Potty Training Ideas/Help

When my son had problems being consistent, I instituted a reward for dry pants all day until 4 pm. If he did this he could watch tv (with the potty chair near by).

Worked really well for accidents at school too.

Hang in there!

i thinkg the flylady.net has a potty training chart,you can use to reward your son for telling you in time and for acutally using the potty. I used it with my son, years ago. He was a tough one to potty train and was similiar to your son in that he would tell me a little late. Like it says on the fly ladies website a little bribery never hurt. We would give my son a penny for every time he would tell us he had to go before actually making in his pants. the pennies would go in a jar by the toilet, when he collected 5 pennies we would let him use one in the penny Gumball machine we had for him. It worked but it did take a week or two. I know how frustrated you must feel. As you change him for the 10th time each day, it feels like they'll never get it. When i was training my son someone told me to "take a deep breath how many 15 year olds do you know who can't go potty by themselves??." of course I laughed and well it was a dumb thing to say but it made me feel alittle less crazy!
Best of luck!

IMO he may be too young to train completely for now. Let the whole issue drop and start again in a few months. It seems like it's becoming a power struggle for you and him. Kids love power struggles, especially if they get an award for it. If he shows signs that he has to go; remind him to go but if he doesn't go in the potty then, don't make a big deal out of it and he'll learn that he won't get a treat for a few drops of pee. Good luck!!!

As horrible as it sounds for you... I'd say put him in big boy pants only! and don't give the option of diapers except at night time. Also he is old enough now that if he pee's his pants or poops in them then he needs to clean up the mess and get a change of cloths himself. (Now obviously you'll have to help some to actually get it clean but make him participate in the clean up process so he can see the consequences of his choice)

Hang in there... I would second the call to put on big boy undies and not turn back. While the cold shower or polar bear showers as they're refferred to in our house sound cruel - it's a great motivator, along with seeing his peers accomplish the task. We also instituted stickers on the little potty which we made a special trip to pick out. Then after using that potty was conquered we got a insert for the big potty which our daughter got to pick out. Just remember to ask often and be consistent.

I liked the timer idea on the other post. Every hour set him on the potty, don't wait for him to come to you.
Some kids want it earlier then others. He has to be able to hold it and little boys can get distracted easily too.

What worked for my son was wanting a Transformer, I told him that was a big boy toy and he had to earn it with 30 days of consistent pottying. In two weeks he was going every time in the potty and was in underwear and it was over with. 100% at night the following week. By the end of the month it was over and he was in underwear all the time and we were done, not one accident.

My daughter potty trained very young and when a few bumps in life happened, her tonsils out and her little brother came along she regressed, it took a call from Santa telling her he wanted to bring her big girl stuff for Christmas and it was done 100% after that call. Each child needs their own motivation.

Boys can take longer with bladder control, the best thing you can do is not ask, but tell him every hour it is please time to sit on the potty. If you wait on him to tell you and he is busy playing more then likely he will make a mess on the floor or in his underwear.

If he seems whatever about the process then just say "okay, here are pullups, I need to pick up all your big boy toys and when you are ready to be in underwear all the time, then you let me know and you can have them back"...and leave it alone. Let him come to you when he is ready.
Make sure there are no underlying bladder issues either.

I think the best way to get serious about this is to through out the diapers! My daughter did the same thing at first. She would have a good day and then the next day have like 6 accidents in her underwear. It was really hard but i stuck with it. I did use pull ups for when we went out to the store and for nap time but other than that it was underwear everyday. I even had to hide the pull ups because if she saw them she wanted to wear them instead of her underwear. you just can't switch back and forth between diapers and underwear. Just because he has an accident or two one day doesn't mean you should give up and put a diaper on him. you have to stick with it and just keep putting him in dry underwear. He is old enough to get the message once he realizes that no matter how many times in a day he wets his pants he will still be put in underwear and not back in a diaper. I know it's hard but he will get it you just have to be strong.

I have a 3 year old son who is now potty trained and from my expereience and what others told me- I found 3 things to be really helpful.
1. He will learn in his own time. This will not go on forever
2. Put him in big boy undies and don't turn back
(this really worked for us. everytime he went in his undies, he had to stop playing, get in the shower, and put new ones on. we stayed home for 3 days and did this and it worked ike a charm.)
3. Set a timer. this will help you both remember. our son would get excited and run to the potty when he heard the timer.(we did every 20 minutes and pushed fluids)
Best of luck

My son is almost three and we have gone through a lot of what you mentioned in getting him potty trained. Finally I just put him back in diapers and kept telling him when he was ready he could go potty in the toilet. And then I added in that if he was potty trained by summer than he could take swimming lessons and then go for a ride in grandpa's boat. That got him excited at least, but still motivation. What it finally took, and this was by accident, was a friend of mine coming over with her little boy who is about the same age of my son and is also potty training. While he was here he had to go potty and when he came out he told me what he did. I gave him a high five and a loud wahoo and was very excited about it. My son saw my reaction, thought for a second, and said he needed to go potty in the toilet. He still has accidents, but he is a lot better and is really trying, whereas before he wasn't. I still give him treats sometimes, but I don't make a big deal about it, unless it is poop. He has a really hard time pooping in the toilet. Anyways, just thought I would share. Good luck to you and your son!

OK, I just finished teaching my own son, also age 3 1/2, to use the toilet reliably and here's what worked for me. It's a modified version of what I learned from the book "How to Toilet Train your Child in Just One Day."
First, you need to set aside at least two days to devote to toileting. Setting aside the time makes the difference between knowing about the toilet and really learning to use it every time.
Use easy to pull off and on underwear, such as boxer shorts. Since you'll just be at home, consider letting him be in only undies with not pants, just until you get the drill down. getting clothes tangled up is a major discouragement for little children, so avoid that pitfall while you're doing the intense teaching.
Also, while some people might disagree with me, I think it's important to use a low potty, or "little toilet," as we say in our house. It's impossible to poop comfortably when your legs are dangling and if the idea of toileting is to encourage independence, it hardly seems fair to set a child up for failure and frustration by insisting he use an adult-sized toilet he can hardly climb up to. Emptying the little toilet into the regular toilet and flushing contents away is part of the procedure I teach, along with handwashing (usually with fun, fruit-smelling foamy soap).
Practice a couple of times cheerfully, actually running to the toilet and pulling pants down.
Then, in general, don't campaign for your child to sit on the toilet--that's not really the behavior you're trying to reinforce. Campaign for "clean and dry." Every 10 or 15 minutes, ask your child if he is clean and dry. Have him feel his undies and confirm he is clean and dry. Then offer encouragement-- "You're getting so big! You know how to use the toilet so you can stay clean and dry! Dry underwear is so comfy!" Then offer a treat, such as a sip of a fun juice drink or a pretzel. The idea is that practice makes perfect, so you're offering beverage treats to encourage urination, or a salty snack to encourage him to drink and then need to urinate. You can say, "You can have a fun drink because you know how to stay clean and dry!" so there's a connection.
If you have a mistake, express disappointment like, "Ohhh, bummer. You're not clean and dry. Wet underwear is no fun." And then run through a practice drill and wait for a chance to encourage clean and dry again.
This is the second son I have taught to use the toilet using this method and I'll use it again with son #3. If you really need a motivator, you can wrap a small prize from the dollar store and place it where your child can see it but not touch it. It must be tantalizing and wrapping paper always enhances that effect at my house. ;). Say he can have it if he stays clean and dry until a certain point, like dinnertime or when dad comes home from work, etc. Then let dad present the prize with encouragement, or otherwise make the receiving of the prize exciting. The prize should be exciting but small enough that he doesn't have to wait longer than a day to earn it and it will be appealing to try to earn another prize the next day--when one prize is earned, another prize can magically appear in the same out-of-reach-but-visible place.
I was initially reluctant to use food as any kind of a reward but my kids have been thrilled to be allowed to have fun drinks and that was motivating. I have heard moms talk highly about the info at www.pottytrainingguru.com, but I don't think it's free and I think I've got the gist of what her ideas are. If you can find that book "Toilet Train Your Child in just One Day," that will be useful for you. I took longer than a day, but the principles in that book are sound even though the book is from the mid-1970s and very dated-looking. Don't let that put you off.
The number-one thing is setting aside a couple of days where you keep the TV off and phone calls short and no errands and just focus on your child so you can reinforce this behavior very throroughly. It can even be fun--hang in there!

Here is an idea, I know its not what most parents would suggest but its an idea. Have him clean up his mess when he wets the floor. Most kids will not want to do that. I tried it a few times with my girls and they hated it. They were both potty trained rather quickly, so I don't know if that was a contributing factor. Also, girls, so I've heard are potty trained easier. So try it. This may help...

You need to train him to go potty. What I did with my twins is take a day and completely devote it to potty training. It won't train him in a day, but it will give him the idea. Fill him full of liquid. Then hand him his panties and have him hold them in his hand and tell him dry/clean. Then have him repeat it. Then take a baby or teddy and sit them on the potty and tell him this is where the baby or teddy goes potty and this is where you will go potty too. Every 15 minutes ask him if his panties are dry and clean. Then every hour put him on the potty and make him sit there for a few minutes and have him go. Then every 15 minutes ask him and take him every hour. Once he gets the idea he may be doing this himself, he may not. Do not put him back into a diaper but keep him in his panties. Once he gets the idea then take him every hour until he goes potty and then every 2 hours. My twins are like clockwork now. They go potty every 2 hours and just recently I have not had to tell them to go potty, they just go themselves! It is not a quick over night thing, but once he gets it and doesn't balk at you he will start going on his own. Good luck!

Try buying him the urinal its called peter potty. My son loves this and the idea that it is only his potty. Good Luck