My three year old needs to be potty trained and is refusing to do so. He understands that he needs to go in the potty but actively chooses not to go. It is driving me crazy because I can not figure out that incentive that will click for him. My daughter was well potty trained by this time and incentives worked well.
It isn't that I am no trying to get him to go on the potty. I ask him all the time if he wants to go and I even take him to the potty, pull the diaper off and make him sit. He was actually doing good in October going both in the morning when he got up and right before bed. Than that stopped and he refused to go and actually laughed at me when I asked.
I have been given all sorts of advice as to how to get him potty trained and honestly none will work for him because he just doesn't care about it. He is more interested in everything but that. I went out with him and we picked a whole bunch of prizes from the dollar store for him to get when he goes. This worked wonderfully for my daughter but for him, he cares less about them.
We recently saw a commercial for pullups where they celebrated the kids first flush. Yes we made big deals out of it and he still doesn't care. My daughter keeps telling him if he wants to go to school, he needs to learn and all he saws is that is fine with being home with mom and doesn't want to go to school.
How do you teach a strong willed child who wants to do everything on his own terms something that he doesn't want to. I know he is ready because we have dry diapers at night and often he goes most of the day dry as well. My favorite so far of the potty training mishaps bwas when he sat on the potty one morning for about ten minutes and just refused. I figured that maybe he didn't have to go so I stuck him in undies and let him be. Well not thirty seconds later standing on the carpeted stairs did I hear I am wet. Yeah that was a nice one to clean up.
My mother though has given me the best advice. She told me my brother who was very stubborn had refused as well to for the longest time. Than one day after swimming in the pool, he went into the bathroom by himself and decided it was time. After that no issues, so my mom said just let him be on his own time. Introduce it, talk about it, but let him think it is his idea. I am really hoping that the kid who waits it out will decide to let the wait be over soon.
So for now I have a child who is still in diapers at a just a new three. I love him so much but he is so stubborn which honestly is so much like me. I am glad to have a child who doesn't follow and does his own things but when you have changed what feels like a million diapers for the last six years you want it to be time. Though on a plus side, I can change a diaper in about twenty seconds. So here is to hoping that for my kiddo that it clicks soon and he decides on his terms to start going like a big kid!
Rebecca Benson is a League City stay at home mom who has lived here since 2003 when her husband took a job on the International Space Station program. She followed soon after working on the same program for nearly six years when she started staying home with the kids. Rebecca loves to craft, scrapbook, sew, and embrace motherhood. Rebecca has a blog called Mommiedom ((http://queenmommiedom.blogspot.com/) where she talks about all the things in her life not just those “confessions”.
