Last Updated on July 17, 2020
This viewpoint on when to start potty training boys may not be what is currently in vogue or what your friends and family are saying. It is a proven method however and a throwback to the days of stay at home Moms and parenting done with a more hands on approach and personal involvement than in today’s world.
Do not be thrown off or alarmed at people’s comments of saying your son is too young or can’t possibly be ready! You will know if that is true or not. You can always start training, then relax for a couple months if you are not getting any kind of result, then resume. Remember, that your child’s development from a baby to a toddler to a child is rapidly changing the first year!
However, that being said, even if you have a babysitter or use a daycare center, which makes it a little harder to control, you can make certain requests of your caregivers and if they have good reputations and depend on recommendations and referrals they should be eager to oblige.
Waiting until your child, boy or girl, says “Mommy my diaper is wet” or “Mommy I just did (insert your own noun here) in my pants!” is WAY TOO LATE to start potty training. This viewpoint on when to start potty training boys is of the notion that you should treat your child with dignity, assume they have the intelligence to not want to walk around with wet diapers or pants and that they would welcome learning how to go potty in the toilet like big people. You may be very pleasantly surprised.
If you have a boy child who has any kind of regularity to his bowel movements or a time where his diaper is more soaked than any other time, even as young as 9 months, start trying to “catch” it in the potty. Invest in a very nice potty seat that fits over the toilet rather than a free standing one. (Why teach the whole thing twice?)
After breakfast, for instance, if your boy child always grimaces and shows signs of doing his business, why not take off his diaper, sit him on the potty with a book or toy and see if you get lucky? Sit with him, make it a pleasant experience and above all praise him to the skies if he goes. He will catch on soon enough that he has done something wonderful!
The tinkling aspect of when to start potty training boys is a little harder, but try the same thing FIRST thing upon awakening. This does not mean let them play in bed for 30 minutes while you snooze a bit longer…it means at the “first noise” that your precious one is awake!
For boys, you can sit them on the toilet seat backwards and show them how to point their little “tinkler” downward and they are fascinated!
After you have been successful with this method starting before or after they are walking, (up to you) you are on track to “YOU” being trained which is the first step. Then you graduate to asking them questions first: “Do you need to go potty?” and every time you get a smile, a nod, a yes get them into the bathroom pronto!
Keep this up for a few months and the day will come, it is guaranteed, that your sweet cherub of a boy will say “Mommy, potty!” and even if it came too late, that is a major breakthrough. It progresses from there to staying dry more than wet, to going to a training diaper that slips on and off like underpants, to buying them their first “big boys pants” and let them help in the store. You want them to be proud.
The hardest part of the last stages of training is when you are away from home. Do not be embarrassed or afraid to carry his potty seat with you and take it into your relative or friends home.
When to start potty training boys? If you start early, you can have your little boy trained before 2 years old for daytime and around 2 1/2 for going through the night. You can be the envy of your friends who didn’t even think about it until their child’s 2nd birthday. Kids want to learn. Kids want to be praised and kids don’t like to be wet!
Also see Tips for potty training boys and how to overcome potty training boys problems
