Encouragement For Parents Potty Training Boys
Dear Mom of a preschool age boy,
You’ve done everything humanly possible to potty train your sweet little angel. You’ve read every book, pinned every how to article, you’ve bribed, you’ve begged and you’ve probably cried a little on the inside. And STILL that little boy refuses to pee AND OR poop in the potty. This has been me for MONTHS!
We did the M & M’s thing.
We did the chart thing.
We did the Let’s Go Directly To Walmart and Pick Out a $30 prize thing.
We did the cheering.
We did the positive reinforcing.
I had training potties every 10 feet in my house.
I had interactive board books.
I had Elmo DVD’s.
I even prayed a time or two…on my knees.
And my son still wouldn’t consistently use the potty. It’s frustrating isn’t it? It’s frustrating when every other parent you know has got their little one trained. And let me tell you, if your friend has a little girl, don’t even start comparing your boy to her.
Up until about 1 month ago, my 3 year old son went poop in the potty 1 time in a 6 month period. He would wait, EVERY. SINGLE. NIGHT until bedtime. He would wait for me to leave the room and then go in his PULL-UP, open the door and let me know it was time to be changed. Then he figured out that he could go in his PULL-UP and then try and sneak the contents into the training potty which inevitably led to a terrible mess and me at my breaking point.
So I did the logical thing and took the training diaper away. He decided he would go outside in the backyard to play and go in his underwear! It was like I couldn’t win!
So I stopped trying to win. I just decided that when he was ready, he would get the job done. I don’t have any scientific data to back up what I’m saying. It’s not a magic formula. I’m just trying to encourage parents out there at their wits end that you are a good parent and it’s not you, it’s them. They are little humans, with little wills of their own. We can’t force potty training to happen. It’s just something that they master with time, patience and about 475 chocolate candies.
My job is to do my part by encouraging him to try and taking him to the potty consistently. To persevere and not get frustrated or impatient.
To my joyful delight, my son has been going to the bathroom in a regular toilet for almost 1 whole month now without any accidents.
The longer I’m a parent, the more times I’ve had to learn to stop comparing my kids progress to everyone else’s. Your kid will get it and when they do you will a deep satisfaction just as I did and move on to worrying about how to get them to eat a green vegetable or whatever other new thing arises.
Hey you- YOU got this. Just keep going, relax and don’t give up. Your day of victory is ahead.
Sincerely,
Kim
Kim Anderson is the organized chaos loving author behind the Thrifty Little Mom Blog. She helps other people who thrive in organized chaos to stress less, remember more and feel in control of their time, money, and home. Kim is the author of: Live, Save, Spend, Repeat: The Life You Want with the Money You Have. She’s been featured on Time.com, Money.com, Good Housekeeping, Women’s Day, and more!