LOl Oh come on - 3.5 is OLD ENOUGH to toilet train!!!

Anonymous wrote:I used to very happy with my sons preschool until they are basically trying to force him to potty train. My 3.5 year old does not show the signs of readiness. Yes he tells you when he goes pee or poop but has shown no interest in the actual potty. His teacher approached me about potty training about a month ago and I agreed to send in pull-ups but I'm not going to force him to go at home. Well today she sent an email stating that she wants to start full potty training him(underwear only) no later than June so he can be potty trained before he goes to pre-k. My child is very smart and I know he will potty train when he is ready and I feel it doesn't have to be on their time table. Am I wrong in feeling like this? My husband says I'm being unreasonable. I think the teacher is just being lazy and doesn't want to change diapers anymore since my son is the only one still in diapers.

I agree with your DH, you ARE being unreasonable. A 3.5 yo child should have already been potty trained, or at least begun. You want to call someone who WANTS to teach your child to use the potty Lazy because she doesnt want to change diapers? Lady, you should be thankful someone wants to teach your kid how to go to the bathroom because you dont sound like you want to handle that. Sad thing, it has to be a joint effort. You will be no help here for him. Feel sorry for the kid.

This post is hilarious. OP-- the time has come. Your kids teacher sounds awesome too! Hope you appreciate her.

And most preschools I've looked at required potty training by 3 so you've put it off long enough!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's shocking that they allowed him in a 3 year old classroom without being potty trained. And you're thinking it's unreasonable to have him plan to train by Pre-K?

Not everything should be on the child's timetable.

This is bullshit. 1/2 of my kid's 3 class was in diapers at year start. 2 still are.
People don't lie on an anonymous forum!

Not in my child's class. All were trained in the 2 yr old class. No 3 yr olds are in diapers. You can't attend any summer camps at 3 if you are still in diapers,

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's shocking that they allowed him in a 3 year old classroom without being potty trained. And you're thinking it's unreasonable to have him plan to train by Pre-K?

Not everything should be on the child's timetable.

This is bullshit. 1/2 of my kid's 3 class was in diapers at year start. 2 still are.
People don't lie on an anonymous forum!

Not the PP, but zero kids in my son's 3 class were in (daytime) diapers at year start. "Shocking" is an exaggeration, but I know plenty of schools that at least nominally require potty-training be complete before entering the 3 year old program.

Anonymous wrote:It's shocking that they allowed him in a 3 year old classroom without being potty trained. And you're thinking it's unreasonable to have him plan to train by Pre-K?

Not everything should be on the child's timetable.

This is bullshit. 1/2 of my kid's 3 class was in diapers at year start. 2 still are.
People don't lie on an anonymous forum!

What signs are you waiting for, OP? A burning bush? Swarms of locusts?

I am hoping this is a troll, I really am. If not, then OP, this is insane. Some kids potty train later than others, sure, but to have made any attempts whatsoever to train a 3.5 year old (absent a special circumstance) is beyond ridiculous.

You are not doing your son any favors letting him continue to use diapers. The older a child gets the harder it is to train. A lot of children can be trained by 2 years (all of my kids were), so 3.5 is late. I'm surprised the center takes an untrained child at 3.5 years. Why are you not taking this more seriously?

Why do you assume that the teacher is "forcing" him? You haven't indicate that he's shown her any resistance to training. How is he going to learn unless someone puts in the effort to work with him on it?

In my view, the teacher is going above and beyond to do your job for you. You should be grateful. And should take a long reflective look at why you're holding your child back from his developmental trajectory under the auspices of not forcing him. He needs the adults in his life to help him take the next step here. Gently and with compassion, of course. The teacher is doing that.

The teacher is being lazy? Wow. You have some set on you, OP. He's 3.5.

time for you to buck up and be a parent. Potty train him. It won't be tough. He's 3.5 and has trained you to wipe his ass.

Your son IS very smart----he's got you fooled into thinking he can live in diapers forever!

What are you waiting for? He's not likely going to train himself until you wait so long that he feels mortified and gets made fun of for being in diapers. Is that what you want?

I'm a total supporter of waiting until a kid is ready, but I don't think it's reasonable to expect a kid this age to suddenly just decide they want to stop using diapers and train themselves. It's going to take a little nudge from you and his teachers.

It's absolutely reasonable to expect to try to potty train him before he goes to preK in the fall. Many schools won't even take kids at age 2.5 or 3 if they are still in diapers. It's totally reasonable to at least TRY for training by preK at age 4.

Why not try it? I don't see how that's "forcing" it. Why won't you give it a try at home? It just sounds like you're being lazy.

My kid just turned 3 and has been potty trained since 2.5. I didn't force it and was in no hurry, but I saw that he was capable and felt it was time. It didn't take any forcing at all -- we removed diapers and encouraged using the toilet. After some accidents and getting used to it, he was fine. Pull-ups don't work -- you need to go with underwear, or he's just going to use them like diapers.

Unless there's a disability or medical reason why he can't control his bladder, he's of the age when he should be ready. Go ahead and give it a try.

Just to be clear, knowing when he needs to go IS a sign of readiness. You don't need to wait for him to bring a newspaper over to the toilet and announce that nobody should go in there for a while.

It's time to force it, OP.