What's the best potty training advice you got?

I understand your not wanting to push your children and wanting them to develop at their own pace, however as I sure you know, this can be extremely difficult with potty training. The way I was potty trained and the we I potty trained the kids I nannied for has worked really well, and really turns out to be just one stressful day for you and your child. You place the potty in the bathrooom and get a load of your childs favorite foods. Sit your child on the potty and no matter how much he/she tries to get up or cries, you keep sitting them back down. Feed them their favorite foods (this aids in making them have to go while making it a good experience as well), read to them etcuntil they go on the potty. I like to make up potty songs and really show them how exciting the whole thing is. But the trick is to stay in their with them until they go (even if it takes all day!). Then make a real celebration out of the use of the potty. This makes them want to use the potty. Maybe take one of their favorite toys and leave it in the bathroom so that it becomes a toy that they can only use while on the potty. Things like this really help them want to go back to the potty the next time.

3 is pretty young, for boys anyway. Have patience and give it time.

I don’t recommend sitting them down “even if it takes all day”. This is about like, stand them up and make them walk, even if it takes all day. It will come in time.

My son just potty trained last month at 3yrs 3months. We didn’t do anything special besides using the bathroom in front of him and switching to Target brand pullups which aren’t very absorbent. We’d ask him periodically if he wanted to use the potty and all we got was no, no, no… until one day he said yes. And that was that. The pullups came off and the underwear went on.

I think forcing them to stay there all day sounds like an exercise in frustration. Your son will do it when he is ready.

My son was potty trained by 2 1/2, by using a potty bucket.
Fill a fairly large bowl with some new hotwheels die cast cars and everytime he uses his potty, let him pick out a car. Make sure you keep the bowl in the bathroom next to his potty. We were having trouble before using this idea, but when we started it, he was trained the same day.

A couple things I might add:
Load them up on liquids (if you have all day) and give them salty snacks to encourage more liquid consumption. This will increase the success rate of the child so that you are not just forcing him to stay in the bathroom for no reason. I’d recommend half to quarter strength juice. When you see the child doing the potty dance, just put him on the pot and give him a big reward for going pee. We always started out with our kids not wearing pants, so as to prevent accidents initially due to the time it takes to pull them down when the child really has to pee. I’d also recommend getting some cool underwear (spiderman, spongebob) and emphasize that when he is a big boy and can go in the big boy potty then he gets to wear the big boy underwear. Keeping a child in the bathroom is surprisingly easy if you are willing to put in a lot of energy keeping him or her entertained for the entire time he or she is in there. Once they get the idea that it’s more fun elsewhere, they’re out of there.

I recently heard about someone who floated Cheerios in the toilet for targeting!! For their son, of course.

Our cousins potty trained their twins (a boy and a girl) by bringing a little potty with them EVERYWHERE they went. At the drop of a hat they could have that thing out and one of the kids could be sitting on it the second they said they had to pee, no matter where they were. Then it would have to be emptied/rinsed out – not usually a problem with #1, slightly more disgusting with #2. It had a lid that closed tightly in case it had to be transported to a rinse-out place. It got them potty trained fast.

Whoa! That’s dedication!

You are right, they have their own pace. Patience really is the key for the parents. That’s why you need to dedicate time when potty training and only potty train when your son shows the signs that he is ready. There will be accidents along the way but you must not show any signs of frustration because this will discourage him. I found this article useful when potty training my 3 yr old son.http://royalnapmat.com/pages/pottytraining.htm hope it helps.