potty training :s

[Rabz]

so my two and a half year old can speak quite a bit and he knows when he has to go..... but he refuses
I've tried everything from surprises to stickers and buying him underwears and pull-ups....
any suggestions on how to get him to co-operate?

[Minou]

I've been dealing with much the same thing. My DS just turned three about a week ago, and until a month and a half before that would make himself as stiff as a board and yell and scream and refuse to be placed on the toilet. Wouldn't use the potty either. I finally decided enough was enough. I set up a TV tray covered in a garbage bag and had play-doh and games and special new puzzles for him to play while sitting on the toilet. It got him to sit on it. Next, I had a basket of wrapped surprises that he could pick from when he used the toilet successfully. Then I didn't let him wear pull-ups unless he was having a nap or going to bed for the night. I made a big deal about throwing out the leftover diapers. Just underwear and plastic pants for him during the day. Pull-ups make it okay to just go in your pants, but underwear and plastic pants make things feel really yucky. (I ordered the Gerber pants from the US. Very inexpensive.) I'm still having to take him to the toilet regularly (he doesn't want to tell me), but he's having quite a bit of success and developing good bladder control. He's having few accidents. Once we got into the immediate tangible reinforcement routine of the "presents" with lots of success, I made him a chart map to get to the toy store. He now works toward a trip to the toy store by getting a sticker every time he uses the toilet successfully or keeps his bedtime/naptime Pull-up dry. We're not completely finished training yet, but all this is a real improvement from the stubborn refusal to use the toilet.

[ninna]

lol. They will do it when THEY are ready (not when YOU are ready!)

I can say that because I had a stubborn kid too. She absolutely flat out refused to do #2 on the potty. I was afraid she'd not be able to go to school because she'd be stuck in diapers every time she needed to poop. lol. She was just a stubborn little bugger, that's all. I offered rewards. We went through the gamut of stickers and other trinkets. Didn't matter. I threatened to limit things like tv watching time. Didn't matter. She could have cared less what I wanted. It was only once I backed away and decided I didn't care anymore that we made any progress. Once I left it totally up to her and in her control, she trained herself in astonishingly little time.