I'm Shanna and my son won't use the potty :bawl: Jacob is 3.5 years old, used to use it just fine, although he wasn't all the time trained. Now, he would rather pee in his underwear/the floor/wear a pullup or diaper than use the potty :tearhair: His twin sisters are 2.5 and are PT'ing GREAT! He applauds them and tells them what a great job they did and all that - but he won't do it! It's becoming an issue at daycare and most certainly at home. I'm afraid Avery and Addy are going to be PT'd before Jacob (not that there is anything wrong with it, I don't guess). When I sit him on the toilet to try to make him use it (especially when I *KNOW* he has to poop) he says he doesn't want to, its too hard :mope: I feel bad for him, I just don't know how to get through to him, I guess. This has become such an issue that I made an appointment for him with a child psychologist.

Anyone have any advice?

Have you tried a rewards chart? Every time he goes in the potty he gets a sticker then when he gets X amount of stickers he gets to go somewhere trade in his stickers for something bigger.

:nod: We've tried the rewards charts, we've colored the toilet water, we've promised him the moon if he'd just poop in the potty! He just doesn't want to - and thats what he says - and I can't make him poop. I made him sit on the toilet last night for 15 minutes and he didn't do anything but cry. :mope: I'm really starting to feel like I'm going to screw him up for life :dunno:

I'll join you! Drew turned three in February and it is a major accomplishment in our house if we can even get him to SIT on the potty. He has no interest whatsoever. I know that I shouldn't push... and I try not to, but he is so stubborn about things in general that I am afraid that it is only going to get harder as he gets older. We did get him to go once when we were bribing him with candy, that worked for one day and then he decided that he didn't care about the candy anymore. We have a rewards chart on the wall that if he gets 10 stickers he can go to the toy store and get a car. Doesn't work at all. My next step is to buy a bunch of dollar store toys and put them in a bowl to hope that instant gratification will work!

We did get him to sit on the potty another day and he didn't do anything. Then he wanted to wear big boy undies. Five minutes later he peed on the floor. Now he won't put undies on anymore. Why? Because according to Drew, "I can't wear big boy undies because big boy undies pee on the floor!" Yep, he had nothing to do with it... damn undies!

Kyle is showing no interest in the potty either :sad:. I need to have him trained for September so he can go to Preschool. They have a "NO PULLUP" rule :tearhair:

Joe wasn't fully PTed until after his 4th birthday. I think it just takes longer for some kids.

Colin just decided last Monday that he was ready and that's basically been it. :dunno: Believe me, I am not complaining. I'm also not 100% convinced he won't regress. But we'd been talking about PTing for months (he turned 3 about 6 weeks ago) and he was showing zero interest other than occasionally talking about it all and saying he'd start to do it. But he wouldn't start. He would yell and scream if you put him on the toilet or in underwear. And then one day last week a switch flipped and we haven't looked back. Even at night. :owow:

My point is this could happen to you too! Colin is one stubborn kid, much different than Aidan...who is stubborn is his own right but who can be bought. :lol: Not Colin though. Bribery doesn't work with him.

One thing that we were starting to try and that was at least getting Colin talking: The Diaper Fairy. I made it up after reading here in Stef's journal about the pacifier fairy or something akin to that. I told Colin that there was a Diaper Fairy who was watching him and deciding if he was ready to not wear diapers any more. I told him that she wouldn't take them immediately, but she was keeping tabs on him and when she could tell he was a big enough boy, it would be time...he would wake up and they would be gone. He'd have underwear and a prize under his pillow. He was getting into the story. We never had to have her come (we had previously told him that the Diaper Fairy never came for Aidan either, that he decided he was ready on his own :crazy: ) and Colin hasn't mentioned it in the last week. :dunno: Anyway, if you're game for that sort of thing, could be worth a shot.

I'm game for anything :lol: I remember reading about your diaper fairy and had it in the back of my mind. Maybe she'll have to visit soon :awink:

I told him that if he doesn't start going in the potty soon that he wouldn't be able to play soccer (which, in a way, is true.) SInce I"m coaching, there is no chance I'd have time to change him in the middle of a game :dunno:

I don't like being frustrated and up tight about it, and if it weren't getting to be an issue with daycare (and his preschool he will be starting in the summer), I wouldn't be so uptight about it. :dunno:

Aiden's no where near ready...but then again sometimes it takes boys longer...we've had a couple of times where he had actually gone pee on the pot...but he just doesn't care right now.

Colin just decided last Monday that he was ready and that's basically been it. :dunno:

That's exactly how Micayla was. I was so disheartened by her 3rd birthday when she wasn't potty trained. Then like a month later she just decided that was it and it's been (fairly) smooth sailing since then.

Melayna.. ugh, no desire at all right now. :( She's so damn smart that I really thought she'd catch on alot earlier than Micayla. Especially since she has an older sibling to look up to. No such luck. We tried putting her in big girl panties and she peed on herself 3x in an hour. :rolleyes: Tried pull-ups.. might as well be regular diapers. So we decided to just wait another month and try again. I am not overly stressed yet. She just needs to be potty trained by Aug. so she can go into preschool.