Reluctant 3 year old

[penny2]

Help! My only-just-3-year-old is still not clean or dry. If I let him run around naked he'll (usually) use the potty nicely (standing up!), but any clothing, or worse, a pull-up, and he wants nothing to do with it. He also refuses to consider poohing anywhere but in his pull-up - in fact he has a hissy fit if I even suggest he tries it in his pot, or on his nice Winnie the Pooh loo seat. I'm obviously doing something very wrong as most of the other mums at the nursery gate assure me that their boys have been clean for months...... Reassurance & ideas gratefully received.....

Reassure, reassure. They're all different so don't let the other kids ability to be clean and dry get to you. There are a few threads on here if you do a search with absolutely fab tips about potty training, but for me, a sticker chart and chocolate button bribery ('special treats') really really really helped. And loads and loads of crazy mad praise when he gets it right. Keep telling him that if he does a wee or a poo in the potty he'll get a sticker/special treat, and then follow through. If your house is warm, then is there any harm in him being naked for a day or two while he gets the idea?
I do remember someone suggesting that you could put a nappy in the potty for him to poo onto to start with......worth trying?
Good luck

I think you need to go cold turkey and put up with the accidents for a while. It definitely isn't an easy option but at 3 he should be able to use the potty/toilet if you are consistent and try to reward him for successes.

I have recently managed to potty train ds2 and even though it took 6 weeks of pooing in his pants and several wees on the floor it was worth the effort as he now hasn't had an accident for at least 3 weeks.

Ds1 was also a nightmare to train and took 6 months before he was consistently dry (thankfully he did poo in the toilet almost every time). I do think boys are harder to train than girls and I did leave both of mine until they were almost 3 but it still took a lot of hard work.

Sorry I haven't offered an easy solution but good luck if you decide to go ahead. He is obviously aware when he needs a wee if unclothed so eventually he should get the hang of it.

No ideas, but some reassurance. Mine was the same. Only dry at 3 and a few months and I have friends whose children were only out of nappies close to their 4th birthday. All just normal. Try not to stress. It will happen! I just left mine to it and they trained themselves. Noone stays in nappies forever. I am sure that for mine it wasn't that they were not physically ready, but they were not psychologically ready. They loved their nappies and didn't want to let go.

Thanks for the advice/reassurance! It's nice to know there are more reluctant boys out there. I'm going to wait till nursery half-term in October and try a combi of chocolate button bribery and cold-turkey, and I refuse to get stressed about it!