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Is There any Shortcut to Potty Training a Boy?

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Today we have a guest writer who shares her experiences of trying to potty train her 2 year old boy. A mother of two, Santina Nyagah offers insights into the differences between potty training a girl and potty training a boy. Read her story below.

“On the 1 st day of September 2009, I became a mother for the second time. I delivered a handsome little boy who goes by the name Jeremy, but whom I fondly call Energizer Bunny.

He is literally like the energizer bunny that never runs out and most of the time I can be seen running after him because he is either hanging from window grills, running outside our house butt naked, sending anything he gets his hands on flying to the ground (plates, phones, remote control etc).

Now you may think my house is a battle zone but that’s only a quarter of the time, for the rest of the time has me rolling on the floor in laughter as I try to understand this boy.

And one of the things that I am still puzzling over is how to get him to potty train ASAP.

My reason for saying this is that he seems to have taken longer than his sister to do so. It’s important to note that at this moment, diapers have risen by more than Ksh 300 per pack.

So having him potty trained will definitely go a great way towards easing my household budget.

For starters, I got a colorful potty, bought him some nice training pants and we were ready to go.

A journey that I thought would take a month or at most 2 months has not ended it is still ongoing.

Where is my patience…?

The first time I taught him how to pee, I decided to do it girl style.

He got excited about seeing his own pee in the potty and he would run and sit on it every 15 minutes even if there was nothing coming out.

But soon he got bored.

And he was back in diapers.

And I was frustrated.

(There is that word again…..patience)

So I did some research and found out that sometimes boys do take longer to get potty trained than girls.

It is then I realized I was trying too hard to be the perfect mum with a perfectly trained son and that I had to ease up on him and let him be.

I had to be …..patient

He would get ready to use his potty in his own time, not when I forced him to do it

Like my very wonderful obstetrician had told me when I was pregnant; “Each child, just like each pregnancy, is different.”

While I loved githeri while carrying my daughter and could not stand meat, with my son I had to have nyama choma and ice cream or else the world would come to an end.

While my daughter walked on her own for the first time when she turned one year, my son took his first steps at 15 months.

Each child is different.

Each child needs patience

I realized most of the frustration I felt about potty training my son was because I expected him to be like his sister.

Yet he was different. He was teaching me patience, I realized

The more frustrated, the less patient I got with him.

Jeremy is now back to wearing diapers and we are taking it one step at a time.

Sometimes he uses his potty at other times he misses it and I have to run for a mop and get rid of his tell tale signs on my floor.

But at least I am not pulling out my hair in frustration.

A few days ago he even started peeing standing up like a boy and I was quite excited.

See that virtue called patience worked.

Life as a mother is a learning curve that never plateaus and with each child you learn more but you still discovers so much more you never knew.

And one of the things I am learning is to be patient….”

Do you have any tips you can give our guest writer, or any experiences you had potty training your boy or girl that you can share with her and other moms? Feel free to do so in the comments section of this post.

Editor’s note: Santina is a nutritionist with her own recipe blog which she refers to as ‘The Culinary Adventures of a Very Cool Kenyan Mum!’

If you have any motherhood experiences and which you wouldn’t mind sharing with fellow moms, you can email me on maryanne@mummytales.com for more details.

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Maryanne W. Waweru is a Kenyan mum raising her two sons in Nairobi. A journalist, Maryanne is passionate about telling stories and hopes that through her writing, her readers learn something new, feel encouraged, inspired, and appreciative of what they have in their lives. Maryanne's writing focuses on motherhood, women and lifestyle. "Telling stories is the only thing I know how to do," she says.

8 COMMENTS

  1. I have a son who just turned 4. I was really impatient too to get him potty trained. He hated the first potty because it made him bend too low (like he is that tall)and I had to get a second high one. He loved it and spent close to ten minutes sitting there for each visit.

    Eventually what worked was seeing an older boy pee like boys should. He tried it, got pee all over the front of his trousers but was so excited he tried to get all his agemates to do it.

    He has not looked back since.

  2. @Bianca glad it worked out well for your little boy. Santina’s post and the comments made have got me thinking of what’s in store for me with Kitty.

  3. iam a mum of an almost three year old boy not potty trained. i have tried all tricks and i have also learned patience. he is to join school next term and i have a feeling he will have to go with diapers. but am trying and yes diapers have become so expensive

  4. @Nancy I so know about the price of diapers! And it’s as though each time I go to the store, the price has gone up -again!! You’ve tried tricks LOL, I wonder which ones. Please share so that when I begin training Kitty I’ll try them on him too. Also update me on when your boy finally gets it so that you can share the shortcut. Best of luck!

  5. I am the mother of another energizer bunny boy almost three years old.it was challenging at first and he never liked the potty,what i did was first let him get used to the potty idea,i bought it and let him play with it but i kept telling him its for susu.have him sit on it even if its for a few seconds.then note his going times.when he is close to,let him sit on it,it wont be easy but he will get used to the idea.be patient and applaud when he goes potty.then,i used to put him on the potty after every two hours.regardless of whether or not he has susu.get a routine and stick to it.Im glad to say that its been 3months without any accidents and he actually goes without telling you..even to poop,you just go and get a little surprise in there 🙂 im now trying to make him understand that if he poops he has to ask someone to wipe him :).mommies,dont compare with others and dont beat him or yell.i started training him this year February and now he is fully potty trained.be patient.he now tells his sister who is 3month old during changing times that “ku susu ni kwa potty kaffie”

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