Potty training help!!

MrsMGR

So my son loves to sit on the potty, bare butt and all....and he thinks THAT is going potty. He doesn't understand that he is supposed to pee in there. I think he actually even holds it in while he is sitting on the potty. He'll sit there for 20+ minutes all proud of himself......how do I teach him that that is NOT going potty?? I don't want to discourage him from sitting on it and being proud of himself.....

KKMMex

I don't have little boys but these are things that worked for us. 

Could he watch your husband and you use the potty?  Maybe you could also try inviting an older child over so he could watch them go to the bathroom as well.

Is he in underwear all day?  Is he having very many accidents?  I honestly think that having accidents in the beginning and having tee tee run down their legs and soak their clothes can actually help move things along.  With this nice weather you could keep him outside so the accidents don't mess up your carpet or floors.

If he's still not getting it, sometimes it's helpful to stop training for a couple of weeks then resume it.

charlotteL

This is going to sound silly but it's what I did with Joshua because like Joe he would sit and not do anything.  When I decided we were going to get serious about PT I woke J up very early.  It may have been about 5:30ish.  I brought him to the potty and set him on the potty.  He was too tired to hold it in and your natural inclination when you first get up is to go to the potty.  After that he figured out what teeteeing on the potty really was.  I think I gave him a reward after he actually went.  1 M&M maybe.  Then every time he went on the potty after that the reward was repeated.

BritanyV

My son started wanting to sit on the potty this week.   I think he just enjoys being naked and like your son, thinks just sitting on the potty is going potty.  

 Since we have caught several pees he kind of gets the idea but he's still really young, so I'm not putting any faith that he will get pting right now.   At first when he peed, he really didn't realize he was doing it and now he knows when he is doing in on the potty (not otherwise, like in his diaper) and he will stand up to show us because we give him TONS of praise and dance around and then we have a routine of going wash the potty and wash his hands and let him flush the toilet.   He thinks it's lots of fun.  

 

lilycat

My wise friend (who has a girl a year older than our first son) told me this:

Introduce the potty, and then just wait. Keep offering opportunities to sit there and try, but don't worry about success. That comes when your kid is ready and it will be easier than you think if you just wait.

She was right. We introduced it, encouraged it, worked a little, but mostly, we just waited until it was his idea.

I think if you keep offering the toilet, he'll eventually go tinkle there. That might be an a-ha moment for him. 

alisa1228

KKMMex:

I don't have little boys but these are things that worked for us. 

Could he watch your husband and you use the potty?  Maybe you could also try inviting an older child over so he could watch them go to the bathroom as well.

Is he in underwear all day?  Is he having very many accidents?  I honestly think that having accidents in the beginning and having tee tee run down their legs and soak their clothes can actually help move things along.  With this nice weather you could keep him outside so the accidents don't mess up your carpet or floors.

If he's still not getting it, sometimes it's helpful to stop training for a couple of weeks then resume it.

ITA with the bolded... that's what worked for us... we went cold turkey to panties but i believe the accidents really made her "get" it. 

nvp05

I don't have any advice since Rena is the same way! She loves to hang out on the potty, wipe with toilet paper, and then flush the toilet. She never actually goes in it! For now I just keep letting her sit on it and she watches me go too. I think we're going to try the cold turkey panty method over the holidays since I'll be off for 2 weeks.

IMFun

I was at my wits end with Joe...  he had NO desire to go potty on the potty.  I took off his diaper and his underwear.  He had maybe 2 accidents and afterwards we had a talk about that's when he has to go in the potty. 

It worked.  He was seriously potty trained in a week.  

good luck!