids are different and feel that stressing them out about what we want verses what they want can make things a bit more challenging so just take it one day at a time and he will come around! Good Luck!

My son is exactly the same, I tried about a month ago and he did great till he decided to hold his pee in for hours on end on day 4, till I gave up. I am going to start again this weekend-I overheard him talking about some toys he really wants so I found some pictures of them and will post them on the wall in the bathroom next to his potty chart. I am putting the undies on him Saturday morning and basically telling him to deal with it. He knows when he has to go and how to do it, he just doesnt want to. When he has an accident, I will give him new clothes and ask his to change himself-cross your fingers it works! My son is 3.5 years old.

Don't ask - simply say, "it's time to go potty". Do not give him the choice.

I was against those little potty seats (bought one of those that sits on the regular toilet instead) but ended up using the little potty chair in the living room, kitchen, etc. He liked sitting on it (literally spent hours on it each day) and it helped him learn what it felt like to go.

I did M&M rewards, which worked because he gets candy very rarely otherwise.

We made a sticker chart (after a few weeks though -- when he was more likely to be able to put a sticker on when he did it). I also thought of doing stickers on his shirt everytime he went (Dollar General always has some small, cheap stickers).

I read books while he sat on the potty, which he liked (too much, sometimes -- said he had to go potty so I'd read a book to him!

I agree with putting him in underwear (the training pants are pretty absorbant -- you'll still have some cleaning up to do, but it's not so bad). My son was almost three, and totally knew he could go in pull-ups if he didn't feel like using the potty.

Good luck. Potty training was easily my least favorite parenting challenge thus far!