PottyTraining Question??

Question

When is a good age to start potty training a boy?

Answer 1

Totally depends on the child. My eldest was nowhere near ready at 2. At about 2½ we tried to get him interested but to no avail and then at 3, we decided enough was enough. He was brilliant - within a week he was completely dry and within about three weeks he was also doing poos on the toilet. So, my advice to you is to test the water to see how open they are to the suggestion of using a potty or toilet (my son never used a potty) and if you get very little response, just drop it and leave it for a couple of months. The worst thing you can do is push the issue when they are not ready.

Answer 2

as soon as they start walking my sister did it to my nephew

Answer 3

When he's ready - you'll know when he's ready - when he tells you by his actions and words. I tried to train my son at 2 and wasn't ready - he got quite down. He was 3 1/2 when he was finally trained. My daughter was 18 months .. she trained herself.

Here's what Dr. Phil said about potty training readyness .. it helpped me alot at the time:

There is NOT a shortage of answers and advice for these questions. I just checked on Amazon.com for books on potty training; there are 35 books for parents, 71 books for your children and 30 videos on the subject of potty training. Try an online search on the subject; there is not shortage of advice and information available. It can be very confusing to read conflicting advice online, in books, in the media and of course also from your friends and relatives.

What does potty training mean to you? Or what does having a child be potty trained mean to you?

My mental model / definition of a potty trained child; A potty trained child knows that s/he is to eliminate in a potty or the toilet; S/he will do so own her/his own when s/he has the urge to eliminate. The child may still need help with proper hygiene i.e. wiping and washing, however, the child initiates going potty on his/her own.

So based on this definition, here are my thoughts on subject of when you should start to potty train.

There is no set age at which potty training or toilet training should begin. The right time depends on your child's development in the following four areas:

•  physiological development (bladder and bowel control)

•  motor skills

•  his/her cognitive and verbal development and

•  emotional & social awareness.

Physiological Development (Bladder and Bowel Control):

In order for your child to be able to eliminate when s/he wants to (voluntary vs. involuntary), her/his sphincter muscles have to be developed / mature enough to delay excretion for a brief period of time. All my research including the American Academy of pediatrics say that children's elimination muscles reach full maturity somewhere between 12-24 months, and the average age of maturity is 18 months.

So how is a parent to know if a child's elimination muscles are mature?

Your child's behavior and actions will guide you in knowing how your child is developing in this area.

Around his/her first birthday, your child will begin to recognize the sensation of a full r****m or bladder, signaling the need to eliminate. You observe this awareness through their behavior of squatting and grunting when having a BM and tugging at the diaper when urinating. At this age, they may not be able to delay elimination, but they need to make the connection between the feeling of fullness and the act of excretion or urination.

On the average, at about 18 months, your child's sphincter muscles mature and now your child has the ability to delay excretion for a brief period of time. Night time bowel control is usually achieved first, followed by day time bowel and bladder control and finally nighttime bladder control.

Your will notice that your child will no longer have bowel movements at night. Then you will observe that you child can stay dry for a few hours at a time. You child will wake up dry from long naps, followed by waking up dry in the morning.

Physiological readiness signals for potty training are (Bladder & Bowel Control) :

•  Childs awareness of the need to go - demonstrated by squatting, grunting, hiding when child feels need to eliminate.

•  No BM's through the night

•  Dry diaper for long periods of time i.e. from long naps and/or in the morning.

•  Urinate a lot at one time (vs. a little through out the day)

•  Some regularity of bowel movements.

So, if you think your child has full bladder and bowel control, should you start potty training? Not necessarily. Just because a child is physiologically ready to be potty trained does not mean that s/he has the other skills - motor, cognitive & verbal, emotional & social skills required for the whole potty training process.

Motor Skills:

On the average, children will walk around the age of 12 months. Once your child has mastered walking and running, then s/he may be interested in acquiring other "grown up" skill and will start developing other gross and fine motor skills required for potty training. The main motor skill is having enough finger & hand coordination skills to dress and undress and more specifically to pull his/her underpants down and up.

Motor Skills readiness signals for potty training are:

•  Is your child able to undress him/herself?

•  Is your child able to pull his/her underpants down?

•  Is your child able to pull his/her pants down?

Cognitive and Verbal Skills:

The overall potty training process requires a complex combination of physical and cognitive tasks. Your child has to learn and become familiar with his/her body and functions, associate the physical sensation with the proper response, picture what s/he want to do, create a plan to get to the potty, get there, remove the underwear and then begin to use the potty. Then s/he has to remain there long enough to finish, which requires memory and concentration.

As you teach your child all these steps, you child must have the ability to understand your explanations, commands and responses and to be able to put them all together to understand the entire potty training process.

When you look the process at this detailed a level, you can see why your child has to have some of these cognitive and verbal skills developed to be able to successfully learn what is required.

It starts with body awareness and the ability to associate a feeling of fullness with the result i.e. a BM or urination. This association is not made automatically. You need to reinforce this association by telling your child what is happening based on your observations.

At around the age of 2, children become aware of their body parts and it is your role to teach your child the words for the body parts. Use words that are comfortable to you and your family. This is also your opportunity to teach your child all the other words that will be required in the potty training process.

The next steps in the potty training process require your child to have the capacity for symbolic thought, planning or problem solving and memory. Your child has to be taught that when s/he has the urge to go potty, that they should find their way to the potty, remove their clothing and then eliminate in the potty.

The child has to have the ability for more complex thinking and have the ability to extrapolate and problem solve. They have to be able to learn that they need to stop doing whatever they are doing when they feel that fullness. Then they have to figure out where the potty is and find their way there.

Verbal and Cognitive readiness signals for potty training are:

•  Has the vocabulary required for potty training - i.e. understands words such as pee, poo, p***s, v****a potty, toilet, wet, dry, underwear, "big girl" etc. or whatever words work best for your family

•  Your child can follow instructions - from simple instruction such as show me your nose, to more complex instructions such as putting away toys where they belong. You child has the ability for symbolic though, planning/problem solving and memory.

•  Is able to imitate and model behavior

Emotional Growth and Social Awareness:

This is probably the hardest readiness to gauge, especially since children go through phases. The components that will help in determining your child's emotional and social readiness are self mastery, desire for approval, and social awareness.

The desire to master one's own body and environment is a powerful desire common to all toddlers and preschoolers. You will hear toddlers say "I can do it" and "I am a big boy/girl now" are indications of the desire towards independence.

Sometimes, the need to control one's own body and environment are manifested in undesirable ways such as hiding when s/he has the urge to have a BM, or having an accident for the sheer satisfaction of making the decision on where to go potty or withholding stool and becoming constipated. When your child is in this phase of self mastery, back off and try again later when s/he moved into the more positive phase of self mastery.

Parent often underestimate the power of a child's desire for parental approval. As an adult, think about how you feel about your parents. Do you still care about what they think about you? Do you still want them to be proud of you? Most children have this desire, except for normal spurts of rebellion that occur through out childhood. This desire to please parent and get parental praise and approval is a great tool that can assist in the process of potty training.

Social awareness is the ability to observe others and the desire to be like them. At the age of 18 months, children become fascinated by the behavior of other children their own age or older. This is why often the 2nd and 3rd child is potty trained a lot earlier than the first child. By the age of 24-30 months, they start to understand gender differences and focus on imitating the behavior of the same s*x parent.

Emotional growth and social awareness readiness signals for potty training are:

•  Desire to master one's own body and environment - manifested by "I can do it" or "I am a big boy/girl now"

•  Child's desire for parental approval

•  Child's desire to imitate and desire to be like others

Answer 4

I think 2 is the best age to start potty training. If your child shows interest sooner than that then go for it. Good luck

Answer 5

i would say start at 2 cuz when they're 3 they can actually do it, and faster for them to get to skool, just start by showin them how to do iti mean teach them, remember they're mind is like a sponge they suck everythin

Answer 6

About 2, but depends on the individual. Some kids let you know they're ready as they take a keen interest in the potty or toilet and start to take their own nappy off, etc. Juast one thing though, the sooner you start, the longer you'll be doing it! It's not easy so be prepared to stop and start till it all comes together. And it will....

Answer 7

That really depends on the child.  My best advice for you, after potty training my own 3 children and seeing my friends potty train too....is to leave them alone and let them do it on their own.  Of course you have to teach them what it is all about because if not they will never learn.  But you could get him a little potty chair at age 2...or around there.  It might be better because he is a boy to just get him a seat that attaches to the toliet and get him a step stool.  Show you where it goes, when you wipe, how to pull his pants up, flush and wash his hands, turn the lights off.  I wouldn't make a big deal out of it.  Sit him on the toliet when he is getting ready to take a bath, talk about how big boys use the potty and one day he will use the potty.  Just make it a casual thing.  The more you push them, the more you stress about it the harder it is going to be.  He will be potty trained when his little body is ready. All you are there for is to show him where it goes and how to wash his hands.

Have fun!!

I am going to comment on what someone else answered.  You need to make sure that you allow him to be proud of himself.  Do not go jumping up and down when he finally pees on the toliet because he is going to be expecting a full entertainment every time....and although you are going to be excited adventually it will be come an ever day thing and you will not want to jump up and down each time.  Tell him he did a great job you are proud of him and leave it at that.  He needs to be excited for himself.  This is all about him being a big boy and how can he be a big boy if his mommy is making him.  At the age of 2...and from then on really....kids do not want to be forced into something.  IF he thinks he is doing it for you then he might loose interest.

Answer 8

about one and a half if he is ready.  Best time is in the summer when he can go about at home with no bottoms on, brilliant for outdooors.  Just get him into the habit of getting his potty or going to the toilet if he can make it.  Make a really big deal about it when he succeeds, and don't tell him off when he gets it wrong or you will make him scared and he may take to hiding when he needs it.  You can also put him on the potty every 20/30 mins especially after he has had a drink.  People say that girls are easier to potty train than boys, but I had both my sons off of day nappies by two and only one of them off of night nappies by two.  My other son was 4 when he came off night nappies.  They are all different and will all do it at their own pace.  Boys also like to copy their dad and be a big boy, so this may help also.  Get him a little stool if he prefers to do it in the toilet, some kids don't like the potty at all and will go straight to the toilet.  Remember to "tuck" his pee pee in when he sits on the potty as it will stick up when he pees.  GOOD LUCK

Answer 9

It depends on when he shows signs of being ready and interest. You can start showing him as early as 1 and half, but if he's not cooperating, back off for a while until he knows when he needs to be changed and doesn't like the sensation of a wet diaper. Hope this helps.

Answer 10

Every child is different.  My daughter was not potty trained until she was 3 and my son is now 20 months and very interested in using the potty.  The most important thing is to not force them if they are not ready.  So if you give it a try with your son and he is not willing, you might wait a month and try again.  At that time he might be interested.  Once they decide in their mind, it will be a much easier and less stressful process.  Best of luck to you!