Boys and girls differ at the best of times, it's even more evident when Potty Training. Here's some tips for helping your boy out of nappies
Boys can be slower to potty train, and then there’s the question of aim... Here’s some advice on getting them out of nappies.
At a glance
- The difference between boys and girls
- Encouraging your little man to use the potty
- Development differences
Boys are usually a few months behind girls in potty training, but this varies as they’re all individuals.
They may also be slightly less receptive to the idea of a reward chart as they don’t usually have quite the same desire to please as girls.
But, again, this varies. Here's a few pointers.
- The old cliché is that boys have more accidents than girls because they’re lazier about rushing to the loo and don’t mind so much about having wet pants. But plenty of mums say their son was easier to train than their daughter because it didn’t become a battle of wills
- Mums of boys agree it’s easier to get them to sit down for wees at first
- There’s no deadline for swapping to standing up: lots of boys are still sitting down until they get to nursery or school when they suddenly want to join in with what the other boys are doing
- Your son will learn best by watching another boy: if Dad isn’t around or they haven’t got an older brother, you may need to enlist the help of a willing grandparent, friend or other relative. Explaining basic differences in plumbing might be necessary here
- When it comes to standing-up wees, boys (and for that matter, many men) need some practice with aim. Floating a ping pong ball in the loo water and seeing if they can hit it is a good game, and useful too. But you also may have to accept you’ll be mopping up wet floors for several months/years/lifetimes
- For some reason, most boys (ditto men) seem to love weeing in the garden. If you’re happy to let them do this occasionally, it’s good practice in standing up. Some families even mark targets on trees...