Help! My 4 year old son keeps peeing in his toys.

[taz925]

Hi,

My son potty trained for pee over the summer. He pretty much just started to us the toilet and went on his own. About a month ago, he started asking me or his dad to go to the bathroom with him.

Now to our problem. When he has to pee, he will find the closest toy that he thinks will hold his pee and pee in it. Some background, we allow him to pee in a cup in the car when we are somewhere where there is no bathroom handy. We think this is why he does this at home too. He will pee in toys, containers, toys that won't hold the pee etc. He has peed on the floor and in other peoples homes. How do we make it stop? Can me make it stop? He will help cleanup.

Any suggestions on getting this to stop or ways that I can keep from getting frustrated by this.

Tell me this too shall pass!

Thanks,

Doreen

[Victorian]

First of all -

Sorry - had to get that out of the way.

My dd did something very similar. She had a bladder infection, and I took her to the doctor. After 15 minutes of trying to convince her to pee in a cup, she finally did. Then for weeks, she would pee in cups around the house. Then one day, she pooped into a coffee cup. Now, mind you I was about 3 months pregnant when this happened. Well, I found the cup and proceeded to vomit all over the kitchen floor!!! She never did again. Can you vomit on command? It might help :LOL

I know that none of this helps you, but I just wanted to let you know that I sympothize with you.

[homebirthx2]

What you need to do is get a potty chair that you can put a plastic bag in and that way it is easy to dump when needed in the car. This will either be a hard toilet or a blow up toilet used for potty training. This will help in the car when there is no toilet to use on the road, you can easily just put in the backseat on the floor until you need it and then just pull over and use it. This will help him understand both at home and in the car that we use a toilet for going to the bathroom. Right now at this age, he can't distinguish between only peeing in the cup in an emergency and peeing in the cup, toy, or on the floor anytime he has to pee. Good luck in redirecting his concept of when and how to pee.

[nomadmom]

Victoria, I'm :LOL at your story! When my ds was little, I let him pee in some bushes in a desperate moment. It took more than a few public performances for him to understand that he couldn't just pee on any bushes at any time! So, don't worry, Doreen. It *will* pass.

[fourgrtkidos]

MY gosh it took me 5 minutes to stop laughing at Victorian's post....... whew!

Anyway, my son did this too for awhile. He peed in planters at nice resturants, in the crisper in the fridge and would chase our cat trying to "get" him (this one lasted the longest because he could never accomplish it).
He is 12 now and doesn't even remember it. It will pass. Kids are weird and why shouldn't they be, all of us parents are!

Michelle- Momma to four great kidos!

[Momma's Arms]

Have you tried reasoning with him? I know all kids have their own time tables, but my dd at 4 was definately able to be reasoned with. In fact, she tried to negotiate everything! I would explain to him that this is yucky. When you pee on a toy, you make it yucky. Do you want to play with yucky toys? Do you want Mommy to have to throw away a toy because it is yucky? I would let him know that this is unacceptable behavior and treat it as a discipline issue.

OT= My dd used to pee on herself at this age. It was intentional and vengeful. Everytime I put her in time out, she would pee. In fact, she discolored our hard wood floors by peeing in the same spot so many times! I was scared to use time out anywhere outside of our home and she knew it.

[zealsmom]

Re: Help! My 4 year old son keeps peeing in his toys.

Originally posted by taz925
Some background, we allow him to pee in a cup in the car when we are somewhere where there is no bathroom handy.

What's wrong with a bush?

[Monica]

Can you make peeing in the toilet more fun? I had a friend who used to keep a dish of cheerios on the back of the toilet, when her ds had to pee he got to throw a few in the potty and try to sink them. I would also stop the cup in the car business. Either get a small potty for the car, or pull off the road and find a McDonalds or a bush. The few times we have had to pee on the side of the road, I have emphasized how hard we were looking for a potty, and this was an emergency, so it is ok this time, but peeing in the pottty is always our first choice. Good luck.

[taz925]

Thanks, Thankfully it passed a few days after I posted...

Hi,

I did tell him we don't do that and he finally got it!

As for why not in a bush, I have done that too! It has just gotten a bit cold out so the cup thing was better and I didn't have to take the baby out of the car to find a bush...

I had him pee on a tree in a park once when we were the only ones there and no bathroom available again. The next time we went to that same park, guess what? He dropped his pants and peed on the same tree, only this time there were lots of people around. I just pretended I didn't know who that kid belonged to :-) !

Thanks for the helpful suggestions!

Doreen

[merpk]

So glad this is resolved, because I had absolutely no worthwhile advice to offer ... but the OP did make me smile, so thought to respond ... but then Victorian's response made me spew a very large mouthful of Sleepytime tea on my monitor ...



It's going to take me a long time to get the visuals from this thread out of my head ... not to mention to stop giggling ...

[sweet tea]

no advice..but what a cute post! I just have a girl..but boys....well maybe I'll be so lucky this next time!