Potty training, the things nightmares are made of! A treacherous right of passage for parents into the world of being diaper free. I have had the… opportunity… to potty train 2 boys so far. And while it is not a walk in the park, potty training boys does not need to be as complicated as some people make it out to be. Parents get caught up in the sit/stand debate, when really when it comes to potty training time it is best to keep it simple. Here are 5 reasons boys should sit during potty training:
1 – Less of a mess – I have enough things to clean around my house, the less pee I have to deal with the better. I don’t want to be cleaning the toilet seat and bathroom floor multiple times a day. Don’t make more work for Mommy, sit down!
2 – Cheerios are for breakfast not target practice – I have had several people suggest to me that I should put Cheerios in the toilet bowl to give them something to aim at. Um, no. If they are too young to understand where they should be aiming their pee and what happens if they don’t aim properly then they are too young to be standing to pee in the first place! I will be saving the Cheerios in our house for the breakfast bowl rather then the toilet bowl.
3 – I sit, you sit – As a mom going to the bathroom by yourself is a luxury. Children watch how you do things and copy them, so it is just natural for them to sit while potty training. If Hubs was doing the majority of the potty training it might be different, but then again maybe not because there are more messes to clean up when standing.
4 – They are just too short – Two (or even 3) year olds are just not that tall, while a step stool at home may work you don’t always have access to one when you are out. I want to avoid the “But I want to do it this way” battles. We all sit, end of story.
5 – They will figure out how to pee standing up in time – There is no rush to teach little boys to pee standing up, there is not award for mastering this skill. They will figure it out in their own time. It was never something we taught our 4 year old (who we potty trained at 2), but he will sometimes choose to stand up rather then sit. I am perfectly fine with it because now he is tall enough and focused enough that he doesn’t make a mess.
 
So what has your experience been when potty training boys? Did you take a sit only approach or did you let them take a stand?
Okay, granted I’ve only potty trained girls, but when I read the title of this piece all I could think was, “You need FIVE reasons?” Seriously, I’d stop at reason number one and maybe repeat it five times; mess, mess, mess, mess, MESS.
My little guy was asking me this week when he will start to pee “like Daddy”. So cute. I said, as soon as you are a bit taller.
I don’t have any boys (just the one little girl), BUT I think all your reasons for why boys should sit when potty training are good reasons! I’m forwarding this to all my friends who are potty training boys now 🙂
My boy was sitting during potty training. He was too short to stand up.
I have all girls so I haven’t yet had to potty train a boy… but this makes sense to me! 🙂 Thanks for sharing.
I am so glad I read this before having a boy (hopefully at some point!). Great tips that work for little mamas too. Especially the copying part. Potty Training is definitely not for the weak! Ha!
I’ve only ever potty trained my daughter but funny story – she went to day care and there were little boys being trained around her. They were trained standing up. So she came home and said she didn’t want to sit anymore. She wanted to “pee like a boy”. I have photos (ummm yeah – she hates them! LOL) of her standing in front of the toilet. Thing is she realized she didn’t have the uhhh right equipment to pee standing up into a toilet so then she tried to ummmm figure out how to form the right equipment out of what she had. LOL
My little guy loves to stand, but he for sure makes less of a mess when he sits! (That Lego book was his favourite too, great book!)
lol true!!! I hope it won’t be too hard to train my little guy to use the potty later.
I only have a girl but these are sound reasons
My LO is 7 months and although I look forward to the day of being diaper free I am a little scared of how the whole process will go. I have heard quite a few horror stories and pray for a smooth transition. I love all your points! They make a lot of sense and will remember them when it comes time to implement them 🙂 Thanks for sharing!