Your son is potty trained and you trained him sitting down (which is how I recommend to start off), but now you think you might be ready to help your son transition to standing. Where do you start? 

Questions to Consider...

First, how do you know if your son is ready to pee standing up? For starters, how independent is he? Can he reach the toilet standing without a step stool? (I say without a step stool because most toddlers will tower over the toilet while ON a step stool which might make aiming more difficult.) Can your son pull his pants up and down on his own? Maybe he has already been doing this, and that’s great! Can he effectively put the toilet seat up and back down? And finally, can he get most of his urine into the toilet while standing? Let him try to pee standing up and see how much pee actually makes it into the toilet versus on the floor. Simply line the floor around the toilet with something like newspaper and see what happens. 

Starter Tips!

If you have decided the timing is right and your son is capable, then move forward with standing. Don’t teach him to hold his penis when he is peeing. Often boys naturally want to do this as they think they need to aim this way, but often it will result in aiming in more directions than just the toilet! However, it is important to teach him how to point his penis down, so that it is aimed at the potty. Typically, if he isn’t trying SO hard to aim, and just stands there and pees as he is lined up with the toilet, his stream of urine should naturally go in the right direction.  

Should I have him stand at public toilets?

If your son has transitioned to standing at home, but can’t quite reach the toilets in public restrooms, you might try a few things to help. One, he could simply just sit on the toilet as he has done before. Two, you can try giving him a little boost by lifting him up under his arms or around his chest. Finally, letting him stand on your feet might give him enough height to do the trick. 

Helping with his aim!

Other tips and tricks for transitioning your son to standing and helping with aim: make a game out of it and throw something like cheerios into the toilet to act as a target, add food coloring to the toilet water and let him watch how it changes colors as he pees, let him practice in a designated spot outside with something that acts as a target (if you feel comfortable with allowing him to do so), let him watch his dad or other male role model pee standing up, teach him to always raise and then lower the toilet seat (all the girls in his life will thank you!) and finally, involve him in any necessary clean up when his aim isn’t perfect--having to help clean up just might make him try a little harder.

Potty training your son doesn’t have to be all business, it can be fun too! He will be so proud of himself as he masters the new skill of standing to pee, but be careful, it will make him feel that much older too!!