Hi again I'm looking for some helpfull hints. Jesse is 3 years old and I'm having a hard time potty training him. I started with pull ups told him they were big boy diapers. He liked that. Then I used Elmo his stuffed toy and put him on the potty to show Jesse how easy and fun it is. Jesse wanted to try it and he did it. We laughed and cheered and clapped are hands, It was great I would ask him if he had to go and we would go to the potty he would jump on and go. Then he just seemed to lose intrest he didn't want to go on the potty anymore. He's not afraid of it and I don't want to push him because I know that could just turn him away from it. It's been 2 weeks now since he was on it. Everyone I talk to are saying at 3 years old he should be potty trained. Mind you everyone that I have talked to are not single working parents. I work 12 hour night shift and that makes it a little harder but it seemed to be going so good. what am I doing wrong ?

Finally I think I can add some helpful input.

There is no "right age" to potty train. Here's what I did with both my girls and it worked great.

Continually ask him, like every 10-15 minutes if he needs to go. Be excited and happy in your tone, but don't push it. When he does do it, be extremely excited, and give him a high-five and tell him how proud you are.

When he goes in his diaper, tell him its ok and "we'll try the potty next time, right?". Just let him know its a big deal to you, but it should be encouragement only. It needs to be a constant topic of conversation. When he gets a few days in a row in, keep being excited. After a couple weeks, he'll have it down.

First daughter took to it right away. No backslides at all. Second daughter took two weeks, then had a couple slips, but has it down now.

Don't worry about rushing anything.

I bought a piggy bank for my daughter and left it in the bathroom when I was potty training. I started when she was about 2.5 years old. Everytime she went she would get to drop in a coin. She seemed to like it and every weekend we would pick up a little something at the dollar store with what she collected. Just a thought

I had the worlds hardest time potty training my son and found that it was because day care wasn't helping me out by encouraging. I had to quit w/the pull-ups because they are just a diaper and he didn't feel wet. I started sending him in cloth underwear and sent enough clean ones w/him w/clean clothes for accidents. I had to wash laundry every single night for several weeks, but he finally got the message that he was suppose to use the potty not his pants. It is just my experience and opinion that pull-ups don't work. Do encourage him constantly.

Good luck to you!!!

One more thing I'd like to add, I agree with Ty about not using the pull ups. I only used them at night just in case. It seemed she was more conscious when wearing "big girl pants" and did not like the feeling of being wet in them. I too had many trips to the laundromat because at the time I did not have the luxury of a washer/dryer in my place. I really hated the fact that daycare would send poopy pants home in a baggie. That used to make me mad because who wants to open that after it's been sitting on a hook in a cubby all day. Just get rid of 'em if they are that bad!!

There are these great training pants now that have plastic on the outside and fabric on the inside. I bought them at Wal-mart. They saved my furniture, but got the point across to my daughter that she was no longer in pull ups - and she needed to get with the program.

Pull-ups are nothing but diapers without sticky tabs. As long as I let my son use them, he kept going in his pants. He didn't get trained fully until he was 3 1/2 so don't worry. My nephew was nearly 5. There is no "right" time. The only thing that is important is that a lot of pre-schools require the kids to be potty trained. Talk to your day care and see what THEY are doing on their end. If you are encouranging and they are lazy, it will never work. I put my son in his first school and they were SO lazy about the potty, he started having accidents every day just because he could. I switched him ASAP and the problems are resolved. Also, try getting him big boy undies, with pictures from his fav shows, like Bob the Builder. He will be excited to wear them if they have cartoons. My son is a spiderman freak, and I bought him spiderman undies he almost died. He wouldn't even wear the other kinds, just those ones. And last but not least, take the diapers away and deal with the consiquences for a few weeks. In the evenings and on the weekends, DO NOT PUT HIM IN DIAPERS. If he pees all over the place, clean it up. If he poops. Make him watch you put the poop in the potty, so he knows where it goes. If you make him wear the undies and feel how yucky it is he will catch on quick and you won't have to clean up TOO many messes. Just be prepared, part of potty training is cleaning pee off of everything you own lol. Good luck

I have the mother of all potty training stories. My oldest daughter was three and a half the first time she went pee on the potty, and four the first time she poohed! I was going crazy and so was she! To make her pee, I took advantage of her overactive imagination and one morning we were doing our usual role playing. I pretended to be one of her favourite aunties, and my daughter pretended to be one of her older cousins. We pretended to be going out for the day and I casually told her (in my role) to go take a quick pee before we go...and in her role, she just sat down and peed like there was nothing to it! She never looked back. For pooh, I had to be rotten! I let the pull ups run out and told her that was it, I was declaring WAR! After three whole days of holding it in, she freaked out and sounded like she was giving birth on the potty but when she finished and realized she didn't die after all, she laughed hysterically, as did I, and that was the end of THAT! How I went on to successfully mother two more kids after that is beyond me! She is still my most challenging child and I wouldn't change her for the world!

LOL

Too cute 35 going on 90.

Thank you all for your tips and your stories I enjoyed reading them all. I tried again yesterday,I even went as far as tring to use somthing from all of you. DMM thank you,I have been asking Jesse every 10-15 mins if he has to go pee and it's working and he's also getting sick of me asking him if he has to go all the time. hmp23 thanks I told Jesse if he went pee in his potty all day I would take him to the store and get a toy,we went to the dollar store today Ty's mom your right about the daycare I did call today and she is going to work with me on this I will drop off the potty with Jesse and she will help out.Blindsky75 thanks for your reply I bought some big boy training pants today and will try them out. Seraphin thank you to for your help your right about the pull ups they are nothing more than diapers. So he is in his normal undies all day and his big boy training pants at bedtime.And I am ready to clean and pick up pooh to make this work.35goingon90 that was a great story if you have anymore you want to share I would love to here them.I could not stop laughing.To start it all off yesterday I tried somthing close to what you did. Jesse is a hockey freak just like his dad so I asked him if he wanted to play hockey,he ran to his room and came back with his hockey stick I said ok but first lets go for a pee on the potty.He RAN to the potty he didn't even think about it and went. So as of now the score is potty -7 living room- 3 Were winning...Once again thank you all and I will let you know how it goes.

We have a house on acerage, I let Jack pee outside when he had to go.. Then once the snow came and it got to be below zero, he started using the toilet.

*chuckle* teaching him to be the outdoorsy type huh? The other day I was running around all over town and Blair tells me all of a sudden that he has to pee... NOW. We were no where near a fast food joint or gas station (besides gas station bathrooms are scary) so I just pulled over and took him out and told him to pee right there. He started giggling and ended up giggling so hard he couldn't pee! I started laughing too and we ended up just getting in the car and driving the rest of the way home and he went pee there. Guess my kid isn't the outdoorsy type.

LOL
this is a good thread

Back with an up date. Things are going very good I can't get over how good it's going. He is in his normal underware in the day and big boy pants at night.I bought some Reese's Pieces little chocolate candy and I told him every time he went pee on the potty he would get a handfull of Reese's and that worked great,Then Jesse tried to out smart me. Next thing I know he's going for a pee 3 times in 20 min. He would just let out a little at a time to get some candy. Smart just like his dad lol. At bedtime I put his big boy pants on even with them on he called me twice in 1 hour to get up and go pee on the potty.But he still did not pooh yet. After he was in bed his mom called (first time in 3 weeks) and asked if she could take him saturday and drop him off on sunday so I said sure and told her about the potty and that she would have to take it with her and try to get Jesse to go on it. She dropped Jesse off a couple of hours ago and told me he went for a pooh but not in the potty he went in his under ware. I know that I shouldn't have but I did laugh a little after she left