My son refuses to pee on the ground

Sometime being a parent is difficult....

Went car camping and day hiking with my family this weekend. My oldest son is recently potty trained, but is perfectly happy using the "non-flushing toilets" (his words) in the campgrounds. On a day hike to the top of Mt. Pinos he tells me he has to go pee. I told him when your out in the woods you just go and pee on a bush. He found this completely unacceptable and was in tears asking me to bring him to the "non-flushing toilet". He assured me the bush did not want to be peed on. The impasse was finally resolved when I dug a little hole in the ground and put sticks around edge (for a seat) and told him it was just like a pit toilette now. He was so happy with this arrangement that we had to find it again on the way down and he used it a second time.

Great story!

Amazing how almost any story about kids can bring a smile to your face, even if it is about peeing.

Apparently my father "was in trouble" with my mother because I, as a child, left the house to go pee on a tree in the yard.

Kids are funny! My grandson (when he was 3) refuse to pee anywhere EXCEPT on the ground outdoors for nearly 6 months! Problem, we were NOT backpacking. Crossing a bridge over a little creek smack center downtown, he drops his pants and pees an incredible arc into the stream, very proud of himself. Little boys sometimes never grow up- my dear husband pees in the backyard occasionally.

This is much closer to how I grew up in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. We had a little flower garden next to the door into our house that never grew very much because we would always pee into it before going inside.

I am not a parent so take this as you like...
Sometime children are very good at training their parents
( I had a lot of younger cousins and this is where my observation comes from)
Incidentally I was not allowed to train mine.
Franco

I've noticed that the same is true of dogs and their owners. My dog loves to go out and sleep in the sun; 10 minutes later he's overheated and wants to come in. Unfortunately, I've given in to his demands too many times, so now he thinks he can do this a dozen times a day!

Has your son seen you pee on the ground? I did the first time with my son just so he would see it as a normal thing. Only think is he thought it was too normal and would prefer to pee on the side of the house instead of coming in when playing.

Funny story two weeks ago we were hiking back to the car and I took him by a bush so he could pee. when he pulled his pants down I noticed his underwear had a wet spot. I asked if he had wet himself and he replied "no last time I peed on the tree and it bounced back." I told him from now on pee next to the tree

Yup, I have certainly done demonstrations for him.

For reference, I have four kids - mix of girls and boys. The oldest three are toilet trained (most of the time at ages 4-9) the toddler isn't. The oldest two can poop in the woods.

The problem is probably that you and your wife(?) have taught him to go to the bathroom in one way in one place. That's a hard skill to teach so you've been successful.

But he's two or three years old. Three year olds are very litteral and often don't deal with change well.

So my advice is don't worry about it. So long as he isn't having (many) accidents and you don't mind carrying a small trowel, you're pretty sure he won't decide the corner of his closet is a bathroom. And he'll naturally grow to be more flexible and tolerant of different foods and circumstances so long as you continue to introduce them to him in a positive, non threatening way.

And think of the story you'll have to tell as he gets older!! Did you get pictures of the toilet to show him when he's in Elementary school?

Steadman has great advice. Don't worry about it. I had to teach my oldest son to not pee outside all the time. One time he did it on the church lawn while everyone was coming out.

I still have one in diapers, so I am looking forward to getting him potty trained and ditching the diapers for good.

My experience with my kids was much the same as FM. When my boys were little - 2 or 3 or 4 - they would pee anywhere and everywhere. We had several instances that were a little embarrassing. The real problem comes when they get just a little older. A 3 year old peeing on the church lawn is still cute, but a 6 year old doing the same thing is just unacceptable (to most people).

So, for us, there has always been a running conversation about which of societies rules are mandatory, which are suggestions, and when and where each can/can't be broken or massaged.

Steadman is still right... don't worry about it.

Late poster. Sorry.
I just had to chuckle. Thank you for sharing.

About 20 years ago, when my youngest boy was 2, we were were hiking up to Timpanogos caves. He was toilet trained but we put a diaper on him for the ‘long walk’. Well he had to go half way up. We told him to just pee in the diaper. “No!!! I can’t!!!!”
Ok, so we let him go on the ground. From that day to today he has in no way forgot “never pee uphill or upwind.”

-Barry