Hi everyone, happy new year!
We started potty training in May so are now 8 months in. Our son is nearly 3. He still doesn't tell us when he needs to use the potty the majority of the time. We take him to the potty every few hours & he's got better at holding it until we take him, but otherwise he'll have an accident. When he does have an accident he'll let a little bit of wee/poo out then hold the rest until we get to the potty. He's a bit hit & miss on whether he'll tell us he's had an accident, sometimes he does and other times we spot it. We always react calmly when he has an accident and explain he needs to tell us when he needs the potty next time.
We're not sure how to resolve this, maybe I had I unrealistic expectations but I thought he'd be having less accidents by now. He does occasionally tell us if he needs to use the potty and we give him loads of praise and a sticker to go on a chart when he does. I think he understands he gets a sticker if he tells us as sometimes he's asked for a sticker when he's had an accident (which I explain he can't have one as he did it in his pants first). He did use to tell us when he needed a wee in the first couple of months too so I think he is aware of what he needs to do but is choosing not to tell us. We sometimes ask him if he needs to use the potty to & he'll say no then have an accident shortly afterwards.
I think he's aware of when he needs to go but is choosing not to tell us because he'd rather carry on playing etc. We've tried to make it take longer to get back to playing if he has an accident but this doesn't seem to be clicking with him. He always seems fine on the potty so I don't think he has any fear about using it. He also doesn't put up too much of a fight about using it when we say it's time to try most of the time.
I know you shouldn't compare but a lot of his friends who started potty training after him seem to be fully trained by now and let their parents know when they need to go, so I'm not sure where we're going wrong! Any advice would be really appreciated!