I just used reverse psychology to potty train my three year old, and it worked

My oldest is 3.5, and he has been a nightmare with potty training. I tried every method, read all the books, and attempted on six different occasions between 24 and 42 months with no luck. He would just pee on the floor or in his pants and just not care. Finally got him pee trained a few months ago, and he’s done really well with that and only wears pull ups at night, but he refused to poop on the potty. I again tried everything including bribing with cookies, making it fun, using a potty chart, reading books in the bathroom, taking him with me, etc. I did it all. My pediatrician even threw up her hands and had no other ideas to offer. He has this need to be in control and this is the one thing I absolutely cannot force him to do and I think he was relishing that.So after four months of being tired of cleaning poop out of underwear or leaving him in pull ups in the evening, I decided this is the weekend I stop cleaning poopy underwear. Last night I made a really big deal of the reward he gets for pooping on the potty (cookies). But then told him “I don’t think it’s gonna happen tonight, I’m gonna put them away” and he asked to try (which he always does but never goes). I offered no encouragement, acted goofily annoyed that I had to go sit in the bathroom with him, and only gave him two minutes to try when normally it’s 20 minutes of me begging. He said his usual line of “I go tomorrow, poop on the potty for cookies” and I just shrugged it off and said I don’t know, maybe.So today, same deal, he came home from daycare and I got the cookies out and started eating them. He asked for one and I told him the usual, and he wanted to try. Again, I was like “I mean you can try but I don’t think you can do it, and I’m gonna put them away in a minute so it probably won’t happen.”He went straight to the potty and went, then came back and demanded his cookies. I don’t know whether to be amused that it worked, mad that I didn’t try this a year ago, or just glad that the whole ordeal is over. via /r/Parenting https://ift.tt/3aCHOWB