By Renee Martinez, Founder of Raising Boys World
It’s amazing to me how children from the same family can be so vastly different with the same milestones. I expect this of course, but it’s always a surprise. My son will be 3 in May and he’s potty-trained! Yippee! The other guys wanted nothing to do with potty training until 3, and even then, it was serious work.
With information at our fingertips, you can learn about endless topics at the click of a button. Information on potty training is as varied as it is abundant. Mention potty training to a grandmother and you’ll probably learn that their sons were using the potty by 2. Current moms are training boys around 3, but depending on the child, it can be later. Then there’s that group of moms who are doing infant potty training. While there’s such disparity, there’s no right or wrong.
Children have their own schedule for potty training. Most show signs of readiness to begin using the toilet between 18 months and 3 years of age. Boys are usually later at potty training than girls. Some people think this is because girls have the same plumbing as mom, so it’s easier since the primary caregiver is most often the mother. One theory on why boys take longer is that they learn twice. First to sit and then to stand and urinate.
There is no right or wrong way to potty train a boy. Most potty training experts, however, recommend that toddler boys should be potty trained sitting down. Teaching them to sit for both urination and bowel movements, helps to keep things simple for them. Once they have mastered potty training, then you can teach them to pee standing up. It’ll save you aggravation to wait. Some signs of readiness:
- Staying dry for at least 2 straight hours
- Able to follow simple instructions
- Feeling uncomfortable in dirty diapers and wanting to have them changed
- Asking to or talking about using the potty chair
- Asking to wear underwear
To see a checklist of signs, click here. If your child tells you about having a dirty diaper, be sure and praise him for telling you. This will encourage him to tell you in advance next time.
With my third son, I let him lead the way. He was very interested and so I encouraged him while he still had diapers on to use the potty. Then I added a few weeks of pull-ups to give him the chance to physically pull his own pants on and off to go the bathroom, while still allowing for mistakes. If he went, I would cheer and carry on. He smiled and was proud of his accomplishment. Soon, I let him start wearing underwear. Of course he had accidents, but I handled them with patience and kindness. Inside I was thinking – when will this be over?! But it’s important to be supportive. As far as bowel movements, that was a bit more challenging, but I really tried to talk to him about what it feels like when it’s time to go poop so this way he might recognize the sensation and go. I’m constantly asking him if needs to go potty, because I know he’ll forget easily, since it’s still a new thing to him. Yesterday though, we were playing and he stood up and told me he needed to poop, now I know he really understands. I must admit, I did use a little food bribery to teach him. He earns 1 M&M for pee and 2 for poop. Another thing…early last week, he had a bunch of accidents where it seemed like he didn’t use the potty at all. It was messy for me and frustrating. Especially with poop, as if he just rejected using the potty. So, I took a big risk and made him run around naked while we were inside. He didn’t want to at first, but I told him that the potty was hungry for his poop so I wanted to make sure he used it. He held it in until finally, he went to the potty. Since then, thank goodness; he has been using the potty again 100%. Maybe I’m more relaxed than I was with the others, or maybe he’s more motivated to learn. Whatever the case, I hope #4 is as easy as #3 was!
Other articles to check out:
Potty training ways to mess up
About the Author: Renee Martinez consults and speaks professionally on social media marketing, integrated marketing communications, public relations and branding. She is the president of Ruby Marketing Communications (www.rubymarcom.com), a boutique marketing communications company that specializes in providing branding, social media strategy and integration, and creative services. Her blog (www.lisac95.sg-host.com), provides resources on everything marketing and social media for her active audience.
Renee has contributed as a featured monthly columnist in the monthly jewelry industry publication, JCK, on matters related to internet marketing as well as in InStore Magazine as a featured blogger where she writes about developing effective marketing strategies for the jewelry industry using social media. She is the founder of: Social Media Biz Summit (www.socialmediabizsummit.com), the first large-scale SM conference to come to Buffalo, NY; #jewelrychat, a weekly twitter chat for the jewelry industry and www.RaisingBoysWorld.com. Renee teaches social marketing courses at Canisius College in Buffalo, NY for the business school as well as offers small group social media marketing training and educational seminars for businesses in Western New York and beyond.
Renee has dabbled in the internet marketing arena since the early 90′s and is not ashamed to call herself a “marketing geek”. From chatting in AOL, “sharing” music on Napster, and teaching HTML classes before it was considered “cool” to developing comprehensive social media strategies, effective public relations campaigns and managing online communities (most recently Chevy Girls Buffalo).
She enjoys being able to help people find their voice online and to create buzz about their product or service that will give them the results they desire.
Renee can be found on Twitter (@reneemmartinez) and Facebook (http:/www.facebook.com/RubyMarCom).
