My five-and-a-half-year-old son has just started kindergarten recently and is potty trained, but in the past three months he’s flat-out refused to pee in the toilet. I bribe, I praise him when he uses the potty, he gets scolded when he doesn’t, and my husband has even tried saying “only babies do that.” We are at our wits’ ends. He should WANT to use the potty on his own by this age! He doesn’t care if he pees his pants and he ALWAYS uses the potty when he has to go poop (I’m assuming that’s less comfortable to sit in). What do we do? This has been a hard and long battle and now he just smiles and laughs when we get exasparated that he’s pee’d his pants yet again for the bajillionth time. It’s also way worse when he has a pull-up on. PLEASE HELP!!!!
I have a lot of sympathy for you. There is a major potential for him being teased and bullied by other kids at school. I would suggest you continue to have a positive approach. But I would encourage that you start “enhanced natural consequences”. When he pees his pants, he should be required to wash the clothes by hand (with your supervision). If there is pee on the floor, he should be required to wash the floor, by hand. Another natural consequence would be putting a diaper on him whenever he pees his pants. The key to natural consequences is to do it in a matter of fact way. There should be no bargaining, it is just a consequence.
Keep it positive but impose natural consequences.
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