How do you motivate a boy to potty train?

Rebecca - posted on 03/28/2011

My son was not interested in, or successful at, potty training until we heard about a product called a potty watch. One of our local kids resale shops carries them so we spent the $10 (cheaper than diapers, right?). Once our son was in control of potty time, because his potty watch reminded him by playing little songs, it was easy. He wore the watch for less than a week and potty training (for #1) was done! Best $10 I ever spent! You can google it online and then search for local retailers.

Jessica - posted on 03/25/2011

I SAY JUST DONT STRESS. YOU EVER HEAR OF A 5 YEAR OLD STILL IN DIAPERS. WHEN HE IS READY YOU WILL BE AMAZED HOW EASY IT WAS

Brenda - posted on 03/25/2011

I had the same problem with my oldest son. He was almost 4 by the time I had him potty trained. What seemed to work for me was putting underware on him. It sounds silly but it worked. Once he got the feel of the underware and realized how much more comfortable they were than diapers or pull ups he started going to the bathroom by him self all the time. Had a hard time going #2 at first but before long he was doing that on his own too. He might have a few accidents at first. Sometimes they can get sidetracked with playing and forget to tell you that they need to go potty. I got in the habbit of asking him every hour if he needed to go. I have another boy who is 17 mos. and I am going to try the same with him because it seemed to be the only thing that really worked for me. I hope this helps.

Karyn - posted on 03/24/2011

my son too is 3 he will wee in the toilet or if we're out ask to go but poos are completely different he will not ask not attempt to use potty, toilet or even let us know he just does it his underwear we dont want to put him back in pull ups as we feel it will make him lazier thank you we thought it was our son and there was something wrong

Christina - posted on 03/23/2011

We started by having him watch Daddy as much as possible. Once he got the idea, we went for the naked baby method (he pretty much runs around bottomless all day) which was pretty hard on our carpets...
He caught on fairly quickly because he does not like messes but still reverted when we put underpants on him.
To solidify the idea we used the sticker/prize method...he picked his own prizes from the toy store with the understanding that he would get them if he went in the potty. He got a small candy or lollipop and a sticker on his board every time he went and after 10 times he got a big prize. He still has accidents once in awhile when he's really distracted, but he understands what it is and really doesn't like when it happens (which makes incentive on it's own for not having accidents).

Liza - posted on 03/22/2011

When I trained my son, I left a bowl of his favorite treats out of reach but visible in the bathroom. Whenever he used the potty, he got to choose one of them.
You could also try getting him a step and child's seat for the big toilet. He might be more excited to use the adult toilet. My son very quickly was 'too big' to use a 'baby toilet' and was very excited to use the same one as me.

Karen - posted on 03/22/2011

I'm sure this will get a lot of criticism but it worked. I went to The Dollar Store and bought about 10 "Potty Prizes". I wrapped each one and started with tinkle. His motivation was a prize that was a surprise. They were little puzzles or legos, etc. Once he mastered tinkle we moved on. When the prizes were gone, they were gone. It worked so give it a little try.

Stacy - posted on 03/22/2011

we bribe my 2 year old with smarties, 1 if he goes when we take him, 2 if he asks and 3 if he poops. He tells everyone when he has to go. this doesn't work for my sister's 3 year old though, she is just stubborn

Brenda - posted on 03/21/2011

We were at our wit's end with our 3 year old too. Our eldest boy didn't start using the toilet until he was 3 years 4 months so I wasn't rushing my younger boy...but he is so stubborn and just not interested. i read the "no cry potty solution" book.. I kind of knew all the advice already but just hadn't motivated myself. We did the reward chart thing, after 5 stars he got a reward so we filled in the spaces all the things he wanted. Then last week we just had enough. We told him the shops didn't sell nappies any more. We took the nappy off and let him walk around. he seemed ok. We laughed about peeing outside and putting out fires with his "hose" but he wasn't interested. then i suggested shooting cheerios with his pee and he loved that idea. So once he peed in the toilet then he got his stars and he was delighted with himself. So it just takes time for them to realise what's happening. Keep talking about the toilet and showing it to him. I was really getting worried but now I realise he really wasn't ready and it took him until now to understand what was happening. he's nappy free now for 9 days and no accidents!

Denise - posted on 03/21/2011

I have 2 boys, and trained them both using cheerios. I know it sounds funny, but it only took a couple of days. I put big boy underwear on them, the kind with their favorite characters printed on, and told them 'we don't want to get superman wet'. Then every hour or so, we went to the potty and threw in 3 or 4 cheerios and laughed and carried on while they tried to dunk them. It worked like a charm and they were so funny trying to hit them! This also works to help them 'aim' a little better instead of peeing all over the toilet seat! Good Luck

Melissa - posted on 03/21/2011

I tried to force my son when he was 2 1/2 or so. It did not go well. It was a horrible 2 days! So I stopped. We would read books and watch an occasional video about potty training, but I never pushed.
About 2 months before his 3rd birthday he came to me and said he wanted to wear underpants...and he did. He peed in them almost immediately, but not since (he is about to turn 4.) He was overnight trained with in a couple of weeks. I hear from others that we are the exception and it is usually really hard. Trust me though, he is difficult in MANY other ways. ;)
When I tried the first time I put together a basket, which we still used when my son essentially trained himself, with plastic eggs filled with prizes. After he went potty I would let him pick a prize. It was either an M&M (or a few), a sticker or a coin to put in his piggy bank. I also added plastic dinosaur figures to the bin. He loved picking his prize.

Heather - posted on 03/21/2011

Having the same issues with my step son. He just turned 4 and we have tried big boy underwear, rewards, dancing, climbing on backwards, cheerios, fruit loops, etc. Our two younger girls are completely potty trained and we have one more boy (almost 2) that I am thinking of starting on now...if you figure out the magical equation, please let us know!!! Best of luck and I feel your pain!!!

Erin - posted on 03/20/2011

have you tried to get him to sit on the potty whenever you need to go i wouldn't push him to much i tried to get my little boy on the potty shortly after his 2nd birthday and he wasn't insteaded in it but now he is 2 1/2 turning 3 in June he is showing us signs that he is wanting to use the potty best of luck

Yolanda - posted on 03/20/2011

My son was completely potty trained at 2 1/2. I used to have the same problem. Sometimes we would go and sometimes he just wouldn't. He had on pullups so I decided to take them off and just make him wear underwear. Once we switched to underwear only, within 3 days he was potty trained and we haven't looked back. It was a hard going strickly to underwear, but I highly reccommend it. Also, he would never have a bowel movement in the toilet, but after two days of underwear only he surprised me and said "I have to boo boo" and went and got on the toilet. So of course I highly reccommend going to underwear if he has been wearing pull ups for a while

Jennifer - posted on 03/20/2011

Also if you put him in "big boy" underwear. They hate the feeling of being wet. Yes you have to be prepared for accident this something you have to try at your home. That worked for my son.

Jeni - posted on 03/20/2011

I must be one of the lucky one's. My son is 2yr and I potty trained him by myself. I would just make it fun for him. When he potty I would tell him to make me bubbles and his po is a snake he thought that was the coolest thing in the world. He was potty trained by the age of 14months. I am a single mom of three so changing diapers are not for me. His doctor is very amazed that he is trained.

Elizabeth - posted on 03/17/2011

I learned with my oldest child that ..the more you push ..the less interested they become and the more they will resist. So when it came to potty training our 2nd child I made it as relaxed an approach as possible.

New undies can be exciting ..let him see that mom and dad use the potty and have a potty accessible for him while you use yours. Have discussion on the topic like big boys wear undies and go pee pee in the potty.
Don't expect night time training right away..that takes longer.

Your pediatrician will tell you that the average age of a potty trained child is 4 1/2. I feel that is a little late personally..but it certainly made me feel better when our oldest regressed after her sister was born.

Sally - posted on 03/17/2011

Our son turned 3 last Aug. and it was difficult for me. My 2 older girls I just set on the potty and they went. He was a little harder we did the cherrio thing that he liked also just kept at it. Sooner or later they get it also we used real under the thick ones. If we were going somewhere we would use a pull up but not at home. Yeah I know lots of wash but it worked better. Also we live in the country so we did alot of peeing on trees and seeing how far he could reach. I tried everything and it did feel like it took longer. Good luck...

Diana - posted on 03/17/2011

I had the same problem with my 3yr old son. We tried everything and the harder we tried to encourage it, the more he refused to use the potty. We would put him on the potty all of the time and reward him if he went in the potty and he would wait until he was off the potty and go in his pants within 10 min. of sitting on the potty. He did do a lot better for my husband than he did for me. I backed off a little bit and one day he decided he was going to go on the potty and has been successfully going for the past couple of weeks with only one or two accidents.

Sonja - posted on 03/15/2011

My son was not interested, I had take him to the bathroom all the time to see if he needed to go. Having his dad or another man show him how to pee regularly will help with understanding what to do. Also use a cheerio and make it a game to hit it. It sounds funny but it makes it fun. Best of luck