Thoughts on Potty Training 3 Year Old

Try waiting until after you move- I bet it will work perfectly. It did with my three year old- no pain. Potty trained in 3 days (fake tattoos worked great for us, he had two full sleeves) , never had an accident afterward or wet the bed.
Oh- and if it is summer when you give it a try, don't forget the trick of letting him run around outside naked. It works great for giving the little guy an awareness of his body, and he'll soon correlate the feeling of needing to go with what happens next.

Well I have a son and daughter.
My daughter was like yours and my son is like yours.
My daughter potty trained at that same age.
My son, at 3, was really not into it.
THEN one day, on HIS own, he sat on his potty chair and peed.
Then over time and gradually, he did it more often.

We used a potty chair. The Baby Bjorn one.
We kept it in whatever room he was in.
We didn't nag him about it.
We kept him naked on the bottom, or in Potty Scotty padded underwear or even in his diaper.
And as I said, one day, he just went and sat on his potty chair.

My son would exclaim "IT'S MY BODY!" and it was him, that one day, just went on his potty chair. On his own.

We never nagged or forced him.
Boys are often later in pottying.

my son turned three in jan. we took him out of daycare after valentiens day. they were not big on potty training there and i could not afford it. we told our son that if he did not have any accidents and was potty trained he could go to a big boy zoo (a big city zoo, we picked houston ). he had one accident in that first month...because he was playing with a friend and did not want to stop playing. we let him go pee outside which he thinks is great. he poops with no problem too. he is three and really really ready to be potty trained. we started on the weekends thinking he could keep it up at daycare so this was truly a six month weekend project. although for the last couple of months i finally realized dc was not going to help me with this at all. good luck.

Children train in their own time, (as you saw with your daughter) with some help from us. If you force it it causes stress for you and your child, as you saw with your daughter. If he wants nothing to do with the potty for whatever reason he isn't ready. I would simply have the potty within his sight so he has the option to use it if he chooses, but back off on talking to him about it. He's heard you and could care less. If he senses any urgency, demands or stress in your requests he may simply refuse on principle.

I know you want him to be able to go to preschool, but if HE doesn't want to go that won't motivate him. The same with the stickers and check marks, they're not important enough to him to make him want to use the potty. He can always start preschool late, perhaps in the following spring.

Also, has he seen that his friends use the potty and wear underwear or have you just told him? Seeing is believing and peer pressure CAN be a wonderful thing. Also, have him in the bathroom when daddy goes, seeing him will set an example for him to model.

Basically, until he stays dry a couple of hours in a diaper, lets you know he needs to pee or poop and cooperates by sitting on the potty to try, or is bothered by being wet or pooped, he's not ready. Keep the underwear in a drawer, and the potty chair in sight. Let him watch DVD's on potty training (there's many out with characters kids love) and get him books as well.

He's a little boy with a lot going on around him, and my guess is he's sensing the urgency you feel, along with the excitement of selling your home and moving, and it just may be too much for him to deal with all at once. Enjoy him for who he is and know that he WILL get trained!

Hang in there, V. : )

I also tried potty training right after my son turned 3 but he wasn't ready. We tried again several months later and he was ready and it was a breeze. In fact, he rarely soiled his pull-up at night after that. I'd save yourself the frustration and try again in a couple months. My son told me he was ready to try his big boy underpants which we had tucked in his drawer and he was totally interested and on board! Good luck.

Here's one of several sites that gives some great "readiness" checklists, plus the skinny on the various approaches to potty-training, their advantages and challenges. It's fantastic that you've got your son pretty much poop-trained. For the pee, I wonder whether he is ready for success yet. See if you can find your situation here: http://www.parentingscience.com/toilet-training-readiness...

Potty training is ultimately a process that the child must control, or else he's not trained. A number of factors are needed for potty training to succeed: the child must be able to notice and recognize the urge before it happens, he must have adequate sphincter control and the ability to hold it long enough to get to the potty, he must understand the point of training, and he must want to be trained. It sounds like at least one or two of these is still missing for your son.

Additionally, night training is a whole separate step for many children, and can lag a year (or several) behind day training. It's not too unusual for third or fourth graders to need diapers at night, and for a few unfortunate kids, they reach adolescence before they stop bedwetting. Their sleep is too heavy for the full-bladder signal to get through, and/or the sphincter isn't strong enough to hold a full bladder. This is more common in boys. They really are not doing this on purpose, and many of them are horrified and ashamed of not being able to stay dry through the night.

Sometimes rewards work in the short run if only motivation is lacking. But that introduces the very real possibility that rewards/bribes will need to escalate to keep him motivated, and that is a mistake that you will seriously regret someday.

So, what I would suggest is that, as hard as this will be, tell your son you are proud of how well he's growing up, and express your confidence that he will use the potty when he's ready – when he notices that taking a few minutes to go to the bathroom will be easier for him than getting changed.

Kids WANT to make this developmental step when they're ready, just as they want to walk and talk when they're ready. Your son will probably need some "space" to work it through for himself. Or he may need a few more weeks or months. Consider what a large fraction of his life the next three months will be, and how much change you see in him from one week to the next.

Meanwhile, you can continue to make all your messages about using the bathroom as positive as possible. That can include modeling how easy/quick it is for you or Daddy, reading potty books or watching potty videos, having his toys/stuffed animals role-play pottying, and in general making a game of it. With my grandson, once he could do it but didn't want to take the time, I would go into the bathroom and begin noisily ejecting all the dinosaurs that were crowding the room and sitting all over the toilet seat. My grandson couldn't resist that game, and would come in and help me wrestle the beasts, and claim his spot on the toilet.

I did a potty party with my oldest, who was reluctant to potty train. I borrowed a potty training video for kids from the library, stocked up on toys from the dollar store and his favorite candies. My son was into pirates at the time, so it was a pirate theme. The prizes went in a treasure box. I laid out pirate paper plates leading to the bathroom. And I brushed up on my pirate lingo. Right when he woke up I told him we were having a potty party all day and it was going to be so much fun! And if he could go on the potty by the end of the day, then we would go to *insert his favorite place* (since it was my first time, my timeline was a bit off, so I'm going to list the timing that probably would have worked better)For the first hour (I think I did 2 hours) after he woke up, he taught his stuffed animal to go on the potty. We even pretended it had an accident and I corrected and encouraged it, and my son copied what I said. Then I pumped him full of pirate juice (flavored water or kool aid or juice) and sat him on the toilet every 15 minutes for about 2 hours. In between trips we watched the video (plus a couple of regular kid videos), played party games, made pirate crafts and decorations, etc. For each trip to the bathroom without an accident (regardless if he actually peed in the toilet or not - as long as he was dry) we marked an X on one plate and he got to pick a toy or treat. Then we stretched the potty breaks to 30 minutes (but asked him if he needed to go at the 15 min mark) for 2 hours. (about this time, take a nap break as needed) For an hour after naptime, I continued to take him every 30 minutes, but then I told him he needed to make it through 2 hours of no accidents. I would ask if he needed to go and point out if I saw signs of his needing to go, but did not make him go. Throughout the day whenever his interest waned, I reminded him of going to his favorite place. My son actually did not make it on party day, but I told him that if he could make it through the whole morning the next day with no accidents that we would go to his favorite place. And he did! He wasn't miraculously potty trained in one day, but at least I could see he could do it, and I used other methods to encourage him (sticker charts, etc). Soon he rarely had accidents, and then he went 2 weeks without an accident. Out of the blue he decided he was done and only went in his underwear (poop and pee, ugh!), so then we cracked down. He went a day without underwear and had to stay in the bathroom (only place besides kitchen without carpet), but I stayed in the hallway outside and talked with him and let him watch movies on portable DVD player and play, color, etc in there. If he had an accident, he cleaned it up (of course I did a follow-up cleaning). The next day he decided that wasn't fun so he peed in the toilet again, but still pooped in his pants. So then the rule was he only got 1 pair of underwear per day. If he had an accident, he cleaned it up, including washing his clothes. He had to wait by the washer and dryer with a pull-up on until his clothes were clean. No playing, no nothing. (advice from Mamasource!) After 2 days, he knew I was serious and decided it wasn't worth losing out on playtime, so he went back to using the potty consistently. He still had the occasional accident if he was overly tired or too involved in playing, but that's pretty normal. Good luck! Sorry this is so long, but the potty party really got my son interested!

I don't have much experience- just one son but I would let him decide the time. I don't mean to say that you should stand by and do nothing but positive encouragement (as you've been doing) will likely go a long way. We did just that... Talked about how big kids used the potty, how he would get stickers and later offered a present of choice for being day and night trained. All in a relaxed, when you are ready s sort of way. And one day when I asked if he wanted to try, he said yes. two poo poo accidents and then he figured it all out. 4 days later, he asked to stop wearing diapers at night. Guess what... Almost no accidents since then. He was just over 3. I've heard similar stories from other parents who let their boys decide the timing and it also went well for them too. Fall is several months away. Push the school to accept as i'd bet, the pressure at school will move him along to. Good luck!

Sounds like he is not ready, I would not push it. My son was not potty trained when he started pre-school, he started school just before he turned 3. Not all schools require it, maybe once you move out of state there will be a pre-school near you that does not require it.

My pediatrician said that it's perfectly normal for boys to not potty train until between 3-4. I would suggest just having some patience. Continue to encourage potty training, using incentives and reading books. When he is ready he will go, make sure you have a reward ready! Good luck!