My 3 yr old REFUSES to poopy for me

my son is 3 yrs old and REFUSES to poopy at all for me.. His dad and I aren't together but he will poopy for him at his house.. I have asked him why he won't poopy for me and he tells me it's because it will hurt... I don't know what I'm doing wrong so I need advice as to how to handle this and also how to help him get over this stage as quickly as possible... Please help

[Kevin Kennedy, Ph.D.]

The first thing you should do is have his peditarician evaluate him. You'll want to be sure that his bowels are not impacted. If so, he'll have to undergo some treatment to clean out his bowels via a regimen of laxatives and/or stool softeners. When children become constipated (which can happen pretty quickly), stooling can be painful and then contribute to their wanting to avoid using the potty.