Potty Training Boys

Oh yeah, what a great time of life!!! Time to throw out the diapers and condense the purse. You will soon be able to leave the house without getting everyone in the car and then smelling that smell, and knowing that your little one just had a blowout and you now have to change clothes and the car seat as well.

But first we must hurdle the ever daunting task of potty training.

Like everything in life hindsight is 20/20 and the thought of having to actually take the steps to potty train makes some want to rip their hair out. But when its done, there’s happy dances done by all.

So far I have potty trained 4 boys. Each boy came with his own rules on how this new adventure was to turn out, and I had to learn to just go with it.

My first was by far my hardest. There was one time that I was in the basement huddled in the corner, rocking myself, crying on the phone to the husband that this boy will never pee in the toilet. {let it be known that I was also 5 months pregnant with #3 so crazy was part of my day} Anyway, he went back in diapers for a while.

So here are some tips that might help you avoid the rocking…

*Please wait until they are ready AND you are ready. Benji was ready about 3 months before he was 3 years old BUT... we were in the middle of a move. Moving across the country while potty training would have been the death of me. So if you know your life is going to take a crazy turn just hold off.

*Explain to them what is going on with their body. Up until now they never had to think about it. Tell them what it feels like to pee. Point to their body parts {and please use the correct name for everything} and help them connect the dots to what they are doing.

*I only have them use the regular toilet, with no extra seat. My reasons for this are 2 fold. First, the thought having to clean out a little potty grosses me out. Worse than cleaning dirty underwear, and messes on the floor. And I don’t want them to think that sitting in front of the TV all day on a potty is what we do. Second…. If we are at a friends’ house and they have to go I want them to be able to go. I want them to be comfortable peeing at home at the store, at the neighbors’ house ect.  It’s a personal thing, but those are my reasons.

*If you have an independent child who doesn’t like being told what to do try changing the way you say “Go Potty”.  One of mine didn’t like being told to go to the bathroom and sit and wait if he really didn’t feel like he needed to go. So I got a timer {The PeePee Beeper} Juiced him up and set the timer. I set it for every 10 minutes and when it went off I asked him if his body was ready to pee. I wasn’t telling him to go I wasn’t running him to the bathroom and making him sit. If he said no I respected that {and then set the timer for only 5 minutes}  He felt he had more control over his body and was willing to stop and check to see if his body needed to pee.

*The reluctant potty goer might be afraid of missing things. If you promise that nothing will change keep to that. So the toy that they were playing with needs to still be there untouched until he gets back. If you were playing a game that same game needs to pick right back up where you left off. It won’t take long before they realize that when they are gone for a short time it’s ok.

*I have taught all my boys to sit first. They have to anyway when they poop. And I sit them backwards on the toilet. They are able to balance better, and if they forget to hold their penis down at least it sprays the back of the toilet and not all over the bathroom. Once they can pee that way they are usually really good about standing and not making a mess.

*Make the reward worth it. And it doesn’t always have to be a new toy. In our house you can’t use scissors or wear a tie to church until you are potty trained. Those are privileges for “big boys”. 

*For night time…. Get 3 or 4 plastic sheets then layer the bed with a plastic sheet, and then a fitted one. Keep doing that until you run out of sheets. Then when there is an accident at night you only have to strip one set and send them back to bed. No remaking a bed required.

There are all sorts of ways to potty train and each child will respond differently, but these are things that have consistently worked for us.

And once it's done I take myself out. Good Heavens it's a lot of work to potty train a child!! So once the rewards are passed out for doing the deed I treat myself with something for sticking with it.

What are some things that have worked for you?