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my son is 3. he will NOT use the potty.....i'm not sure if he's afraid. he will sit there all day and read books, draw pictures, but refuses to go. as soon as i put a diaper on him he will pee. what am i doing wrong? i've tried everything. and before you ask, no he does not have any developmental problems, he is quite smart and the doc says he is where he should be. anybody else have a little boy or even girl who had trouble in this area?
I would not worry about it. I think boys can be a lot slower in their potty training than girls. My son was just not interested, he was always too busy doing something else, and took his sweet time. He was dry, and cleaning himself by 3 1/2, but some of my friends boys took even longer. My daugher took off her pull-up at 2, handed it to me, and said no. That was it. Each child is different. Take a step back, don't focus attention on it for a while, and see how it goes. Sometimes peer pressure can give them a nudge in the right direction. If he has a friend or relative the same age that is potty trained, let them spend some time together, that helped my son.
Oh...and very important, ignore the mompetitors. Just because little Suzie was potty trained at 6 months, it has no bearing on your son, or your parenting.
Put him in underwear during the day and observe him. If you notice him in the act of peeing/pooping run to the potty and let him finish in the potty.
Buy him a potty watch. You can get him one on ebay and you can set it to go off art intervals. That way you will bothe be reminded.
Also get him a piggy bank and put it in a visible place. Each time he goes pee/poo in the potty give him some money to put into it. Tell him that when his piggy bak is full you will buy him a treat/toy that he REALLY wants.
Most of all be patient. I have now successfully potty trained 2 of my 3 children. My son was a breeze but my daughter was really difficult.
Good luck!
I hope my advice helps.[mod cut]
Potty training is NOT easy.
Last edited by mrstewart; 11-03-2010 at 10:21 AM..
Reason: .
I had better luck potty training during warmer months when we would all be outside. I kept him in shorts with no diaper or just underwear and put the potty on the patio. I encouraged him to drink alot of water and guided him to the potty. Sometimes he didn't make it there abnd would tell him it was Ok to pee outside on the trees., he loved that. Once I saw him pooping in the front yard. "But you said it was OK to pee outside so I thought it was OK to do EVERYTHING outside".
Have you ever known a man who didn't like to pee on trees? Must be because stressed Moms told them it was OK.
It had been hard time with our DS too. He just could not sit for prolonged period of time! You might have skimmed through baby center to get expert idea on this which helped us a lot during the span of pregnancy to the development. BabyCenter | Homepage - Pregnancy, Baby, Toddler, Kids
my son is 3. he will NOT use the potty.....i'm not sure if he's afraid. he will sit there all day and read books, draw pictures, but refuses to go. as soon as i put a diaper on him he will pee. what am i doing wrong? i've tried everything. and before you ask, no he does not have any developmental problems, he is quite smart and the doc says he is where he should be. anybody else have a little boy or even girl who had trouble in this area?
You answered your own question before you even asked it! Ditch the diapers, have a throwing them out ceremony make it a big deal. He's avoiding the toilet because he knows if he waits long enough he'll get a diaper. The one thing about potty training is it becomes difficult when you let it become a power struggle, toddlers control so little and this is something they can somewhat control so if it becomes a power struggle it gets much much harder.
I'd chill out for a couple weeks, don't even mention the whole potty thing. Start going to the bathroom with the door open so he can peek in and see what's going on but resist the urge to invite him to try. Once everyone has had a chance to relax about the whole issue try again. Christmas is coming up I suggest you tell your son that Santa asked for his diapers to give to babies for x-mas and in return he gets a special big kid toy. Once the diapers are gone try the potty thing again.
What worked for me keeping one weekend completely blocked out to potty train there was NO leaving the house or people coming over. I kept him in his shirt, no pants no underwear. I gave him LOTS and LOTS of juice (i'm not a big fan of the juice but since my son rarely gets any he was not about to turn it down) every 30 minutes I asked him to sit on the potty for a few minutes, he could play with a toy, color or even watch TV but he had to stay on the potty. With all that juice it was only a matter of time before he had to pee and got it in the potty. We made a HUUUUUGE deal of it, song dance the whole nine yards. He had the hang of it by monday morning Sure he had a few accidents but he got the concept and had less and less accidents over time.
You thought a diaper bag was bad? Wait until you have to cart around extra toddler outfits!! Don't forget the socks and shoes they get wet too
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Sure he had a few accidents but he got the concept and had less and less accidents over time. 
