please reassure me that my son is normal (or tell me if he isn't)

[DebiTheScot]

He'll be 3 next month and isn't remotely interested in potty training. He occasionally mentions the potty or his 'special' toilet seat but then when we say 'oh would you like to go on it?' he says no.
The other night when he got out the bath he asked to get his nappy on quickly as he needed a wee and was having none of it when I suggested he used the potty instead. He seems to have a fear of it.

Should I just not mention it again for ages and then try again or is there anything I can/should do to get him to sit on it?

Most people don't say anything but have had a few comments from mil (who suggests just saying thats it no more nappies and 'forcing' him to use the potty- I don't think this'd work though as he'd get himself into a state and I'd need to have nappies for nighttime anyway) and as he's at pre-school twice a week I am wondering if he should be toilet trained as the others all seem to be.

My DS was exactly the same. He is now 3.5 and a couple of weeks ago started using the potty. We were on holiday and he was running in the garden naked from the waist down and said he needed to pee (and I whipped the potty out quickly).

No accidents at home when just wearing pants, but a couple when wearing trousers and pants. Is dry at night (still wears pull ups) and while at the moment he wears pull-ups for pre-school and trips out, they are usually dry by the time we get home and he uses the potty then. So next week am going to give pants a whirl when out.

He does still seem to have to strip half-naked for using the potty - but sure he will get the hang of it in time. The joy of it has been that I know if we'd forced it, he would have dug his heels in. This has been a very gentle way of doing things.

Forcing is counter productive I think. My thoughts are that it's their pacebut you encourage them/it along. My Ds was easy at 2, but Dd is not interested or ready at 2.2. Hope it works out for you soon however you choose to tackle it.

Agree with solowitch - my dd (my first) was definitely ready to go just before she was 2.5. DS was a completely different kettle of fish.

Debi, my just three year old dd was not remotely interested in training. in the end i just took the nappies away. we had 2 days of wetting then she used the toilet and has rarely had an accident since. She knew when she needed the loo but was too 'lazy' to use it. she actually told me that she didn't want to stop playing to do to the loo!

At night though as soon as I put a nappy on she uses it, lazy mare I'm going to have to take away the night time nappies too i think!

thanks for the reassurance. might go for not mentioning it again until the summer and try no nappies when outside all day to see what happens.

my ds wasn't interested in potty training at 3. I cleared up so many accidents that I decided to put him back in nappies for a few more months. Then one day at 3.4 after lots of talk about pants and potties and growing up, he decided to go off and use the potty and toilet with very little input from us. I think it is just not worth pushing them, until they are ready. I will not be pushing my dd (13 months) and will do the 'talk about potties/pants etc..' and leave it at that. I think she may be quicker to train anyway due to watching ds. My conclusion is, don't stress it will all come in good time!