What am I waiting for?

[babybouncer]

Quite a few of DS' friends are now starting to be potty trained (he's 2 1/2) and I really don't want to start him before he's ready, but I'm not sure if I'm waiting for more signs.

He's talking about having a poo in his nappy (and always asks to see it), but not wees and he's not always right. He's showing an interest in everyone else going to the toilet but is adamant he doesn't want to sit on a potty or toilet (especially with his nappy off because it's cold!). He's also asking a lot about when he can wear big boy pants.

Should I be waiting for another stage? Do I need to resort to bribery to get him to sit on toilet/potty or will he want to do this by himself in a few more weeks/months?

At nursery we encourage the potty training aged children with putting them on the potty at every nappy change, lots of other children sit on the potty at this point so it can be quite a social event, we also give the children books to look at, kinda gives us a few extra minutes of them sitting still. This helps them get use to the potty, and comfortable with the new idea, so it isn't a shock to them when potty training starts.

Some parents let the children choose the pants, so you could take your ds to the shops to choose his pants, and then ask them when he would like to wear them. (i would stock up on lots, and also loose fitting jogging bottoms for when you train)

Has he seen you going to the loo, it might help him make that connection.

You could resort to bribery, some children respond well to it and potty training can be solved relatively quickly when using that technique. Reward charts also work well.

However if he is not ready then no amount of bribery is going to work.

I think if he wants to train (and the pants thing is a start) you are waiting for him to produce both wee and poo on the potty. Otherwise if he is not happy to do both and you just stick him in pants then there is no obvious solution for him. FWIW it wasnt long between complete refusal to sit on it and 'production' here so he's probably closer than you think. Is he a climber? I got a seat with steps to it that looked a bit like a climbing frame and dd climbed straight up - the 'little' potty she seemed to think was just for toiletting toys.