What is the average/appropriate age for potty training boys?

Question

My son is 2 1/2 and has not begun to potty train yet. His father ( who doesn't live with us ) constantly harrasses me about teaching him to use the toilet. I have two girls and they were trained before they were 2 but I've always heard girls started earlier. Should I start now or wait for more of the "signs"?

Answer 1

Boys do seem to start later. My son didnt start to until he was 3 years old.  Now he is 3/12 and finally doing great. But still has accidents at night, so I am still using a diaper for bed time. You cant force these things. It will make it a bad thing for him and make it harder. Wait for more signs.  He will let you know when he is ready, just introduce it to him and he might take right to it. But if he doesnt dont get mad at him, he will get it.  I have a friend who's son didnt potty train until he was 4 years old.  Oh they have lots of video's out now that are fun for him to watch about goin potty, may help. Good luck

Answer 2

I think it is important to encourage and model but not to force.  My son was actually easier than my daughter but all children are different and can not be compared.  I think it is easier (if you have the time) to put training pants on them rather than the pull-ups.  It seems the pull-ups are too much like diapers and children do not feel the discomfort or immediate displeasure as they do with training pants so it is not important for them to quit doing what they are use to.  Training pants are a pain and they are a mess but all good things begin with difficulty and it depends on how important it is to you.  Modeling and patience are the best tools for potty training.

Answer 3

A friend of mine started working with her son at about 18 months and now (20 months), he's "day trained" (still needs a pullup at night but he uses the potty for both functions during the day).  

I agree with the strategy of bare bottom (or what I did, big boy underwear).  When my son was not yet 2 1/2 I had a vacation and it was summer...I just put him in underwear and let him go...within a month, he was trained.  

...and I've heard the same thing about boys being more difficult, especially if you're a single mom (I was and still am).  When my son started preschool at 2 1/2, he was the ONLY boy in his class that was potty trained (about half the girls were trained).

I hear a lot about readiness signs, but I think you can encourage those signs in various ways.  Force never works, but my friend made a game of sitting on the potty and her son wanted to play it...she does have the advantage of being a stay-at-home mom...if you aren't talk to your day care provider.  From what I saw, the day care providers had a fairly good success rate training the kids in my son's class and, in some cases, training at a child-friendly facility is easier (smaller toilets!...my son loved them and he learned to pee standing up within a few days...he was trained, but he still sat until he discovered the kid sized toilets!).

Answer 4

I would start now.

Answer 5

I started at 2 my boys were stubborn but they had it down by

3

Answer 6

I have three boys. The older two were 3 1/2 and the youngest was 3. I have a cousin who also has three boys and I asked her for advice when my oldest was about 2 and she said wait. I can count on one hand the number of accidents my older two had on one hand. My youngest had a a bunch. Wait is my best advice. Three and a half is average for boys. I told my oldest two when we got back from vacation their diapers were going away. We got home and the diapers were gone.

Answer 7

Most children are developmentally ready, physically and emotionally, right around age 2.   Each child is different of course, but your son is probably ready.  When I potty trained my boys, I just took their diaper off and let them around with their bottoms bare!  It only took one or two accidents for them to realize what was happening and they used the toilet without any problem after that!  Give it a try.  He might surprise you!

Answer 8

Girl start now, he will get it but, it will take somethime!

Answer 9

i have a son who is 4 now and it was harder to potty train my son than my daughter but it is never to early to start training my son  was fully trained by three but i started when he was 1  1/2 i didn't wait for the signs. i am a man so it was easy for me to give examples at a early age.