3 Year Old Son Potty Training...

We only used pull ups at night. When you can - spend a few days at home.. no pullups. Reward with praise, m&ms, toys... when he goes. When he has an accident remain calm and tell him "potty goes in the potty" and change him and go on. My son showed no interest until he was just over 3. Then w/i a weekend, he asked for his Batman underwear... and had only minimal accidents since. It's about them - when they are ready... not when we are - unfortunately.

Would it help if HE chose the underwear? My daughter was the same way, she would demand her diapers. We went to the store and I got the dora and my little pony underwear and asked if she would like one of them, she picked both which was fine because they were like 3 in one pack and 6 in the other. So every day she'll say I want the pony ones or I want the dora ones. It helps so much.

I'm right there with ya! My son is also 3 and I can relate completely.His friends are already wearing underwear. I promised myself after my frustrating experience with my daughter that I would not rush him and repeat the stress of my the 1st experience. Taking off the diaper is not an option at my house I have carpet in every room and have tried putting underwear underneath the diaper with no luck! He still doesn't recognize the need nor when he is dirty will he ask to be changed so I realize it's not time yet and take him after each meal praising with m&ms but know he has to be the one to make this work. He does love aiming at the confetti in the toilet and have had luck with that but he's not consistent. I understand your timeline my kiddo is going to preschool too it will happen just keep taking him and praising him if not maybe the peer pressure at school will help. Just wanted you to know you're not alone. Best of luck!

The day I decided I was going to do this, I hid all diapers and pullups ... it was underwear only for him. I put a potty in front of the tv. I also had a clear box full of "prizes." The first day or so was, "Yeah! You peed!" Didn't matter where, just helping him to recognize the feeling. I put him on the potty every 20 minutes, and gave him a reward if he peed in the potty. I had to bribe him to get him to stay on the potty. Poptarts worked for him. After a couple of days of cleaning up lots of puddles (good thing we have hardwood floors and very few carpets), he got the hang of things. He was pretty much done in 3 days. There are accidents (I think that's pretty much universal), but he's definitely potty trained.

Good luck! Potty training sucks! Just stay positive and don't look back. You'll be fine.

I potty trained my 2 year old pretty much in two days, we spent the weekend at my parents house upstate. and we was outside most of the weekend so he was running around in shorts no diaper and i would ask him if he had to pee every 20 mins or so and by the time we went back home sunday night he got it. ya he had a accidents for the first couple of days.

Some kids are just not ready until 4 or even 5. Wait until your son is ready and the process will be easy for all of you. By the way, my son also needed to be potty trained to go to preschool last fall. He was 3 at the time and I started him anyway (told the teacher in advance of course). She didn't need to change one diaper the entire year. He always waited to poop until we got home. It could very well play out that way for your son too.

Have him try every 20 or 30 minutes at first, then stretch the time as you learn his patterns. Don't ask, he'll say he doesn't have to go, but tell him it's time to potty and take him and sit him down.

Pullups are diapers so get rid of them, they keep kids dry so of course they want to keep going in them, then you can clean them up! Put him in cloth training pants all the time, day and night, so he knows there's no going back. Once he gets good at going regularly in the potty or on the toilet you can put him in regular little boy underwear.

Don't use diapers when you go out. You can keep a small potty in the back of your car and pull over for him to use it when he needs it.

Praise and encourage him for successes and trying. Have him help clean up his accidents.

Drive by the school and show it to him, get him excited about going. Remind him he gets to go when he uses the potty all the time.

Above all, be consistent. You can't be lax one day and an enforcer the next. Tell him what you expect from him and stick to it ; )

We found the perfect incentive. Our 3 year old loves going to the play land at Fred Meyer. Then we went to Ikea, they have a playland, but the kids have to be potty trained. She really wanted to go to the playland, but couldn't. Like your son - she was ready just wanted to wear the pullups. I told her that if she didn't wet the pullups or panties for 5 straight days she could go to the Ikea play land. Set up a sticker system on the calender. It took 7 days. She saw that she didn't get a sticker on the second day and she whipped into shape.

Good luck

Check and be sure your son is ready. Starting before he is won't speed things up. Here's a wonderful, informative website you might find helpful. It gives a few variations on "readiness" checklists, plus tips on various training strategies, the best ages to start them, and the advantages and disadvantages of each approach: http://www.parentingscience.com/toilet-training-readiness...

My boys did not like the "Cool-alert" pull-ups. I let them use them for 2 days (so they could feel the sensation) and then took the pull-ups away completely. It was not nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be. :-)

Some kids need the extra push. I found with my youngest that I just had to toss the pull ups and go for underware. Prepare yourself for alot of laundry and a messy week or two. Only when he had underware on did he finally get the hang of it.
I would recommend setting a timer as well, start with every 30 min and make him try to go. I found that every 45 minutes was just annoying for both of us and unproductive. If he wets himself reset the timer for 45 min after the accident. The purpose of the timer is to take away the power struggle of him feeling like you're telling him to go. I really loved the potty time watch for my oldest. You can order it online.
Also, we hung a poster board on the wall and I bought a ton of different sticker sets,Disney Cars, Bugs, Boats, Planets, etc and every time he went potty he got a sticker. That helped with motivation.

Be sure you still use diapers at night. There is no such thing as night training it is purely physiological and until he wakes up dry consistently there is no sense in getting rid of diapers. My 3 year old is out of diapers completely day and night but my 5 year old still wears diapers for night time. He just can't stay dry no matter what.

Hang in there.