giving up on toilet training (with a touch of venting)

My three-year-old was toilet trained, but seems to have lost interest.
He'll peacefully pee in his pants and walk around with wet underwear. He
can use the toilet, but choses not to (example: today, in the space of
under three hours, he used the toilet three times, when reminded to, and
had four "accidents"). He was tested for a UTI and didn't have one -- I
think it's just a decision he's made. I'm fed up with it, and tempted to
just go back to pull-ups.

For those of you who have had to back off, with preschool-age kids (not
toddlers): how did it work? How did you know when your kid was ready to
go back to wearing underwear?

toypup...

He'll probably decide on his own and let you know.

enigma...

when he dressed himself in underwear, on his own. up until
that point he was adamant he was going to wear diapers. of
course, i'd discovered that the reason his diapers stayed dry
so long was he was changing them on his own when no one was
watching (i thought he'd developed a bladder of steel. i'd
dress him at 7am & he'd still be dry at 3-4 pm...)
Boo decided he'd use the toilet at 4 years, 3 months. i never
pushed him, just showed him that there was undies in the
drawer when he decided to be a big boy.
there's a good possibility that your son is protesting the
impending sibling by remaining the baby, IYKWIM, so just being
totally matter-of-fact about putting him in pull-ups &
dropping any power struggle will take the wind out of those
sails. yeah, it's harder on you when you just don't need it,
but he does have to decide *for himself* that he wants to use
the toilet.
lee

Sue...

In the case with DD1, she just started using the toilet on her own.

Stephanie...

In my case, DS was nearly four. He told me.