How do you manage to potty train a little boy?

Question

Potty training my 2 girls was easy. But trying to train my little guy is like trying to get water out of a stone. He doesn't want any part of it at all. Put underwear on him and he is fine. Sit him on the potty and he doesn't pee, take him off and he pees his underwear. HELP!!! Any suggestions.

He will be 3 in march. ... LOVES the bathrrom to play in. Even the toilet. but won't use it.

Oh and he doesn't talk either. Some wpords but nothing close to sentences. so i am not sure if he can tell us he has to go.. Know what I mean.

He has an appointment with a speech theripist on wednesday.. he has two older sisters that like to talk for him. It might not be that he can't but won't. Why do it if he doesn't have to.?

Answer 1

Well, we tried at 2 1/2 and our oldest was stubborn. We tried everything. rewards, threats of letting him pee himself.

Nothing worked until......we bought the Elmo book on using the potty. Kids seem to relate to books for more than we realize.

It took a little time, but this was the way. It showed him and taught him through pictures what to do.

Parents tend to push their little ones these days earlier and earlier, when really, we should just let them be kids. SOmetimes we do the "keeping up with Jones" thing with events like this and don't even realize it. Just because someone else's kid is doing it, doesn't mean that the same kid might not revert when they hit 4 years old. I've seen it happen before when you push them too early.

I hope you consider my comments even though I am just "the dad."

Answer 2

My advice is just wait. My son is three and I have tried to introduce him to the potty but that is about it. Everyone thinks kids need to potty train at 2 or 2 1/2 but that is a bunch of bull. All that will do (especially for boys) is become frustraiting and make more messes for you to clean up. Boys train a lot later than girls. Some boys are not trained untell they are around 4. It is no big deal, just wait untell he is closer than three years old, then buy him big boy underwhere with his favorite cartoon on them and tell him "Don't pee pee on superman" (or what ever cartoon)

Answer 3

I totally agree with TLG. Boys take a lot longer to train which on average is 3-1/2 to 4. Its not that big of deal to leave him in diapers until he is ready. I know most eveyone doesnt like to change diapers and cant wait until the diapers are no longer. But hey, this is your child, its part of parenting. The time will come soon enough just dont rush it. Your little guy sounds like he is just not ready for the big potty. Just keep on with what you are doing and soon the diapers will be a memory.

Answer 4

How old is your little boy? Are there any male figures around you trust? If there are you can try enlisting their help on potty training your little boy. I have two boys-my first son wasn't potty trained until he was three and the second one wasn't potty trained until he was five.

when my oldest was three, I just told him that I wasn't going to buy anymore pull-ups and he better not urinate or booboo on himself. Guess what, he didn't, and he didn't wet the bed either.

You might want to try giving him rewards..a piece of candy, watch his favorite movie, or maybe even tell him he'll get a trip to the toy store to when he starts using the bathroom like a big boy.

Again, it would help to know the age of the child.

Answer 5

Name the potty with his fave character in either his fave storybook,cartoon,poster or even toy.

Say the name is X. Tell him its X's fave place to go to and sit on when X needs to pee/poo. Tell him to go there coz X is waiting.

Initially,you might need to distract him by telling him a short interesting story /playing a brief game that leads him to the potty.

You may also try stick or put his fave picture by the potty so that he will feel the need to visit and sit on it for a little while.
Change the picture daily/every other day/weekly if you want.

Good luck ;)

Answer 6

It could be that he's simply not ready for it. His reluctance is an indicator that he's not up to it yet, and pushing him to do it could cause pyschological problems.

However, it might help if he sees his dad do it. Have him accompany his dad when he goes to the bathroom, so he can see how it's done, and your guy could try to get him excited about it...that that's how "big boys like daddy" do it and that it's really fun. Try to stay positive and don't get visibly frustrated with him.

You could also put cheerios in the toiler and tell him you're going to play a game. Tell him to pee in the toilet and try to sink the cheerio. It's worked for many before..it might work for you.

Answer 7

My daughter's having the same problem with her little boy. He IS doing better because now he never wets himself but when he needs to have a bowel movement, he says "Put a diaper on me!". He will NOT use the potty for that! I know that's no help to you but have patience; eventually he will be trained. But boys are often resistant to potty training.

Answer 8

It is loads easier with girls, believe me.

Its the natural state of any boy to not care about hygene or progress as an individual...lol. Iam sure loads of people are going to tell you he's just not ready yet. Its a boat load of crap. We were all potty trained before we were two years old. I trained my brothers (mom was dying) and had to retrain the middle brother cause the lid fell on his little peepee. Anyway, if he can walk and understand english he can be potty trained.

We stuck with underwear, despite the obvious... complications. We talked endlessly about the whole potty experience, explained why and when we go potty. Encouraged the little guy to want to grow up and be more like a big man, instead of going potty in his pants.

We didnt make it a battle of wills (if you go potty in the potty i will get you ice cream) none of that nonsense. I just told him big kids go potty in the toilet, and he was not a baby and to stop acting like one, he could use words to tell us when he had to potty. And then we made a holy fuss over him every time he did. ESPECIALLY if he remembered to tell us he had to potty while out from home (We did use pull ups in the begining for going to the store).

I also left the door open to the bathroom whenever I was in it. Everyone in the house did for a while. Its just natural for a child to learn and understand processes from watching, and equally as natural for them to follow you every where you go. I would announce to him that I had to go potty, and then go in and go potty. Usually he'd follow me in, and I'd tell him all about using the big potty being a big kid, and so on. So that he could see that the urge to pee resulted in using the toilet.

Lastly, in the begining especially, i watched what he ate and when, and monitored when I knew he'd have to pee again, and make sure i was asking him at that time if he had to pee.

The hardest part of going potty on a potty is knowing that you have to go (babies just automatically pee the second they feel the need, so there isnt any real understanding of that feeling) and realizing its safe to go when your butt is uncovered (seeing other people in the same compromising situation helps a child realize its common and safe).

It takes time, and consistancy. What doesnt work is sitting him on the toilet and telling him to pee. Never in a million years will that work. Boys are little men, and no man likes to be told what to do, he wants to solve a problem on his own. So help him realize the problem is peeing in your pants, and the solution is using a toilet, and he'll put two and two together.

To do with without fights and arguments, to the point that it was something the HE decided to be responsible about, took probably 2-3 weeks of DAILY routine.

You'll get there.

For poops we actually had a matchbox car reward system. Theyre like 88 cents at walmart, and i just bought up a mess of them and stuck them in a basket in the bathroom. If he pooped he got to pick any two cars he wanted. But only if he pooped in the toilet. They were his favorite toy, so it worked well for us. Iam not one for bribery, but getting a boy to poop in a toilet is about twice as hard as getting him to pee in one.

:)

Answer 9

It's important to understand exactly what needs to be done and in what order to have your child fully potty trained. Check out this method http://pottytraining.toptips.org

Answer 10

I used this trick to get my boys (three of them) to get potty trained. When I would sit them on the pot, I would insist that they stay there until I saw some action (this is going to take some time). I also (for the first few times) poured some room temperature water on the business end of their penis to "prime the pump". They would pee almost immediately. It takes time, but stick to it.