my three year old is not interested in going on the potty and he starts school next year

Lynda - posted on 01/28/2009

Don't push it. Just have him go to the potty when he looks like he's trying. Be very matter-of-fact about it. I wouldn't say anything like "you can't go to school if you still wear diapers." That may put too much pressure on him & back fire.
Also, let him go shopping w/you to pick out some "big boy" underware. If he has some ownership in the decision to potty, maybe he'll be more interested.
I can tell you that as a preschool teacher I understand that accidents happen & I just deal w/them. This year I had a little boy who'd only been potty trained for about a week prior to school starting. I think that so far, he's only had one or two accidents @ school. He'll get the hang of it in his own time.
My 3 boys were all trained after they turned 3. I did the same as Lori, I put cheerios in the toilet for them to sink. It helped.
I remember hearing Dr. Kevin Lehman saying that he never knew a child who went to kindergarten in diapers, so don't worry about potty training. It will happen when the child is ready. I took that to heart, because I too was changing diapers on a 3 year old more than once. I assure you that they were all potty trained before they started kindergarten, and even before they started preschool. Now they're all teenagers, i don't think that being potty trained a little late has affected them all that much. Good Luck!

Janice - posted on 01/21/2009

im in a similar position with my middle child. She is at nursery and will start school sept but wont use the toilet/potty. Ive tried but ended up giving up as she was getting quite distressed. But my elder two were exactly the same, and didn't potty train till nearly 4, my eldest girl still has accident now at nearly 6. I got so worried i took them to the doctor as i thought is something wrong with them. They are all just late developers and no amount of me trying to make it happen sooner wont change nature.

So just going to hang in there and hope that Rowen will follow ashby and casey.

Danielle - posted on 01/20/2009

I went through the same thing... my son is 4 and a 1/12 now. He HAD to be potty trained to go to a pre-school at 3 (so he had to not go because he didn't make it) and then he HAD to be potty trained to get into Universal Pre-Kindergarten at age 4 and I knew I was running out of time. I tried EVERYTHING.... CHARTS, M&MS FOR REWARDS, GIFTS, BRIBES....NOTHING WORKED. Then one day he saw a toy that was still in the box in the closet from Christmas and wanted me to open it (it was a smart cycle that was set away for a rainy day) and I said "NO- not until you make it through a full day of no accidents and go potty all day long because that toy is for big boys and the boy in the picture is wearing undies" Sure enough, I had to stick to my guns- he was ready to jump on he potty that moment but it was too late in the day... the next day, he went on the potty all day long and I opened the smart cycle that night! We have been trained ever since (that was 2 months before his 4th birthday). Is there something that your little guy may want that may work?

Meggin - posted on 01/19/2009

My four year was the same way what we had to do is tell her that if she wanted to go to school she would have to become a big girl or all the kids that she was going to go to school with where going to make fun of here and she started going now my son he does not want to sit on the tolet so my husband his step father took him and showed him how to stand up and use the tolet and he goes all by his self and he even started going poo to and this is all happening in a three almost four week time

Lori - posted on 01/19/2009

I have 2 suggestions that might help.Weird but it helpped I put cheerios in the toilet and told him to try pottying on them.What I did for my girls was got underwear with charecters on them and tacked a string to the bathroom wall and hung the underwear on it with clothes pins and told them when they had no more accidents they could have them.Hope this helps.One other thing try not to make it a power struggle act as if you are not concerned at all that it is just another normal thing for him to use diapers it might help.

Sue - posted on 12/10/2008

hi, one of my sons would'nt use the potty either, so i bought a childs toilet seat and a step and told him, what a big boy he would be if he used the toilet like daddy and mummy... i put the seat on the toilet and showed him by sitting on it first that it was'nt some thing to be scared off, then i sat him on it, he did'nt do anything at first, but i still praised him for sitting on it , saying what a big boy you are, and clapping and praising him, and when he did do a wee i made such a fuss off him, he really liked using the toilet, i also made a chart with shinny stickers, so every time he used the toilet i would give him a sticker and he put it on the chart, by the end of the week i would give him a little suprise, a sweet or a small toy, i.e.. a car, he soon got the hang off it. good luck! i hope i have helped in some way.