ASK COUNSELOR MOM
Dear Counselor Mom,
My 3 year old son is not potty trained. I have tried everything! My friends children were potty trained at 2! I was told that my son has to be potty trained to attend preschool. I have run out of ideas. HELP!
Ellie
Ellie,
Potty training can be a mystery because each child is different! It is absolutely NORMAL for a 3 year old boy to not be fully potty trained. Although I typically don’t like to stereotype, boys generally DO take longer to potty train than girls. It is common for a child to not be fully trained until 4 years of age. Try not to compare your potty training experience with other moms because each child’s developmental is different. Some common ideas to encourage potty training are:
- Take child potty every 1-2 hours.
- Put child in REAL underwear and only let him wear pull ups at night.
- Throw some Cheerios in the toilet bowl and teach your child to aim.
- Potty sticker chart.
- Take your child to the bathroom when older, potty trained siblings need to go potty. This might encourage your child to be like big sister/brother.
- If you stay at home, you can try to let your child go without underwear so he has no choice but to use the potty. Although, he will have some accidents on the floor!
The important thing to remember is to not let yourself get frustrated, upset, or mad at your son if he has a potty accident. Parents who PUSH their child that is obviously not developmentally ready to potty train (usually seen when a child is only 2 years of age). will not speed up the potty training process, in fact, it might slow it down! A parent can usually determine when their child is truly ready to potty train. A child who shows no interest and has never showed an interest in potty training might not be ready. Generally, a 3 year old should be ready to potty train. If you are concerned about his developmental abilities than please talk to a pediatrician about your concerns.
If your preschool requires your child to be potty trained ready, talk to the director/teachers about what stage your child is at in the potty training process. Most directors/teachers usually have a process to deal with children who are not fully potty trained.
I am a new stay at home mom i just had a baby on dec 3rd i also have a 2 1/2 year old toddler that is a handful he loves to play outdoors and has a swing set that he loves and he just got a new four wheeler from santa i feel bad that i cant take him out during the day b/c its to cold for the baby and i have trouble leaving just the baby monitor on im always scared hes going to spit up and choke or some thing but i also dont have alot of help b/c my poor hubby gets off work at 8pm so it dark by that time do you have any ideas i try playing with hm n the house but i guess it just dont feel the same i feel like we are both cooped up
Heather- you and I were/are in the same boat. My daughter was born in December when my son was 2 years and 7 months. Too cold to go outside. When I was pregnant, I was too tired to go outside. So I know exactly where you are coming from. I feel like we are both cooped up inside the house. I think if you have some kind of local business that offers a play area that might be good to get out of the house. We have a jumpy place down the street from us that has toddler play areas that I take my son to. When my daughter was young, she would nap in the stroller or car seat while my son played. However, generally I like to nap when my baby was sleeping, but we know how hard that can be. I know what you are going through. It can be hard.