Potty Training for Boys
What to do if your toddler is not taking to your lessons
Do you have a reluctant three-year old who's having trouble learning how to 'go potty'? Here are some tips and suggestions on a method that just might work.
Little boys are notoriously harder to potty train than little girls. It is not fable or myth, just a fact of life that many of those little boys will be more reluctant to give up their diapers and pull-ups and start using the "big boy potty".
Through many months of talking to the parents of at least a dozen little boys and trying to gain some sort of clarity in what the best way to train a reluctant little boy is, many menthods were discussed. Many suggested that parents should let the young boy walk around naked until he learned from experience although this seemed like it may be a very messy method. The mistakes would embarrass him and leave much more household cleaning.
Several parents said they simply put their boys in underwear, dealt with the accidents and so the boys proceeded to train themselves. Again, it seems like a method that could lead to more work for the person in the house who had to do all that laundry.
However, all is not lost. There was one method suggested by a pediatric nurse. It worked like magic and eliminated the need for pull-ups for both day and night.
Take your young boy to a store and have him pick out a small truck or other toy that he absolutely loves. When you get it home let him play with it for about an hour. At that point you need to remove the toy and tell him that he will be able to play with it again when he uses the potty for "number two” rather than his pull-ups.
When the deed has been done, give the child the toy, and let him know that he can play with it for an hour. Keep to that schedule and remove the toy after the hour is up. The next time he uses the potty properly, let him play with the truck again for an hour. Also, once he uses the potty that day let him put on a pair of his underwear. Make sure you have bought a pair that has one of his favorite characters on it - this will boost his confidence and let him know that you are proud of him for what he did.
This can go on for any length of time, but typically it takes only a week or so before he will know where to do his business and will be wearing underwear and making your life that much easier and less messy.
