Almost 5 and still having a couple of accidents a day - HELP!!!!!!!!!!

[Vossy]

DS1 will be 5 in Jan and right from starting potty training it's been really, really hard. I started and stopped a couple of times before things got better around his 3rd birthday. However, he's still having a couple of accidents a day and seems to think it's funny. He started school in September but part time only and has never had an accident at school. Once he's home he just can't be bothered and even if I keep reminding him he just won't go and eventually wets himself. I've tried everything I can think of - rewards, sticker charts etc and am at my wits end. DS2 who's 2 yrs 5 mths has been completely dry since the Tues of half term and only took 4 days. His nappy is also pretty dry in the mornings as well! I thought perhaps this would inspire DS1 to get his act together, but clearly not. HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!

this may sound mean but punish him for it....if he knows he's done it and thinks its funny he obviously knows exactly what he's doing.....my son was out of nappy's from his 2nd birthday, he was brill to start with then started doing this a few months back, if he;d been naughty and told off he'd wet his pants for it and would always look at himself while waiting to do it.....so we decided enough was enough and decided it was time to make him aware it was naughty to wet himself like that, well he stoped doing it within a week!!!

i know i'll probs get slated for this but it worked for me, and he obviously knows how to be dry if he does it all the time at school!!!

oh i should add that by 'punish' i mean a naughty step/chair....time out.....that sort of thing!! not banishing him to his room without tea or a bedtime cuddle!!! haha!!

I have been punishing with things like no tv at all for rest of the day, no nice pudding at tea time which is the latest one I started yesterday, but too early to tell if that's working. It makes me see red when I walk in the room to see him soaking and he looks at me with a half smile and says 'Mummy I'm wet!' Aaargh!!!!!!!

agree with glaskam. At 3 it's an accident, at 5 it verges on deliberate because they just can't be bothered. And if he's dry at school he knows exactly what he's doing.

I would reward good behavior, i.e. have sticker chart and treat at end of the day if been dry all day, increasing to end of week if dry for whole week, but if he has accidents I would come down hard. Remove tv privilages/favourite toy etc and make it very clear that this behavior is not acceptable.

At 5 there is no reason why he should be wetting himself unless there is some medical reason.

Thank you.

glad i dont seem like i'm a hard faced cow when it comes to potty training!!! haha!! i found food didn't bother my son at all, so that where our naughty chair worked (cheap plastic garden chair in corner), he had to sit on it for 2 mins and he wasn't spoken to until he'd sat on there for 2 mins and behaved. then afterwards we'd get his wet pants off clean him up and he'd apologise.

Shall give that a go starting tomorrow!