Potty training - need some hand holding

[archersfan22]

Started with my 3 year old boy today - he knows what potties and toilets are for and I thought it was time we had a go, as I think if I'd waited for him to want to do it he'd still be in nappies at school age....
With an hour or so to go before bathtime (followed by pull up overnight) the stats for today are 9 wees in potty and 8 wees in pants.

The most successful strategy has been to sit him on the potty every half an hour, saying 'once you've done a wee you can watch tv' (normally he doesn't watch much tv).

However I'm a little concerned that before we started the 30 minute strategy he didn't show any sign of awareness in advance that he needed to wee - is this something that will come with practice or is it a sign that he's not ready? He just told me he was wet once he had weed in his pants.
Also, I really don't want to sit him in front of the tv all day tomorrow, but this does seem to be the strongest motivator, especially as the afternoon has worn on and he's got tired. But I'm concerned that he gets so absorbed in the tv this isn't a good activity for him to learn the feeling of needing to wee.

Also, 17 wees in a day seems like a lot - I have been encouraging him to drink and I guess he probably wouldn't normally wee every half hour, but is it normal for him to go this often?

I'm sure this is all normal and I just need to persevere but any reassurance or suggestions are very welcome, especially about how we move from me putting him on the potty every 30 minutes to something more led by him.

PS really need a stiff drink tonight but am pregnant....

17 wees does seem a lot, were they big ones? If he's using his potty willingly, I would carry on, it took my son a week to get it. Ditch all the nappies (except at night) and don't use pull ups. We went straight to pants. Rewards worked really well for us, you can set up a sticker chart so he will get a reward after a certain number of successes. My son loved the potty training books and insisted on reading it a million times! Does he go to nursery? Seeing other kids using the toilets helped too.

Persevere with it as long as he's willing and no punishment/fuss for accidents. We just calmly cleared things up and carried on. Good luck. I found it a tedious couple of weeks I have to admit!

Number twos took longer for my son. We had quite a few on the floor/ in trousers before he did one in the potty. We went a bit overboard with the rewards to get him to do one in the potty as he was very reluctant at first!

thank you - he does go to nursery though term time only which is why I decided to do it over the Easter holidays, but he does know about other children using the potty/toilet.
Some of the wees were only small, especially towards the end of the day. I think I may have overdone the encouragement to drink, but I wanted to make sure he definitely needed to go rather than having him sitting there for hours not doing anything.
Thank you - will carry on and see how we get on.

Just keep going! I think they need to feel wet pants. Definitely no pull ups. Nappies at night. When you go out take lots of spare clothes, potty in a bag if necessary. It doesn't take long when they're ready. Accidents are part of it.

Yep, at a certain point you have to ditch the nappies & deal with the accidents. It is my least favourite part of parenting. My house smelled of wee not matter how much i scrubbed for about 6 months with all 3.
With DS1 loose boxer shorts did the trick; he seemed to feel he was wearing a nappy with briefs.

We had to spend a weekend shampooing the carpets when he'd learned!

I'd recommend urine neutralizing fluid to get rid of the smell, we got through a massive tub of it. Bought it from Amazon.

Thank you for all the suggestions and encouragement :)
I did just put him in pants yesterday morning so have gone cold turkey on daytime nappies, I put him in a pull up overnight but it was dry this morning.
He did a small poo in the potty this morning so I am pleased with that. So far the accidents have only affected his clothes thankfully - I've covered the sofa and haven't let him upstairs (where the carpets are) during the day. Although maybe the wooden floor smells and I can't tell as I've got a cold!

It's an hour's drive to work and his nursery when we go back next week so I'm wondering whether a pull up might be necessary just for the journey but I'll see how we're getting on. Really can't be dealing with poo all over him and the car seat on the dual carriageway at 7am! He will be leaving at the end of the summer term anyway so it's not for long.