Another approach to consider is bribing him with the promise candy as a reward for toilet dueces.
Be consistent with the offer until little dude gets up the courage. Keep up the offer and rewards for a few days or a week until it becomes normal.
Then one time when he uses the toilet and forgets about the candy, don’t bring it up. And let the bribes fade out of memory.
The little tykes toilet, and the buddy system.
Like, he figured it out by example, and would get a little reward for going #2 like a big kid.
First, I taught him to pee on stuff, like trees & whatnot. Much comedy ensued when he got up from playing at the playground and peed on the fence where all the moms sit. And he was super happy about it!
Then he had to learn to focus it on/in the toilet.
Then the analogy was created between peeing and pooping- and that the toilet was for both.
Bada-bing bada-boom. No more diapers. Actually it took a little time, like a couple months, but it was at the point he was realizing discomfort and didn’t like a messy diaper.
I was fine with the mild ribbing from one and the one that made me wait 2 hours for a lunch thing with his friends (it wasn’t really his fault actually).
I was less fine with the one who let me walk for 5 min in the wrong direction before telling me we were going the wrong direction on a hike
Oh yeah, comfortable seating is important too. We had a little kid seat that went over the regular toilet seat to make the opening smaller.
Man, I didn’t even consider how a little boy might already use the toilet without sitting on it. And how just getting them up there for a #2 could be it’s own step.
That can be fine for you, but not somebody else. Like touching a nerve. It could be a “ha-ha” nerve, or a bad nerve. My one buddy calls me “the berserker”, cuz he’s seen it, first hand. Its an inside funny. I joke about how he can’t drive forward too good but he can whip a trailer full of equipment into a space with razor thin wiggle room. Also inside joking. Both with a strong helping of respect though.
That would be a deal breaker for me 100% of the time.
And again, I’d be fine with that for my own reasons.
So a lot of that stuff is like a 50/50 relationship. Theres what happens, and how you respond to it.
If we went 5 minutes in the wrong direction to a grocery store that is about to close, I’d be livid. 
.
Don’t sweat the small shit - pun intended.
He will use the toilet when he is damn good and ready. You pushing him will just piss him off (pun intended).
I got two kids, both in college. Daughter a struggle, son well adjusted. Using the toilet is the minors. Don’t major in the minors. It doesn’t really matter unless you make it important - and it is not important.
This whole thread tickles me - being a father means knocking someone up but we make a big deal out of it - it’s really no accomplishment. Showing hard, talking about boyfriends, yadda yadda yadda - just love your kid.
Things will work out.
I think we’d have to define “shit test”. So far it’s being interpreted loosely.
Had to go all the way in to Urban Dictionary for this, lol.
The things you’ve mentioned, in my experience, are not artificially conjured to see a hypothetical response. It’s just how we exist. In a what you see is what you get sort of way.
Shit tests are very intentionally applied manipulations. Urban dictionary gets a little dramatic as it usually does but captures the phenomenon well. This isn’t something I just made up.
In any case, women definitely do this.
And for many we are making a promise to God.
Good post.
From a mom/daughter standpoint (referencing my own mom fyi), she explained that she would actually bring me into the bathroom to watch her go. I had this fascination with doing whatever it was my mom did, and she caught on to the mimicking.
In the mornings she would go first and then have me sit for a bit. Didn’t always mean I would go, but she’d say “see? This is what mommy does.”
Id always want to be doing whatever it was she was doing. Drink coffee, sit with my legs crossed, makeup, tweeze my eyebrows, put on perfume,etc. So sometimes that works.
I guess this belongs here. Apparently men can pass on their exercise capacity to their children.
When you say in the bathroom, do you mean sitting on the toilet. For some children the sensation of the poo dropping into the toilet is weird at first and they don’t like it.
Maybe consider breaking it down into steps. First get them to sit on the toilet in their nappy, once this is a routine, then try to have the nappy looser or hanging down slightly, this will introduce the feeling of the poo hanging down as they go to the toilet. You can then progress to the nappy in the toilet to catch the poo (bit of a pain but wont need to be done often) and then finally just the toilet.
Good luck with it.
Shoutout to whoever gave that “let them read to you” advice, my daughter has been devouring the Elephant/Piggie books with me. She reads the pig and I read the elephant and we are reading like 5-10 of them a day
Thats some quality time there, man. 
One of my favorite moments was when my one niece would read to me. She was just a tiny little thing, and would cuddle up into my side and read me her favorites.
There’s nothing better.
Sweet.I Really Like Slop, is an absolute banger.
I always had to be Gerald too!
Yeah so far that’s been the favorite of both kids
Subject of possible interest.
I didn’t fully understand my father until I became one.
What’s up man? Have you guys made any break throughs?
He still likes squatting in that diaper, lol. But I typically let him have his head about it and don’t really push him. I noticed he really likes to take a bit of a sumo stance to do his business and idk, in his defense it’s probably comes out a lot easier anyways.
All that said, as long as we stack up little wins together in various ways, I don’t try to push him on any singular thing too much.
He loves strength training and requests daily that I take him through the Ironmind sandbag training book. Today he bear hugged a 25# bag of rice at Sam’s Club and put it on the bottom rack of the cart. He insists that he washes his own hair now. He’ll practice writing his numbers and letters and trying to read our books and flash cards on his own. He folds a lot of his own laundry. Stuff like that makes me not worry too much about other things. I think one day he’ll say “dad, I gotta poop on the toilet.”
