5 changes of pants in 5 hours, do I carry on?!

[Longsuffering24]

My DS is 3 in December. I keep looking for all the given 'signs' that he's ready but he never seems to complete the set. If I ask him where the poo and wee goes he says 'in the potty/toilet'. He understands what pants are as opposed to nappies. He knows when he has done poos and wees but so far nothing has actually gone in the potty. He doesn't seem to care about being soiled and just carries on playing.
I have tried a few times now but with no success. I've tried for a few hours a day over a couple of weks and the whole day but don't seem to make any progress. Today he went through 5 pairs of pants and trousers in 5 hours and I'm just not sure whether to persevere. Is this normal? Will it get better?

People have different views on this but my feeling is that hassle is best avoided. Different children are ready at different times. When they are doing their gcses, nobody asks how old they were when they were potty trained.

I tortured myself trying to train my eldest. He was not reliable in pants until he was nearly four. My second son was one of those almost mythical children who trained himself. He was about two and a half, I hadn't made any effort to start, he was naked in the garden because it was summer, and I became aware that he was taking himself to the toilet. Maybe it was easier for him because he had an older brother to copy.

Seriously, don't stress about it. They all get there in the end.

It's totally normal. I would give it a break for a few weeks and then try again. If he doesn't want to do it, it's best not to push it for now. At 2 3/4 he's still quite young. They all get there in the end.

I don't think he's ready. You've planted a seed of an idea. Try again in a few weeks. DS asked for pants a couple of weeks after a very unsuccessful first weekend potty training, that we gave up on.

I agree that he doesn't seem to be ready and you should leave it a while.
With my DSs, the 3rd birthday was the official No Nappies day. I just sold it as a fact that on your 3rd birthday you got presents and cakes and balloons but you stopped wearing nappies, and that was that. They just seemed to accept it as part of being 3 - we had the odd accident, but nothing major.

Thanks everyone. It's good to have some reassurance that it's not me and that he's simply not ready yet. I've spoken to a few mums who haven't even attempted it until their DCs turned 3 but I also know one boy who was trained at 22 months(!)and most before 3 so I thought that maybe I should persevere.....I didn't think he'd still be in nappies at pre-school but I'm not so sure now!

My mum was astounded that I tried to potty train a boy before he was 3. (I did though, because DD was due ) 6 weeks after DS's 3rd birthday and I only had one set of cloth nappies). Don't fret.

Funny that as my mum is horrified that he's not trained yet. She keeps saying that in her day we were all trained by 2.3yrs as that was needed for play school. There's no way my DS could have been out of nappies by 2.3yrs!