Question about potty training - boys

mysweetpeasWil&Wes wrote: Wil is not ready yet, but I was thinking about this the other day.....

Do you teach them to sit down and pee first and then when they're a bit older, teach them to stand up?? Or is it best to start them out standing up? I just can't imagine my little guy getting it in the toilet yet! Sorry if this is a stupid question....but I'm still learning about boys!

moped replied: Gosh I dont' know, but I think you start them sitting........ummmmm

MyLuvBugs replied: I know I don't have a boy, but have you gotten any potty training books to look through? There's some really good ones that are just for boys or girls, and TONS for parents. We got one just for Lorelei to "read" , and then one for us. I didnt' realize there was so much involved with potty training until reading that book. lol

PrairieMom replied: We started sitting down. And acutally we pretty much skipped the potty chair and went right for the big toilet. I would just have him straddle the seat, and poke his little "peppy" down into the toilet. I would usually have to take his pants off to do it. THAT was a little annoying. Now his legs are a little longer, so its a little easier.
He has been wearing Underwear for about 7 months now and just figured out how to pee standing up a few weeks ago.

Boys r us replied: It all depends! Tanner never sat down, he had a stool he used to make him tall enough...not to mention...we had to float cheerios in the toilet for him to "sink" and well...I suppose that's a lot more fun if you're able to stand up and aim!

Braedon, he didn't need any bribing to use the potty and he began by sitting, but quickly migrated to standing up.

boyohboyohboy replied: we started sitting down first, then he went to standing up after he was just a little older, he was 2 when he was potty trained.
I never had to teach him to stand up, he did it at preschool because all the other kids were at the time.
Now I am hoping he will teach his little brother when the time comes.
I also never really used a potty chair, just used the big potty.

3_call_me_mama replied: We started with sitting but he quickly learned to stand. In less than 3 weeks he was standing. We totally skipped teh littel potty chair thing too. IMO it's messy to clean up and then it's just another transitionto teh toilet after that! (Oh we used those littel seats that are liek a smaller toilet seat that we put righ ton ove rteh regular toilet so teh hoel was smaller. )

mysweetpeasWil&Wes replied: Thanks everyone! This is sooooooo helpful! I think I'll buy one of those seats that go over the big toilet and a stool. I agree, why go through two transitions? Plus, Wil loves standing on a stool at the sink to brush his teeth, so I think he will take to standing at the toilet pretty quick...I hope.

And Nichole, thanks for the Cheerios trick! I'm going to try that! But we still have some time...

AlexsPajamaMama replied: Sitting.
We got Alex a little potty chair when he was a year and a half old to introduce the potty thing to him and let him play with it.
Now that he is potty training he prefers the big potty...it makes him feel like a big boy I think.

Our problem lately is him letting me know when he has to go. He only tells me when he wants to not all the time. Its sooo frustrating because he knows the feeling and I think he gets "too busy" to stop what he is doing to go potty.
I remind him ALL the time its time to try to go pee now...like Im more trained to when he has to go than he is!!

BAC'sMom replied: We taught our son to sit first then to stand later.

dhoppygirl replied: We taught our son by sitting down. He tried standing for a while, but his aim was terrible and I was tired of cleaning up the mess (we even tried the Cheerio trick), so we encouraged him to sit down and put his 'peanut' down. We also went straight to the big toilet. We let him pick out a mini-seat to put on, but now he just sits on the big toilet and his sister uses the mini-seat now. It's nice training them directly in the toilet..no little potty to clean up!

ian'smommy replied: Ian started out sitting down. He followed DH to the bathroom later on and has just transitioned into standing up in the last couple of months. A friend of my mother's has a son who was standing up to pee and the seat came down on him. It was quite painful so I decided when I heard that, that I wanted Ian to sit down as long as he was willing (and tall enough) that it wouldnt happen to him. Most times now he stands up to pee but occasionally he still sits.

amberlynnie replied: I hope this helps, I potty trained my 2 boys and I was very successful both times, and used different strategies both times.
My 6 yr old was taught sitting down. I didnt have a man in the house at the time to show him how, and it was just easier to get him to tuck it in the potty and pee.
i made him a chart, and when he peed or poopied, he got stars on his chart. After 10 stars he would get to pick a treat from a treat bag. This worked briefly. He started to think the stars were too much work to collect, so i stopped the stars and went to M&M's. 2 tiny pieces each time he peed or poopied. I dont give him candy any other time, so it was a huge success! My only problem with him was I couldnt use pull ups. he didnt think of them any differently than a diaper.

My 4 yr old trained standing up. We used potty books, and M&Ms once again. It was a success.

I swear by those m&ms, but they wont work if you child gets candy for other random reasons. they have to be a special treat.

mysweetpeasWil&Wes replied:
Good idea! Wil never gets candy, so that would probably work! TFS!

AlexsPajamaMama replied: We did the M&M trick too!
I would give him 1 every time he went potty on his own or told me when he had to go. Worked VERY well along with LOTS of praise!
It took him 4 weeks to potty train and now he goes right into the bathroom on his own and goes when he has to!! He has occasional accidents when he gets too busy and doesn't take the time but I'm soooo happy and impressed with how quickly he learned!

CantWait replied: Anthony is almost 3 and he's still sitting down. It might have a lot to do with the fact that dad hasn't been around, but it works for us.

Robbie was much older then that, probably around 5 when he started standing up.

lisar replied: My sister started both her boys sitting down. And when she started them on standing up she would put cherios in the toilet and tell them to aim at the cherios. It was so cute.

Brias3 replied: I started both boys sitting down and pointing it down into the toilet when they were ready to go. Mason has been fully trained for the better part of six months now and still sits down. I figure I'll teach that later when he's tall enough for it to be properly aimed into the toilet- he'd never make it now.

My2Beauties replied:
Hanna's a girl but the candy thing works, we used gummy bears!