Potty Training a Hyperactive Toddler

My son was between two and two-and-a-half years old when we decided it was time to potty train. For our son, the biggest obstacle was his hyperactivity. Even at two years old we knew he had a problem with his energy levels. We had our second on the way at the time though, and I was not ready to deal with two in diapers at the same time.

We had heard of many different methods of potty training little boys. Everything from letting them pee on stuff outside to shooting at cheerios in the toilet. So far none of these methods were working out so well for us. The problem we were having is that our son would get so involved in whatever he was doing at the time that he would have accidents.

It had come to a point where we had actually moved the potty chair into the living room. This was in hopes that it being in the room he played in the most would serve as a reminder that he was not wearing a diaper. Unfortunately, this plan wasn't working either. He would even tell you he didn't have to go potty when he did because he didn't want to stop playing long enough to go.

One day I was changing him out of his wet clothes again, about to give up hope when he noticed himself peeing and ran to his potty seat. Me and my husband were thrilled, we gave him a few M&M's and cheered so loud the neighbors probably thought we were having a party.

We suddenly realized how important the visual aspect of it was to my son. What we decided to do was a bit unconventional to say the least but, this was the method that worked best. It was also very little stress to our child and to us as parents.

For the next two weeks whenever he was inside the house he ran around with no bottoms on. Whenever he would notice himself pee a little, or when we saw it and told him, he would run over to the potty and sit down and pee. We would immediately cheer and give him a few M&M's. Anytime we went anywhere or if he was playing outside he would still wear his diapers and we didn't worry about it.

After he had mastered going potty inside the house then we started putting him in undies to go outside and play. This took a little while to take effect but after a few months he got the hang of that too. Even if he was peeing outside because he still waited to the last second, he managed to not soak his clothes. It was at this point we put his clothes back on inside the house.

From that point we started to take him on short runs to the store with no diaper. Sometimes we would even make up reasons to go for short drives to help him learn that he wasn't wearing a diaper in the car. By this time there were little to no accidents happening.

As soon as he became comfortable with the short trips in the car we decided it was time to move him out of the potty seat and just put the training seat on the toilet. Then he felt like a big boy to use the same potty Mommy and Daddy used. We also began making the trips away from home with no diaper longer and longer. We did still continue with the treats and praise for quite a while.

It did take a while longer to get him potty trained this way. Roughly we worked on this for close to a year. The upside however, for him was that there was no stress. We made sure that he never got into trouble for his accidents. Being understanding of his hyper activeness actually did us a lot of good. We were all less stressed. It was better to deal with a few stains on the carpet than to have our little one crying about potty time.

I found over time that the most effective way to deal with all of my son's quirks is through patience just like this. For parents who are dealing with day care with their little ones this method can still be effective. It really only has to be done in the beginning while you are home with them. This will cut down on everyone trying to do something new or different with them. The great part too is that one day you can take them to day care with their undies and the staff will almost think he or she was potty trained overnight.