Potty Training a Boy - Boise,ID

Toilet training in less than a D. by Nathan H. Azrin and Richard M. Foxx, best potty training book ever and even works for the mentally retarded! Good luck.

I think I'd wait until you're moved and settled for a while before beginning training. He's going to be stressed out by the move and it would be better to wait. Good luck with the move and the training!!!!!

I think it sounds like he's not ready. My son wasn't fully potty trained til he was 3 1/2. My mother in law used to tell me "no one goes to college in diapers, don't worry about it, it'll happen". And since she had raised 6 kids and he was my 1st, I decided to trust her. And she was right.
Good luck.

R.,
I would recommend beginning the process. My son turned 3 at the beginning of January. I began potty training him last summer. He has 'got it' down now but EVERY once in a while has an accident. I guess my point is, it takes a LONG time to actually have them 100%. If you are moving, that's fine...I would just put a pull up on him and maybe ask every time you stop for him to go. Even if he just gets a little out, have him go. But, I would begin the process now because it does take a while. The more they start using the potty the longer they can go in between potty breaks too. So that will help for your move. Be patient and consistent. Also, my son was too afraid of the 'big' potty and we have the smaller seat. I ended up getting him a small potty just for him. He still prefers his. He will, finally, use the big one if he has to, but likes his. They do get it eventually, I'm told. Good luck and please feel free to ask me anything else about it...it's still very fresh on my mind!

L.

Hello, I am a mother of 5 and I have potty trained more than my share. I have all nephews and I helped my brothers raise them. I was a stay at home mom and I used a little trick on them. There is a potty video called "Potty Time" and I use to put the potty chair in front of the TV and let them watch it. It is a cartoon and its like a little movie that shows a little baby (They have one for a boy and one for a girl) but it show the baby becoming a big boy/girl and its like a sing-a-long video. Now this has worked for both my girls and boy, so maybe you can go to a book store in the child section or ask at the sale counter for the children's movies or maybe even find it on line. Start by letting him watch it first then intro his own potty, put him in front of the TV and let him do the rest. This will help even during the move because one D. of not sitting on the potty isn't going to affect it. I moved around alot too. (Colorado, Atlanta, etc..)which took about a D., so I just want to encourage you and say good luck and it will work out just be patient with him.
Lisa M.- Aurora,Co

I started my son just before he turned 2. What got him interested was that we got him his own potty that he was sure he wouldn't fall in. Whenever my husband or myself needed to go, we would bring him in with us and sit him on his potty. That way he could see that we used the big one without any problems and that there was nothing to be scared about.

We never pressured him to be fully trained and when he was about 2 1/2 it clicked and he was fully trained in about a week (days and nights). We taught him how to go sitting down and figured that he would learn standing up later.

As for road trips, what we did was bring his little potty with us, and if he couldn't hold it, we pulled over to the side of the road and he went in his potty. It was a LOT easier then trying to find places that had changing stations.

Good luck.

I had a girl and now a boy to train and have learned my lessons. First of all, I would back off a bit. He may not be ready mentally. I figured out there is mentally ready and physically ready. My daughter was mentally ready at 2 years but was far from phiscally ready. Therefore it took 9 months or drama! For my son, I started with machnics when he was mentally ready around 20 months. I had him practice but never worried about actually peeing or when we went out. Just parcticed at home on the small potty (not the toilet). We played games like all of us running to the potty (his siter would go on the big toilet) every 30 minutes. I also taught him about flushing, cleaning out the potty, pulling up his pants, everything. Then when he was ready, we changed to pull ups when we went out of the house and underpants (no pants) around home. He learned to put his pants in the washing machine if he peed in them. I let him have all control over this and didn't even know he had gone until he had finished cleaning up, flushed, and washed his hands with soap. this approach was so much more relaxing for both of us. He got to the point where we would were underpants with vinyl liners for short errands. He would ask to wear a pull up to school (he goes one morning a week) because it was too stressful. But he is all trained in three weeks except bed times (mainly he can't get up in the morning and run fast enough to the toilet.) He is 25 months old. I never thought he'd get trained this early. Having the kids at school all doing it helps a lot too. For flying, I would put him in a pull up and say he needs to think of them as underpants and try to keep them dry...but that you don't want him to have to worry if the line is long, etc. Mine communicated early...but hopefuly you can talk out the reasoning with your too. He is old enough to understand how he controls his body and emotions. Good luck.

R.,
My daughter was the same way. She was so afraid to sit on the potty. I first had to get here used to sitting on it with cloths and then nothing. We used stickers and a piece of paper. She is really into animals, so I found a book about animals. She would pick the stickers off one by one, tell me what they were and then put them on a piece of paper. It sounds kinda silly but it was a learning process as well as getting here used to sitting on the potty. Once I got here to sit on it, we used an ink stamps. She picked out 4 stamps (Mickey & Friends) and she would put it all over here legs. She absolutely loved it!! I would only let here play with the stickers and stamps while she was sitting on the potty. It was something different and fun for here to do. As far as the move, I would probably wait till then to really start trying, but you could start by getting him comfortable with sitting on the potty.

I have my almost 3 year old son using Peter Potty that I bought on walmart.com Check it out, it is a mini-urinal.

Enjoy!
M. N
www.bookitnowvacation.com
Cheaper travel!

When I potty trained my little boy I got him excited about "hitting cheerios" in the toilet. He was so exctied about it for so long that I had to have cherrios around for quite a while.
He even wanted to hit them when I decided it was easier to potty train him to pee sitting down. (I thought that would be more of a problem than it was.)
I also used a timer. I just got an old school kind of kitchen timer that would go off every hour. He knew that whenever the timer would go off we would go to the potty.
Even when he said he didn't need to go we would still have him sit for a while. He went every time. This really helped him avoid accidents.
About your travel. I would just bring a portable potty and have your child go in it every hour. Your could just pull over for a minute. that way he would be firmiliar with this potty and not have to go to every restroom in the country.
good luck.

Just from experiece I wouldn't push it! I am potty training my son right now and he loves it but it has taken a bit to get there and I waited until he was interested because it wasn't worth the stress and frustration to me to push him into it. He is almost 3 and for two weeks we have been doing great so I am not to worried that we will go back now! I would just wait until you are settled in Seattle but that is just personal opinion. Plus if your Husband is coming home he will be a big help with it I promise you that. There is only so much a mom can actually do when potty training boys! My son has watched my husband so he has learned "the man way" as he calls it!
As a side note I just want to thank you for the sacrifice that you and your husband have made for my family and our country! My commend you for all that you do! Thank you from the bottom of my heart! Your son has a true Hero for a daddy!

Hi R. -

I would wait to start potty training. My son, who's now 4, had no interest in going on the potty. I started when he about 3. I tried bribing him with big boy underwear, candy, etc. He just didn't care. Every time he was wet or poopy he would come ask me to change his diaper. Then one D. last Sept. he said he had to go and we went in and he did it. It was like a light turned on and he thought "I can do this". It took until about Feb. until he was pooping on the potty. The thing is you just have to let them do it at their own pace. Eventually he'll figure it out. He is also probably too young physically to be able to control those muscles at this point. Good luck with the move and the training.

After four boys I'll tell you that my opinion is that most boys don't really take to potty training until around 3 1/2. Also, we moved a lot when the first three were little and I highly recommend NOT training until after you are settled in your new home. The easiest way to train, I've found is to let them run around naked for a couple of months (not in public obviously) but boys need to "see" and feel what's going on when it's time to go. Of course, that's just my opinion. Good Luck!

Hi R.,
I'd recommend holding off on doing much until after your move. And then only go forward once he's comfortable in the new home. It always has to be his move on what he feels comfortable doing. (I learned from experience!) I'd recommend getting some good potty training books especially for boys (libraries have lots) and even some movies would be good. (Mine really liked the movies and the book that has a button that sounds like flushing) He may like to have his own potty chair too. He might not be scared of it flushing or draining. There's so much that they have to learn. They have to learn what it feels like to go, recognize it, not want to be wet/dirty, hold it, go to the potty, take off clothes, sit on the potty, relax, then wipe, flush, and put clothes back on. When you think about this no wonder it takes a long time! I always have to tell myself that potty training is a process, not an event. It takes time, sometimes a lot of time. I wish you good luck and mountains of patience.

I would wait until you move and if his dad is coming home soon wait until then because every "little" change is very big to them.Boys are closer to 3yrs. before they even have the control and you want to make sure they are ready or you will just start a headacah for you. If he is scared of the potty than he is not ready he shold be able to sit on the potty with no problem.I have 4 kids and my baby is the last to potty train, he turned 2 in Nov. and will pee in the potty but when he poops in his diaper I say "lets go in the potty" and he says "no mommy" I have to respect that.Tist is what they can control not us. My daughter will be 5yrs. the end of June and still wears diapers to bed and wakes up with the diaper full, I have heard sometimes the night control is 7 to 8yrs. old, so I will be asking the Dr. at her 5 year check up.

HI, my son was 4 when he potty trained. He had been peeing in the potty for months but wouldn't poop. doing peeing is easy! at first he did it sitting down, cause thats all he saw me do. you want to get a step so he doesn't strain to 'pull it over the rim'. also, mine peed in the reg. toliet while i went,i just took him, and sat him down, i had to push his pe pe down a few times, till he understood thats what you do. anyway, when i taught him to stand, lets say the floor never looked yellower! lol. he will have accidents, so i just made it fun, he new that what he did wasn't 'right' but i asked him to spray the floor with the cleaner, which i was right beside him, t hen we got the paper towels and i cleaned up. It took a little while, we did stickers, m&m's, cheerios, everthing as a reward, but he wasn't interested in that. So we went to walmart and bought a %1dvd. HE got it then! took abut a week of that! Got lots of those dvd's. Finally, we were in pull ups, he was peeing in the potty, but not poop. my hubby came home for his r&r, right after i got im to go poo in the potty for a few days, well when hubby left, he wouldn't poo again! errr. i waited 2 weeks, then one night, i saw him run over, hid behind the couch, then come out and say he pooped. i said, oh yeah. well thats your last pull up, now we get 'big boy' undies. he asked why, i said cause they don't make pull ups in your size anymore. When he did good, we got him some new 'character' undies, he got plain white ones when he had a accident. literally a D. or two later, he stopped haveing accidents, which i know were on purpose), and no more! He had 2-3 accidents after that, but in a 3-5 month period. (ps my hubby has been to iraq 3 times, so i know how you feel)

i say wait till you move, take him with you to pee, just him down on it, don't take his pants off yet. when you move, explain that now he is a big boy and the potty its fun to pee in!

he isn't too old, the older they are, the less chance of reverting back to NOT doing it. my sister is having this with her girl, she 'was' potty trained, but now not! lol.

i think nature always has when things should happen. I spent my 4 yrs cleaning diapers, it sooo nice being diaper freee!!

I also think you should wait until after you move. I have a 4.5 year old boy and the potty training is still in progress. He's still in pull ups over night, and he regressed quite a few times earlier on. we started with him right around his 3rd birthday. My 2.5 year old is still not very interested. So far, we only talk about it. I ask if he wants to sit on the potty, and he says no. I only hope he's trained enough to go to preschool in the fall!

It has been my experience that boys take longer to train than girls. Patience is a definate requirement and give it a full week- just hanging out at the home and really focusing on the potty training but not to the degree that he dreads it. The most important thing is to be consistent.

There are even books that you can get at the library or book store to help get him ready for the concept and that might help with his fears. Turning it into a game is a good choice too.

I know all kids are different, but I would wait until you move. My son was all potty trained, and then we moved and it was like he forgot it all. Change can be hard for kids and sometimes the step backward. For my little guy it took him quite a while before he was potty trained, so I would hold off since you know you are moving. Just my experience, like I said all kids are different.

Love and Logic teaches that when you want your kids to do something you "Model it with great joy and enthusiasm." That means getting Dad involved. So whoop it up when you go to the bathroom "Come on Joey, Daddy's going potty, it's going to be so much fun" Let him flush, wave bye bye. Even have Dad do target practise with cheerios in the toilet.

If he sees how much fun you and dad are having going potty he'll be less afraid and want to try it too. Check out the DVD on www.loveandlogic.com "Simple Parenting solutions" and if you want to take a love and logic parenting class, check out my website www.shellymoorman.com

Hi R.,
In my experience, if your little one is afraid then he is not ready. I have 2 boys 5 and 3 and they both potty trained at about 3 1/2. I continued to ask and set them on the potty and when they finally potty trained it was their decision. I have found that it is their ultimate decision and if it happens before that it is because WE have trained OURSELVES to put them on the potty. Your life will be easier with the move if you don't worry about it until after the move. Continue to ask him and see if he is ready but if he cries and is afraid then I would give him space. I hope this helps. I know that I stressed about it and yet it always happened eventually. Good luck.

Your son is young still and regression can happen with the slightest of change. Wait until you are settled into your new place before you go full force on the training. He needs to get used to the new place and feel secure. Once that part is over, then just put him on the potty every hour and a half. Don't ask if he has to go, but be excited in your tone and say "hey we are going to try and pee"...then if he does great, big happy faces, sticker chart or whatever method, if he doesn't that is fine too, hugs for trying.
Just keep doing this. My son wasn't ready until 3, then it took literally two weeks since I waited for him to be ready.
If you ask him if he has to go, 90% of the time he will say "no" or fight you, just tell him it is time to try, be prepared to spend a few days at home going to the potty too.
I did pullups with both of my kids, it lessened my stress level which in turn I think lessened theirs. I know some people do straight to underwear so whatever works for you.
Just wait until you are in your new place....!

Dear R.,
Does your little boy sit on one of the little floor model of potty...or do they even make them anymore? Mine are all grown, can you tell!LOL My son used a potty seat that was on the floor, and he was not afraid of it, so I don't know how much help I can be, but when he went to the "BIG" potty, he stood up, and was not worried about sitting on the seat( with me there holding on to him, so he could not fall in). He was older then your little guy....closer to three years of age. All of my children were close to or at the three year mark when they finally were able to be TOTALLY potty trained. I don't think that you need to worry if you decide to wait until you are moved. I think if it were me, knowing how much a move unsettles people, I would wait. A change in his routine may make him "back slide", and you might find yourself back at the begining.
I know your hubby has not been around, but my husband was the one who got my son trained. My son went into the bathroom with him, and watched how it is done. He would have done ANYTHING to be like his dad. LOL If you husband is going to be around now, maybe this would work for you.
Whatever you decide, R., MAKE SURE you do not turn it into an upsetting time. If you just take him to the potty, ask him to try, and if he does not want to go.....DON'T push him....he just might not be ready to be potty trained. I have never heard of a child who went to school not trained. When he is ready, he will do it with no problems. If you get pushy...you may start a power struggle that will not make either of you happy. I had two VERY strong willed children!!!!
Good luck in your potty training experience which ever way you decide to do it.

i would suggest starting out with a potty chair. they even have little ones that make music when they potty in them. for my sons, it was much less scary for them using a potty chair than the big potty and then they transitioned. Also with the potty chair, we used to move it to where ever we hung out, like the living room, so it served as a constant reminder. At first they need to be reminded to sit on the potty, then they will eventually start to go on their own. good luck!

R.,
I have never potty trained a boy yet (I have a 14 month old) but I have two older daughters and have done childcare for years. I would use the next four months to get him used to the potty but ultimately wait to seriously train him until he shows interest. I have heard from friends that boys are harder to train and 26 months might be too young. My girls both started using the potty regularly at 23 months but all the boys I have watched (5) were almost or at age 3 when they began to use the potty. My nephew is 29 months and very bright. He loves to sit on the potty but only actually goes potty once every couple of days. Good luck with the move and training!
K. T.

My son was never afraid to sit on the potty, but his training really took off when daddy showed him he could stand. If you have a male that is willing to have an audience, that might help out. It also takes some of the training pressure off of you. For my guys it was bonding time. If your husband isn't uncomfortable with it, it might be a good father son activity when he gets back.

A friend of mine kept a potty seat in the back of her vehicle in case the kids had to go. It cut down on accidents when you can't find a potty and was cleaner than public restrooms. There's a lot of open space between Boise and Seattle.

The stress of moving and Daddy getting back might cause your sone to regress anyway. If he's a little hesitant, it might be easier to wait and save you some frustration if he forgets. Diapers are easier for traveling anyway.

Good luck!

I wouldn't worry about potty training him yet at that young. He doesn't seem ready yet. He will let YOU know when he is ready. At the right time, he will practically be potty training himself....just be patient. It will come!! I have two boys. One I remember was quite easy, and one was quite hard and took a while. You really need to just be patient and it will come in THEIR time, not yours. Good luck!

Wait until after you move. No matter what you do, boys do it when THEY'RE ready. My son wasn't potty trained until 3 (during the D.). He's 5 now and we're just now getting him to make it through the night. Good luck.

I know a friend who has a bunch of the child's books by their daughter's potty and they bring in a magazine and have the child sit on it and read books to wait to go potty. When I was potty training our son, I would pour warm water on his peepee while the bath was running (seems like he always went in the bath the second the warm water touched him) and he would go. It seemed to help him feel the sensation of having to pee and recognize it. That lasted like a week and then he was fine going by himself. My son was a bit older though..like 3 and he got potty trained in like 2 weeks flat...even bedtime. So, sometimes it does help to wait.

take him in the bathroom with you. show him how you guys use the potty and tell him that's where the potty and poop poo goes. you have to get them use to the idea first. and it may sound like a bribe but giving stickers or baloons anything for trying helps them want to. and be pacient i can't count the hours i have sat in the bathroom with my son and no pottying. but one D. he ran up to me and said " mommy i need potty" and ran to the bathroom then went potty. my son is 2 1/2 and almost potty trained. there will be set backs but keep trying. also buying him underware helped he really likes them and the pull ups. but only big boys who use the toilet can wear the cool cars (or his fav thing) underware.

I am very thankful for my child care provider, she taught my son (turns 4 @ the end of May) to sit on the toilet BACKWARDS. Now this is good and bad. Good less mess sitting this way angles them so they don't squirt down the front of the toilet. Bad they have to take their clothes off from the waist down, which is really inconvient when you have to use a public toilet. He had no intrest in potty training and one D. I picked him up and she said ok he's potty trained, this was about a month after his third birthday. We still put pullups on him at night and this is for my own convience, most of the time he wakes up dry... Good luck!

Check out "Toilet Training in Less Than a D." by Nathan Azrin. We love it and I have a friend who did it with all 5 of her kids. We did a trip with our first about a month after and took his training potty with us. He was pretty good, we made him go everytime we stopped. It was a bit nerve wrecking having to go and have a semi go by at that particular moment, but I think it took just 3 extra stops. Your son is a little older than ours was, so it may not be a problem for you. Plus, you'll have 4 months of experience, so he'll have better planning skills. Our son didn't know Pull Ups were like diapers, so we always used those on road trips just in case. We only needed them once, and that was in the middle of no where NM. GL

I would wait until after you are moved in and settled before attempting something as big a potty training. And make sure he's ready because if he's not, it won't happen no matter what you do and you'll both be miserable. And a fear of sitting on the potty is a pretty good indicator that he's not ready yet.

When he is ready, someone else recommended "Potty Training in A D." which worked for my son.

Good luck with the move. I'll pray for your husband's safe return.

The average age for a boy is 4 years old, so take your time and enjoy the diapers. It will happen

hey R.,

kids are great, give credit for learning so much so fast. we had our son trained before he was a year old. a lot of it was in good fun. we let him pee in a bottle on long trips (and for us everyday was a long trip - we lived in the middle of no where). and pooping came naturally after the bottle training. it really was fun:)

i'm a mom of 2 boys and my guys were not ready until after age 3. we started a bit with my second son at 2.5 but he was not ready and then we moved across country. to much caos to add in potty training too. my 1st son was a breeze to train so we won't talk about him but my second son needed encouragement in this process. when he was 3yrs 4mth we did what i called potty training boot camp. it took one week until he finally got it. for 4 days it was a total disaster but i stuck it out. my boys never sat to pee. the cheerious in the potty is fun for them and it works. for poo the insentives went up. because of his love of matchbox cars, he got to choose a new car (lined up for him to see) when he went poo. he wanted those cars bad and it worked for him. a few matchbox cars are cheaper than a box of diapers!
good luck and i would wait until you move is over.

I agree with lots of the other mom's on waiting. He is still really young to train - for a boy. We were expecting our 2nd baby and my son was 26 months old when we tried to potty train and it was a big no-go. For him it was 3rd times a charm. I would continuously talk to your son about it and let him watch others use the potty and show him it is not scary. I would try when he is right around 3 or 3 1/2 and he should succeed with no problems (we hope!). Our son was 3 1/2 and has done great! I know that is a lot more time buying diapers but it is well worth it. Good luck.