Are girls easier to potty train than boys? Because that’s what the consensus here seems to be.
I can’t remember what age I was potty trained (around 3 I think). Unfortunately I regressed quite a bit few years later my household became very stressfull because my father had apparently had an affair and my parents were shouting at each other a lot.
Yes, the consensus in our social circle (lots of people with young kids) is that girls tend to learn this younger than boys, on average. In fact, I can’t off hand think of a single boy who was trained at age 3, but most of the girls were between two and three. Make of that what you will.
Our little guy is three and some weeks, and we are making steady progress…two steps forward and one back kind of thing, but still.
I’m a girl and was past three when I finally “got it.” I was a stubborn child. But from everything I’ve heard, the more you push them, the less you’re going to accomplish. (Some things don’t change. Even now, the more I’m pushed, the more I resist.) My brother had problems at night for several years but finally outgrew them. That is the only logical use I can see for those pull-up things; until his bladder caught up with the rest of him, there wasn’t much we could do about it.
When my daughter was approaching her 4th birthday untrained, Mrs. Peabody had the idea of a little creative bribery.
We went to the store and bought about 20 small one dollar toys. Then we wrapped them up nicely and placed them a large basket.
To make a long story short, after every proper potty episode she was allowed to pick one present.
After the basket was empty she was in the potty habit and we never had another problem.
I must have the easiest potty training story(s) ever. My children all went to day care for half days. The day care had little tiny flush toilets that were only about six inches off the floor. There was a little tiny kid-sized door going into the toilet room, which had three or four of these toilets. Only the potty trained kids could go in there. It was a BIG BIG deal. Each of my kids (boys and girls) simply came home from day care one day (sometime between their second and third birthdays) and announced with great pride that they were now able to use the toilet. I never did a thing. There were a few accidents after the big announcements, but not many.
We’d started my (now six-year-old) daughter on potty training when she was about two. She kinda got it, and kinda liked it, but she didn’t really get it until after my (now-three-and-a-half-year-old) son was born. After a week or so of watching us change his diapers, I think she got the idea that diapers and such were for “babies,” and she chucked her pull-ups. One, maybe two accidents since then. But just so’s ya know, we did NOT have the second child simply because we wanted to potty train the older one. That was just a happy side-effect. 
The aforementioned son? Couldn’t care less. Like others here have mentioned, when he’s naked, he goes on the potty with no trouble at all. Being clothed, though, either in big-boy underwear or pull-up pants, he forgets, and doesn’t bother to say anything until WE notice.
I’m hoping that the presence of his big brother (my stepson, who is nine) might help some. Johnzilla (the little one) worships the Timinator (the older one) as a God, and the Timinator adores his younger siblings. Timinator is living with us again, but we haven’t really asked for his help in getting Johnzilla potty-trained, although I know he’d be more than happy to help if we asked (because he’s just that kind of awesome kid). Maybe we’ll bring it up with him within the next few days.
Reading this thread, though, I really do wonder–what is it with the boys? Why does it seem to be more difficult to potty train them? My son is quite normal (well…he’s a three-year-old, and he’s MY three-year-old, so take the word “normal” with a healthy dose of salt) in all other respects. He just really doesn’t seem to give a hoot about going potty like the Big People in the house. 
Both of my boys waited until they were about 4 before they had any interest in potty training. We finally waited for a warm day, then let them play outside in underwear and shorts. It made for a long, messy day, but after only a couple of “accidents”, they were trained. As for my little girl, however, she is barely two years old - and fully trained. We’ve found that she does alot of things at an earlier age than the boys did. Part of this is because she’s trying to keep up with her big brothers; but I also think its true that girls grow up a bit faster.
I have heard it said that there is no such thing as potty training a child, only patience training a parent.
I have 3 sons. My oldest was 4ish when he gave up the diapers. My middle son was 4ish, too. We have never had one single accident. Ever. knocks on wood We have never even wet the bed. Ever. My secret? Some time tested wisdom that was handed down from my mom. They will do it when they’re ready. Nothing you do will change that. So I just kept changing the diapers until that magic day when they would say- Momma, I don’t like these anymore. We threw them away, put on underwear and never looked back.
Son number three is 15 months. We will keep changing the diapers until he says stop. I personally feel that it is a control/maturity issue for the child. You can’t train someone to grow up, they just do. When they are physically and mentally ready, it’s just the next natural step.
FaerieBeth
Well I’m glad to see that 3 yr. old boys still in diapers isn’t so abnormal after all…my daughter is a month over 2 and has been asking to go to the potty for 4 months now. She’s still in diapers because she has usually already gone by the time she asks to go, but she at least can tell when she’s wet or dirty and is bothered by it. Because my son will poop in his pants while watching tv, giving no facial or otherwise indications that he is going, and then sit there in it afterwards without a word until someone notices, it causes concern. I put his sister in underwear for an hour yesterday and she was very excited (there were butterflies on her underwear and she kept yelling “pretty buggies!”) and she didn’t have an accident, and she even told me “no pee here. pee in potty.” That made me happy but meanwhile he was watching and he said “Please don’t put me in underwear. I not want my underwear.”
So I don’t know what it is about boys not wanting to go. I don’t know how old I was when I was trained, I think 2 most likely. My husband swears he was trained before he was 2, but he apparently was a chronic bedwetter until age 6, so I don’t think anyone can actually be 100% trained that early.
who knows, for boys, there could be control issues at work. I know that bowel/bladder function is one of the few things little children have control over, and I suppose a lot of little boys don’t want to give up that last bastion of independence (much to my father’s dismay)