What method of potty training worked best for your boy?
My son has some OCDs so having him go naked bottom worked instantly. Granted I didn't even try potty training him until after he turned 2.
I wish I knew the answer to this question - when I figure it out with my current little one I"M going to write a book on it lol. He is almost 4 and still refuses. My oldest son just sort of made up his mind he wanted to do it when the time was right, he was just under 3. He had lots of oopsies, but I didn't harp on it or get down on him for it and so he felt confident and continued to try. I think confidence/fear is a big factor in it. If they feel a sense of accomplishment and supported they will keep doing it once they actually start.
With my current not so little guy it has been a battle of wills I tell you. I have tried sticker rewards, potty movies, books, being naked (he'll just pee on the floor) - pullups, regular underpants, ignoring the issue, etc. Right now we have a calendar and his birthday is in August and we told him you have to go potty by your birthday or your big boy presents are going to be put away until you do. You can't have a big boy birthday until you are going potty like a big boy. I am crossing fingers this is going to work.... I'm at the end of ideas and patience lol.
Aww don't worry, I'm sure he'll get there. My little brother... well not so little anymore (6ft 15year old) didn't potty train until just after 4 years. I've heard boys are a lot harder than girls to potty train.
The easiest method of potty training for boys is to have them watch dad, or another comfortable male figure in their life. I know it sounds really awkward to the men but this would be who the boys are looking up to. They want to be them, and they will try to imitate them.
Try to avoid rewards. Going to the washroom is not supposed to be a big deal, it should be a "good for you" moment. Not a "My child is amazing I must reward this amazing accomplishment" moment. Also when the rewards cease, or is forgotten the child may become very upset, confused, they may refuse to continue the positive behavior or even resort to negative behavior.
When it comes time for them to learn to differentiate between the times to sit and the times to stand things become more difficult. Explain the process, expect some times where you have to clean up, teach them to tuck, and wait. They will realize on their own faster if you enforce regular toilet trips but do not make the toilet trips into a huge deal.
I work in a school with kids between 18 months and 5. All of our kids are potty trained (Usually before they turn two). It just took patience, and they learned in about a month or two max. No rewards, no praise, just a simple "You did it!" was sufficient.
Kids do get hooked on rewards sometimes! A simple praise worked well enough for us as well.
I agree with watching dad but I think it works with mom too.
I think watching mom confuses boys. Mom just sits down, boys need to think about sitting or standing, as well as aiming. Seeing a woman do it does not really teach them anything beyond that mom uses a toilet.
I haven't taught my boy to stand yet. He's fully out of diapers but sits for everything. My husband and I decided we would introduce standing after he had mastered basic potty training . So I'm sure we'll start that soon.
I went through the same thing Christin did, to an extent. My eldest would have #2 accidents daily, but would ALWAYS go #1 where he was supposed to. We tried many of the same techniques with him and none seemed to work. My youngest is less than 2 years younger and it was coming up time for him to start potty training. It was about 2 months before his 2nd birthday and a few weeks before my oldest's 4th. I showed him what to do, told him to watch his brother and do what he did. (Their father was TDY at the time) He caught on almost immediatly. When my oldest realized that his younger brother was going to do something 'better' than he, the accidents almost immediatly came to a halt. By the time my husband returned 3 weeks later, we were accident free from both of them. So for me, what calynbana said worked....they taught one another.
For Christin, I tried the whole "take away the birthday" thing, but for us it was telling him he wouldn't be able to start school. I think that worked as well as the competetion. I know people say to only use positive reinforcement, but I am not a believer in that. I think that if you let him know your disappointed, it might work too. Boys love to make mommy happy, and if he see's he's not, then he might try next time. Also, regular potty breaks to get him in the habit. Kids get so excited while playing and forget they need to go. Stop him every hour or so and have him go. And DONT GIVE IN! Have him sit there until he goes. Eventually, he will understand that he HAS to and will do it. It'll happen eventually!
I totally agree, using only positive reinforcement with children is silly. They need to know when they do something wrong just as much as when they do something good.
by Christin Sander 11 years ago
What are your tips for getting a stubborn toddler to potty train?both of my kids were slow to potty train and I was wondering what tricks/tips other parents had that finally convinced their little ones to give the potty a try My "baby" is 3 & 1/2 right now and he just isn't...
by Peeples 11 years ago
Potty training tips for toddler who goes every 2 minutes?Today is day 3 of no diapers for my 24 mth old. The only problem (which is really a good thing in a way) is she wants to go every 2 minutes it seams. She has literally gone 15 times in the 2 hours she's been up. While it's good it is time...
by Peter Leeper 13 years ago
What potty training methods worked for your Child?I recently wrote a hub entitled "Potty Training Your Insane 2 Year Old" where I discuss different techniques I have been using in an attempt to potty train my young son. What has worked or not worked for you in this effort with your...
by keepitnatural 13 years ago
When should you start potty training? My daughter is 13 months, is this too early to start?
by jenubouka 13 years ago
Anyone have tips for potty training boys? Note: Keep in mind he only has mommy to do the training, so any ideas are greatly appreciated!
by Barbara 15 years ago
My twins are now 32 months old and my daughter has been using the potty for several months and things are going fine. My issue is that my son refuses to poop in the toilet. He demands to have a diaper put on and then he goes into a separate room, request privacy and does his business. If I...
Copyright © 2025 The Arena Media Brands, LLC and respective content providers on this website. HubPages® is a registered trademark of The Arena Platform, Inc. Other product and company names shown may be trademarks of their respective owners. The Arena Media Brands, LLC and respective content providers to this website may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website.
Copyright © 2025 Maven Media Brands, LLC and respective owners.
As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.
For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy
Show DetailsNecessary | |
---|---|
HubPages Device ID | This is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons. |
Login | This is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service. |
Google Recaptcha | This is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy) |
Akismet | This is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy) |
HubPages Google Analytics | This is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy) |
HubPages Traffic Pixel | This is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized. |
Amazon Web Services | This is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy) |
Cloudflare | This is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy) |
Google Hosted Libraries | Javascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy) |
Features | |
---|---|
Google Custom Search | This is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy) |
Google Maps | Some articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy) |
Google Charts | This is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy) |
Google AdSense Host API | This service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy) |
Google YouTube | Some articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy) |
Vimeo | Some articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy) |
Paypal | This is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy) |
Facebook Login | You can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy) |
Maven | This supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy) |
Marketing | |
---|---|
Google AdSense | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Google DoubleClick | Google provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Index Exchange | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Sovrn | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Facebook Ads | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Amazon Unified Ad Marketplace | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
AppNexus | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Openx | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Rubicon Project | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
TripleLift | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Say Media | We partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy) |
Remarketing Pixels | We may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites. |
Conversion Tracking Pixels | We may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service. |
Statistics | |
---|---|
Author Google Analytics | This is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy) |
Comscore | ComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy) |
Amazon Tracking Pixel | Some articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy) |
Clicksco | This is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy) |