Potty Training – not for me

We are smack dab in the middle of potty training my 3 year old son. To many people, 3 years old seems a little to start potty training. But for a little boy who could really care less about going in the potty, it has proven to be quite a task.

Now, I can’t really blame him, well he is only 3, but his older brother, now 5, was the worst at potty training. He was 4 years old before he would even let us near him with underwear or pull ups. With him, I attended every class, seminar, and info session I could find. I spoke with his pediatrician on a regular basis. I tried every book, trick, tip, and bribe we could think of and nothing seemed to work with him. One day, it just finally clicked and on his own terms, he was potty trained in a few days. He still a few slip ups here and there, but after 2 years of frustration with him, he finally got it. We were so excited!

Now that his baby brother was getting older, we thought once he turned 3 and showed interest, we would start the training for him. Our approach was to let him decide when and how he went. After the frustration and terrible experience we went through, we learned from our mistakes and tried to do better. Well, that doesn’t work when you have a very stubborn and strong willed child, well children. They are so different in so many ways, but so alike in others.

We let him chose his own underwear, potty, everything. I am not really into bribes or candy as a reward, but it is always a back up plan. So, we went cold turkey. No diapers, no pull ups, just underwear. We went to the potty every 5-10 min to start. Success! He was actually going in the potty! Well, that was short lived. The next day he screamed and cried anytime we mentioned the word potty. We did the pull ups. But, went back to diapers after a week. Potty training fail.

We gave it some time and then let him decide what he wanted to do. He is in preschool and they wanted him to be potty trained as soon as possible. So we brought out the big guns with him. He is a die hard puppy fan and loves all puppies!!! He is also a huge Disney fanatic! So, we sat him down and read him a potty training book and showed him some videos. He seemed to be getting a better understanding. Then we made him a promise. That if he went to the bathroom in the potty like a big boy, we would take him to Disney Land or Disney World. Well, that seemed to light a trigger under him. He was going like a big boy, weeks now! However, we can not seem to get him to go “number 2” in the potty, but baby steps right???

Well, now our problem is the weekends, he seems to take one step back on the weekends and getting behind again. UGH! Will this child ever be potty trained???? I am sure so, only time will tell.