Potty Training Isn't Working..

Ok, you really need to stop pushing, the more you push the more he'll not want to do it. If you continue to push you may scare him away from the potty completely & it'll take even longer. Obviously he just isn't ready to begin & he's trying to tell you that so you need to leave it for a little bit & let him take an interest in it, in his own time. If you insist on forcing him to go with it, perhaps leave the potty alone & put him on the toilet. My daughter has no interest in her potty & if she's nappy-less she'll just hold on until she's got a nappy on again. However, she will happily sit on the big toilet & has gone a couple of times. Also, from what i have heard, little boys are harder than little girls so if 2 is too young for my daughter then there's a good chance it's even more too young for your son, you're just not listening to him :) Don't stress about it & again, don't force it or you'll keep him from wanting to go at all on his own. He'll take an interest in it when he's ready & you should just sit back & wait for that time to come!

Boys are harder to train and to be honest I think 2 is too early. I do not think your son really understands what is going on. Also some children do not have as much control of their spincher muscles... For bowel movements, as early as others. My son was not mentally ready until he was about 3 and a half because one day when my mother was watching him she decided he should be trained so she had a marathon type training day. Well he was so scared after that day he would not even look at one. But when I sensed he was ready I offered him a reward and he only had one accident after that ( because I was on the phone and when he said he had to go). And to me if a child has more than one or two accidents then they are not really trained, and any parents who claim they are trained are only fooling themselves. A child HAS to understand what they are doing. Not to be crude, but he should be noticing that his dad uses "the big potty" and want to copy him, that is a BIG motivator. Social cues are very important.

I did the same thing to my son when he was about the same age as your son and I learned the hard way that he will go when he is ready to. DO NOT force him to go. he will go when he is ready and not a minute sooner. If you keep forcing him he will push against your attempts. My son is almost 6 and isn't fully potty trained now. My friends daughter decided one day at about 3 yrs old that she wanted to use the potty and guess what she had maybe one accident. So learn from my mistake and do not force him Hugs and best of luck

I am finding the same thing happening with my two year old. He gets the idea what the potty is for but would rather wee on the floor then sit on it. He is at the stage when he will come and tell me if he needs a nappy change as he knows when he has pooed. But i am not too concerned as he is my fifth child and all my other children did it in their own time. I just leave the potty were he can see it so he knows its there if he feels like using it. I did that with all my children and the day did come when they decided that they wanted to use the potty. But there was a few accidents but that is something to be expected. I believe it is best to allow the child to do it in their own time as all children are different and develop at a different rate.

Hey, you're doing a great job! Try not to get frustrated - although I know this can be a long and drawn out process - but try to remain patient. I think the important thing to remember is to not "force" him to sit on the potty, but rather word it in an encouraging way so he thinks it's his choice. I found that when potty training my kids - they wanted to be independent and found it much more enticing to go when they got to decide when they wanted to go. I'd say things like "Mommy needs to go potty like a big girl, do you need to go too?" and then my daughter would be like "hmm yes!" and sit on there while I sat on there. Sometimes I'd let her sit on the portable one in the living room while watching tv just to get a feel of when she needed to go and then once she went I'd give her lots of praise and hugs and kisses. Just try to monitor his drinking and encourage him to just "sit" on it every few hours or according to his bladder needs...you know him best. Try to have your husband (if applicable) take him with him so they can go together. Try putting cheerios in the potty and then having him try to hit the cheerios when peeing..kind of a fun game and teaching him how to aim at the same time. I've trained two girls, and my son is now 7 months old so it may be different with him. If he resists all together try taking a break and then encouraging him to go again in a week or so. He has plenty of time! Hope this helps and stay encouraged...he will get it!

Rewards work best for potty training IMO. There are pullups around now that allow them to feel wet when they are wet. You could use those or training underwear and plastic pants so he can tell when he's wet. Then tell him you would like him to use the potty and that he will get a sticker (or some other small reward) when he uses it. You could give him a star on a chart and when he racks up a certain number of stars he earns a bigger reward, like an ice cream or something. The potty training should be a positive experience and not a negative one. When he goes in his pants, if you can get him to clean up or help clean up that will reinforce that going in the pants is more trouble and a negative thing. Don't fuss a lot or give him a lot of attention when he messes up,(little talking while cleaning up). The attention, even if negative, may reinforce the behavior. Instead, praise like crazy when he uses the potty and you give him a reward. You may have to just tell him and remind him about the reward potential for a few days in a row before he decides to use the potty. But try to get him to make the right choice himself and praise, praise, praise!

There is a book out there by A child's author Mercer Meyer that in my opinion is great for helping get kids going on potty training. It is called "The New Potty (Look-Look)" May be if you can get your son to look at the book while he is on the potty it might help after you have read it to him. Just let him look at the book while he is on the potty. Amazon has it for $3.25 You can check out the style of books at http://www.littlecritter.com/index.html I just love these books so do my grown grandkids.

After readig your discussion it sounds as if your so is just not ready. I didn't potty train my children until they were 3 years old. I had my first son and second son in diapers at the same time. My older son trained and then their baby sister was born. So I still had 2 in diapers for a short time, they are now 9 and 7. My youngest daughter turned 2 in May. We are not even attempting to put her on the toilet yet. All of my children we easily trained. I don't think it is very fair that you are forcing him to train before he is ready. It is not his fault you don't want 2 kids in diapers.

From what I'm reading he has no concept of what he's expected to do and is not ready. Start taking him into the bathroom when you go or with your husband. He's got to relate the idea of peeing with sitting on the potty.

It sounds like your son isn't ready for potty training yet. I wouldn't push him either b/c that will just make the situation worse. It could make him feel like he's a disappointment to you, that there's something wrong with him, it could make him feel ashamed of himself. There is nothing wrong with taking a break from potty training for a couple of weeks or so. Then when you take it up again with him, he might be more ready to take this next big step in growing up. It will make him feel like you understand him and he won't feel like a disappointment to you. There's no rush. He's only two. Every kid is different and if he's not ready there's really nothing you can do but wait for him to be.

Maybe your son just isn't ready for it yet? I don't think it would do any harm to give up for a while and return to it later. The alternative is that he gets stressed by the whole thing and that could be worse in the long term. If it makes you feel any better, I'm still dealing with wet patches too! My little son wants to be like Dad and wee standing up, so he holds himself and wees down his leg. On the one hand I have to feel impressed that he's got the idea, on the other I'm fed up of having to empty his shoes LoL

I've raised four kids and I had a hard time with my son, too, so I did give up. The reason was because going to the potty was becoming something that he saw as something negative, something that he did not want to do. Instead I left the potty chair in the living room and let him play with it whenever he was in the mood to and, eventually, he started showing an interest in being a "big boy" and using the potty. My philosophy is this: As long as the kid isn't still in diapers when he starts school, it doesn't matter exactly when he started using the potty. I had the same attitude about the bottle and none of my kids wore diapers or took a bottle to school.

I also have a two year old...I have a girl. She only goes potty when she wants to. I give her a sticker every time she goes. So now she associates the potty with the sticker. It works pretty good. But her pediatrician told me that most kids aren't completely potty trained until they're almost 4 yrs old. So don't be in a big rush, your doing great. I know that it can be frustrating, but thet're only little once! Good Luck!

My sister had the same problem with her daughter. She is three now and she still wears diapers sometimes. She will go to the potty most of the time then others she won't.She was terrified of the toilet for a long time . She just would not sit on it. So don't worry all kids go through it differently

it is so. but children do not understnad all these. so you have to baer with him. also just give him little reawards if he do not have accidents. it may work.

My son was really easy to potty trained. I gave him stickers on his sticker chart, each time he used the potty, flushed, and washed his hands. I had a circle for each place that a sticker went, and then when he got to the tenth sticker in each place, I had the circle done boldly, so he understood where the stickers had to reach before he got his special prize, since he didn't grasp the concept of numbers yet. He was consistently peeing in the potty all the time about a 5 or 6 weeks before he was able to consistently poo in it, though. One thing that he really liked, was using the big potty, instead of his potty chair. He will use the potty chair if he really needs to go, and can't make it to the bathroom, but he prefers to use the big potty, with one of those little seats on it. It makes him feel more grown up!

I've been told that boys don't potty train as early or as easily as girls. I wouldn't push it. If he associates the potty with unpleasantness it will just prolong the whole process. I'd pay attention to when he is urinating and set up a schedule to go to the potty, just to try, on that schedule. My daughter has a son and he learned to urinate standing up and trying to hit a Cheerio that she would put in the bottom of his pot. Of course, there were misses, but it was fun for him and he learned to control his urination. Just make sure the pot is where it is easy to clean up around it! Maybe his daddy needs to do some of that training by going at the same time in the same way. [Well, he probably won't need a Cheerio!]

My elder son now 5 years,when I started to train him potty,he himself use the potty like he was waiting for that one.And there was no problem with the potty use,whenever he want the potty he use it with my help.But my youngest now 1and half year old I am struggling with him to train the potty when he was 1 year.Now also he cried when I try to train him and all the time he use floors for that function.Sometimes in bathroom he use fo r the function.I fed with him for that training like you.Now I trained in the same way that grown up people doing t avoid floor cleaning.

I have two kids and my first was a pain to potty train, when u sit him on the potty try giving him a toy to play with, sometimes it will take their mind off of holding it and they will go and when he does potty make a big deal about it and give him some candy or something to reward him, skittles were my sons favorite, after one week my son was potty trained. and good luck!! :)

My son had a problem pooping on the potty. We had quite a few messes before he would finally do it. Don't give up...it will happen when he is ready. Don't push too hard, just let it happen on his time. Good luck!