should i start potty training my almost 3 yr old son?

Question

my son is almost 3 (october) and just started to tell me he is wet or has poop. but when i ask him during the day if he wants to go on the potty he yells , "no, no" and if i try to put him on either the little potty or the big one, he freaks out. alot of people are saying he should be potty trained by now. what should i do? and if someone has a secret trick to help this process along, please, please share it with me!!

Answer 1

I just potty trained my son and daughter. I like an approach where I don't have to pressure or push my child. What worked for me was The Potty Stool http://www.thepottystool.com I started by just setting it at the toilet. My kids immediately climbed up on the stool and discovered that they could safely and securely use the toilet. This got them very interested in using the toilet and they were potty trained very quickly. Kids like to use what they know mommy and daddy use.

It really helps boys to learn to pee standing up so they can see what is happening and connect the sensations.

I like that I don't have to double the steps of potty training by training them first in a potty and then training them to stop using a potty. And not dumping and cleaning a potty each time is great. The best thing is that kids use it for years. I hope this helps you.

Answer 2

I spread this trick alot. To Begin with make potty training fun & stop asking if he needs to potty say ok "lets go potty" & try a song on the way to the potty. The best trick of all M&M's. Keep you a jar of m&ms in the bathroom out of his reach where he can see them. Give one for pee & 2 for poopoo. If you have a hard time getting him to the potty give an m&m for going with out a fight (only one). Be prestant about how many m&ms you give or your child will just eat the m&ms & not take an interest in pottying. Good luck & make potty training as fun as possible!

Answer 3

I would start now. When your son starts to go to pre-school if he isn't potty trained it is really embarssing for them. My friends daughter wasn't potty trained any every time the class had a bathroom trip they put her on one of those changing tables but not in a stall. All the girls thought is was funny and stood around watching. Buy your son some underwear (cheap because they will get dirty). Tell him he isn't going to be wearing diapers anymore and he is a "big boy" so when he has to go he should come tell you. If he misses don't yell but have him help you clean up, pick out new clothes and get dressed. After a few mistakes he will learn.

Answer 4

first of all if a child isn't ready to train all the pushing in the world won't help! My grandson is now 4 years old and has only been trained about 3 months! His twin siblings are almost 3 and are trying to go in the potty already...it all depends on the child! I helped my kids train by using treats and or toys (boys got new matchbox cars) start him off with you in the bathroom...if you have a small training potty put him on it eveytime you go to get him used to the room...then when he tells you that he is wet etc PRAISE him regardless if he goes in the potty or not! Just telling you is a step in the right direction! this process will not happen overnight! It will take months to perfect and then it may only happen in the daytime not at night. remember that all kids bladders are not created equal and some won't grow like they should until your child reaches 8-10 yrs old. (that is the reason some kids still wet the bed at night)
Good luck and hang in there hope this helps

Answer 5

you can try it. he might not be ready but he know when he ready. don't worry. I have a 5 year old boy that was potty trained after he was four. Then right now I am potty training my three year old. It not going to well with him. He been three since May and working with him. he sit on the potty for couple of seconds that it. He doesn't like diaper changes. But never force a child to use the potty that would scare them and would get afraid.

Answer 6

First, even though a lot of people say he should be potty-trained right now, you should completely ignore them. The average age is three or four for boys, and the main thing is he needs to be READY to do it. Doesn't seem like that's the case right now.

See if you can get him to articulate why he freaks out like that at the thought of sitting on the potty. It's amazing the things some kids will think up, ending up with them being scared of going in the potty, or just the potty in general. For example, I know kids who have worried that they will fall in, that they will fall in and be flushed and go out to the ocean, that are afraid something will come UP the toilet and bite them, are afraid they're flushing away a part of themselves (viewing a pooh kind of like an internal organ that fell out and was flushed away), or who are, for one reason or another, uncomfortable sitting on the potty. If it's something like that, maybe you can encourage him and relieve his fears or worries, since you know what they are.

I would say work with him slowly, getting him used to the idea. When you're running a bath for him, for example, see if you can get him to sit on the potty, but don't press him to actually go. Just keep him kind of familiarized with it first.

Make it a game, or have rewards. Toss some Cheerios or Fruit Loops in the toilet and get him to play target practice. We had a kind of graduated rewards system. At first, everytime they would sit on the potty, they got a little sticker. After they got that down, we had a better reward for actually going on the potty, and they got it every time they went (a tootsie roll). Then raise the stakes, and have a better end-of-the-day reward when he goes all day without going in his pants (for us, this was extra video game time after dinner, or getting to choose what we had for dinner that night). Then, let him know that when he's able to go a whole week with no accidents, he can do something really cool (we did Chuck E. Cheese).

And as long as he is actually ready (sounds like this will wait a little longer), switch him from diapers or pullups straight to underwear and just deal with the temporary mess. The one thing he has going for him right now is that he apparently doesn't like being wet or dirty. Wearing underwear, instead of an absorbant diaper or even a pull-up with special "cool senses" or whatever, will make him more uncomfortable,and a lot of times, that's what makes the difference.

But don't push him at this point. He's still pretty young for potty-training, and no person who is telling you he "should" be pottytrained by now is in a position to make that deciison -- it's up to your preschooler. When someone says it next time, ask them why it's so important he hit milestones according to a time frame they dictate.

Well, maybe don't tell them, that might be rude. But it's true.

Answer 7

Ok, you have step 1 already mastered, child notices when wet or dirty.

Step 2 is to make doing it in potty more apealing than in diaper.

Rewards is the way to go.

It won't happen in 5 seconds, so you have to find a way to encourage them to sit long enough.

With mine, a love of stories meant that "story time" became "sit on potty time", with much excitement and celebration if it worked!

Fear can be hard to overcome.

I know this sound's gross, but maybe they could sit on the "little potty" while you sit on "big potty" - toddlers like to do these things together! LOL.


Then you can both was hands together and go on with the next thing for the day.....

Patience is the key, and punishing lapses is rarely successful!

Good luck!

Answer 8

Jeez, these other answerers are off in lala land i think...boys train later than girls, and some kids arent READY for training until well into their 3's. Same as some kids talk/walk/read early, and some dont....every kid is different...

Anyways, dont listen to them. Youre fine. Heres how i trained my son. He was about 2 yrs 8 months. Go out and let him pick out big boy underwear. Hold it in very high regard, like its the coolest thing ever, and tell him he has to go in the potty if he wants to wear them. Then let him pick out a book, something hes very excited about. Make that his potty book, it can only be read to him when he is on the potty. Let him pick out some very cool hand soap (the softsoap ones have little animals inside the bottle, my son loved that), he can only use his "special soap" after he goes potty. Of course have normal soap for any other time. Go to an office supply store, and they have teacher packs of reward sticker, buy them, and a bag of m&m's.

Now here goes, in the morning, straight to the potty when he wakes. Sit him down, show him the cool big boy underwear he wil get to wear when he goes, and read him his potty book, stay with him until he has gone potty. Let him use his special soap, reward with a sticker (even if he doesnt go) and 1 m&m for sitting on potty, 2 if he pees, and 5 if he poo's. Take him all the time, you will be washing a lot of underwear, but stick with it. It took my son less than 2 weeks and he was good to go. Good luck!

Answer 9

I have no tricks of the trade to share, but I'd like to hear the answers too! My son is now two years old and is afraid to go pee and poo in the potty, sigh. Everyone keeps telling me their kids were trained by a year old and blah blah blah, I'd like to know HOW they did it, not just hear about it!

Answer 10

if you can get him to sit on the potty by having a special toy that he only gets to play with while he's on the potty then sprinkle some warm water on his penis. he'll pee even if he doesn't need to. Do it every half hour at first then let him go longer and longer in between. With poop try to catch him starting to go and tun him in there. Give him the toy and them when he's done show him the poop in the potty. tell him that's where poo poo goes and let him flush and watch it go bye bye. Then cheer for him and give him a special treat for each potty poop. Make a chear for pee but not as big of a deal cause it's more common and easier. And let him have accidents without feeling ashamed of himself.