HI All

My husband is a 'Sit Down Urinator'...I just put it down to him just being a lazy sod Having said that, I can't see the real need for a man to have to stand up while he's going for a wee, personally, so I don't hold it against him.

But, the upshot of it is that our almost 4 year old son has only sat down while weeing also, because he's never seen anything else. He was a dream to toilet train ie; at 2 years old he was one day in nappies, the next day in undies and never had an accident, even overnight! He has always been in in-home care so it's never been an issue there, also because he takes himself off to the toilet unaccompanied and his carer's have never commented on it.

The thing that sort of worries me is that next year he will be going to Kindy in a Centre for three days and 2 days at Pre-School so I'm a bit conscious of the fact that he won't look 'normal' to other little boys his age and will head straight for the toilets.

Has anyone else been in this situation and, if so, how did you address it or didn't you worry about it.

Or should I just tell my husband to stop being a lazy ass and that it's time for him to do his 'fatherly duty' and teach his son how to pee while standing?



Cheers
Di

I was adamant that James had to learn sitting down. ADAMANT. And everyone that worked with him gave me my way, and he learned sitting down.

One day I saw him standing over the potty, and when I went "What are you doing?!", he went "I potty standing up!", and that was pretty much the end of that.

He needs to learn to go standing up, because he's not always going to be in a situation where he can sit down. If that's not his preference (like your husband), that's fine, but he needs to know how to do it.

Personally, I'd venture it's far more hygenic to stand up - there's alot of germs in/on/around the toilet bowl, and if you don't ever come in contact with them, that's way better for you!

Do they have urinals in the kindergarten? My boys LOVED urinals and the novelty of it will probably intrigue your son too. Have your husband show him how to used a urinal and he will probably never want to sit down whenever one is available...which is in most public places.

Elijah has only ever gone sitting down and he's not much younger than your son. He goes to child care/preschool and there's no problem with him sitting. In fact, the toilets there are unisex for the children and there are no urinals. By the time he gets to school, we'll probably have to think about teaching him how to aim standing, but until then, I don't see a problem.

Helen

Thanks for all your suggestions and encouragement! I think we've now created a monster!

So the evening I posted this thread, I said something to the hubby about starting to teach his son so last night, when we were on the road down to Sydney to drop my mum off at the airport, we stopped at a Maccas and Will had to go to the toilet. Pete went in with him and he went in the urinals for the first time. A big fuss was done about it, of course, and we congratulated him (me, afterwards, because I don't usually hang out in men's toilets...well, much anyway, and only to perve!

So Will was having a bath this morning, and proudly stood up and showed me how he could wee standing up! Mmmm, not pretty!

Oh well, at least we are on the right track, now.

Cheers
Di

James just bellies up to the toilet. No holding on, no nothing. It makes me laugh every time I see it. lol!

Lol, I was going to post that it was time to get out the Cheerios and start practicing hitting targets, but it sounds like your little guy has it down right away! Glad it's all worked out.

Nice job! I like the idea of Cheerios as target practice! My son is 2 1/2 and we are in the middle of potty training!

I think if you just say that at school there are potties called urinals where boys have to stand up to pee and show him how, then he'll get to make the choice-pee in the urinal or sit in the stall. My best advice is give him the information and knowledge and let him make the decision.

Based upon my own experiences the fascination of a urinal at school and peer pressure will have the matter take care of itself. At the critical age, my father was away in the Army (I was of this age during WWII, so was essentially reared by my mom and grandmother (who was divorced.) So I was essentially a "setter." We had 4 AND 5 year old public kindergarten (so parents could do war work...they built submarines in my home town) and the first day of school, when the guys were sent to the rest room, the urinal was introduced by my peers. Any sitting down invited a jeer like "You pee like my sister." (I had no siblings.)

When I had a son and now that he has sons and my daughter also has boys, it was the fatherly duty to provide examples and instruction.

The OP should tell her husband to get off his @$$.

Jon

ping pong balls in the loo worked for my little boys, they loved the target practice!

karen xx