Potty Training! Help! Please!!

19 years ago

I am a preschool teacher. I teach 2 and 3 year olds. We are considered the "potty training class." One of my kids is almost four and will not poop in the potty. Yesterday, he sat on the potty for about 15 minutes and within 5 minutes of getting up, pooped in his underwear. He doesn't have wetting accidents anymore. He has been wearing underwear for close to a year. I really don't know what else to do with him. There's a lot of pressure to get him trained so he can move up because he's too big to be in my room. We recently promoted our kids, so I've got a bunch of little girls and one big, hyper-active boy. Please help. I appreciate any suggestions or ideas you submitt.

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Comments (3)

sweeby
19 years ago
What does his mother say? Are you both on the same page with potty-training, and are you both seeing the same behaviors? Some boys just take longer, but others have something else going on.

There's lots of good information available about potty-training, so I won't go into any specifics here on that tack. But as the parent of a child with special needs, I'll address that possibility.

You mention the boy is hyper-active. Has he been officially diagnosed with ADHD, or are you just using the term to indicate how active he is? And does he have any other differences compared to the other children his age -- speech? language use? gross and fine motor skills? social skills? If he's behind in one of more areas, talk to your Director about your observations and how to share them with his parents without making it appear like you do not like their son. If there are some developmental problems (and being somewhat late to potty train IS NOT, in isolation, enough reason to suspect serious problems) -- But if there are other reasons to suspect a problem, the best thing you can do for this little boy is to voice your concerns to his parents.

And why should not being poop-trained mean this little boy should have to stay in a class that is otherwise inappropriate for him? IMO, that is not a good policy, and may actually illegal discrimination if it turns out the potty issue is related to a disability.
moumine_2006
19 years ago
Boy's are harder to train.
Have you tryed making a game of it?Or giving him a toy which he likes alot while he is on the potty.
Maybe he can feel the pressure that you have to train him and that is why he won't do it in the potty.
Have you asked his mommy if he still does it in his underwear at home.

I wish you luck.
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Lots of good advice here. I remember my mom telling me that she got me potty trained by telling me that she would buy me pretty little lace panties if I would start using the toilet. She said I started using the toilet and she bought me the pretty panties. hee-hee! I have boys and they take a little longer than girls in general. We pushed our first one too soon and had to back off and let him do it at his own pace. Poor little guy would get constipated and we'd end up using "positories" as he called them to help him. He was about 4 before he was fully trained. Our second son started potty training himself wanting to do everything big brother was doing, then went backwards when son number three was born, but eventually got back on track. Third son copied older brothers but also enjoyed going pee outside in the backyard and once on the garage floor - 'cause it made a loud noise and was funny to him. I think the thing that got my boys to using the potty was watching one of those potty training videos. There was one where the song went, "Now I'm going to the potty, potty . . . Yes, I'm going to the potty, potty, etc." They enjoyed singing that song when they went to the potty and it was just one of those songs I couldn't get out of my head! A friend of mine started laughing at me a couple months ago when I was talking about this subject to someone and started singing that song. She said it was the same video she used for her daughter! Check your local library to see if they have any potty training videos available for check out. We checked this one out for two weeks with my second son since he enjoyed watching it so much!
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My daughter was potty trained at 22 months, and not because I forced the issue either. Once she got to where she could let us know that she had to go, and she was sitting on the potty with her clothes on, we moved the potty to the living room and took off all of her clothes. She ran to the potty when she had to go. We rewarded her with mini M&M's (only one). She never got candy, so that was a real treat for her. From that day on, she always wore panties because I'd been told not to use pull-ups for the reasons stated above. I think she had maybe 3 accidents in the following month. If we went out of the house, I also didn't use pull-ups. I put a plastic liner over regular panties, and I had a change of clothes of course. Also, the car seat was a big concern because mine is a pain to clean, so I'd lay a waterproof pad in it before I put her in it. Anytime she said she had to potty, we ran to the bathroom no matter how inconvenient it was. I remember going into some store bathrooms 4 times before getting out of the store. I think she just liked to see new bathrooms. Poop-This was a problem for about 2 weeks because she had trouble with constipation from the time she was an infant. She didn't like to poop, and she tried not to. She must have thought it's hurt worse on the potty because she would ask for a diaper when she had to poop. I gave in for the first few days, but then I decided that if she knew she had to poop, then there must be a reason that she wouldn't. I figured she was scared. I still had to put her in diapers for naps and bedtime, and she would actually wait for those times to poop. She would also wait until she woke up, so she didn't have to sleep in it. I wouldn't rush to change her when she did. I'd try to wait 10-15 minutes. When I did change her, I'd let her flush the poop down the toilet. We'd say bye-bye to it. I'd always tell her that the potty was where she should do that, and that if she did, we'd do a really special dance called the potty dance, but she couldn't see what it was until she pooped on the potty. I also told her that she'd get two big cookies if she pooped on the potty. She never got cookies either except from Grandma, so this was exciting to her as well. One day (within the two weeks from starting to wear panties), she went to the bathroom and pooped. We danced and had cookies! Also, anytime before that when she would pee on the potty, I'd try to get her to poop by telling her to push way down in her back. I had a friend tell me that. I think some kids know that they have to poop, but they can't figure out how to make it come out on the potty, but rather they wait until it is on it's way, and then can't make it.
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dlynn2
19 years ago
Our pediatricians say that is quite common with boys (having difficulty learning to poop in the potty). Some thoughts on it are that boys are used to seeing their pee come out and go into the potty, so it is kind of scary to them when they can't see the poop coming out. Girls, on the other hand, can't see the pee coming out so not being able to see the poop coming out is no big deal.

What worked on my boys, if you can wait a few more months and this child believes in Santa, is to have the Mom take him to see Santa and explain it to Santa in front of the child. As soon as Santa arrived at our mall I brought my son to sit on his lap and while my child was telling him how good he had been I interrupted with "Now Santa, I realize you won't be able to bring him any of the nice toys that he wants until he begins to poop in the potty. So as soon as he starts to do this we will come right up here and let you know." Santa looked at me like I had lost my mind and my child was totally horrified. We left the mall and went home. Within 15 minutes of being home my son had pooped in the potty and asked to go back to tell Santa about it. We did and he never pooped in his pants again.

Potty Training! Help! Please!!

Comments (3)

sweeby

moumine_2006

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