Potty training update - WE'RE DOING IT

Dec 61 min read

3 weeks ago my 3.5yo was absolutely refusing the potty. Wouldn't even sit on it. We tried everything: books, songs, rewarding, nothing was landing.

Then my wife noticed he'd copy literally anything his 5yo sister did. So we had her sit on her own potty at the same time "for fun" and suddenly he wanted to do it too. Within a week he was consistently going #1. This week he finally figured out #2 (took some encouragement but it happened).

The sibling copycat move is officially the biggest win of my parenting career so far. Paying it forward if any of you are struggling with this.

9 comments315 views

Comments(9)

TTerrence M.RegularDec 7

This is gold. So you're saying you literally just... modeled using the potty and he copied you? That's it? That's the whole hack? Asking because we've been at this for 2 months with absolutely zero progress

MMike F.RegularDec 7

Kids learn by mimicking, not incentives. My wife kept trying sticker charts and nothing worked until I just casually pooped with the bathroom door open a few times lmao. Suddenly our 3yo was interested. Might be weird but it's faster than waiting around

RRay C.RegularDec 8

Did your wife stay in the bathroom with him or just had him watch from outside? Trying to figure out the exact setup because my 3.5yo is also refusing

LLiam S.RegularDec 8

yo congrats on this. potty training is the worst and I remember thinking there was something wrong with our kid because he refused for so long. Genuinely just gave him a break for a few weeks and when we tried again he got it in like 10 days. Must've just not been ready

RRuben A.New DadDec 8

YESSS this is amazing. The copy thing is actually huge for that age. My 4yo learned to use the potty like 80% because he saw his older brother doing it. Never would've worked if we just kept trying with charts and rewards.

EEli L.RegularDec 9

The copycat thing is real but also depends on the kid honestly. We tried having older sibling model it and our youngest could not care less lmao. But for your 3.5yo this is genuinely a win. Congrats man, that phase sucks.

JJosh E.RegularDec 9

Wait so you basically just had him watch your wife use the potty and that was it? Because we've been stuck at the "refuses to even look at it" stage for like 2 months and I'm losing my mind.

GGene K.RegularDec 9

Our guy copied everything we did too but he wouldn't do it on the actual potty—only on the little training seat. So we had to actually sit there with the training seat ourselves to show him it was fine? Felt ridiculous but it worked within like a week after months of nothing.

KKarl J.RegularDec 9

this is such a relief to read. everyone kept telling us at 3.5 our kid was 'late' and we were doing something wrong. he literally just needed to see his older cousin use the potty once and it clicked. kids really do just learn by example