The pressure to toilet train your child for some parents can become overwhelming. They see their friends and peers with children even younger than their own who have been successfully toilet trained and they feel they must accomplish the same with their own child. Please remember that your child is an individual and each individual is unique. Knowing the best time for your child to begin toilet training can turn the experience into a happy memory rather than a frustration you never care to visit again.
Stop judging your child by what happened when you were a child or the experiences of your peer’s children. It is better to relax about the whole process than to build up tension that will only cause unnecessary problems for both your child and yourself. So your first tip is to ‘relax’.
Your second tip is to simply ‘wait’. You are not being a bad parent if your child takes longer to be toilet trained. Usually a child is 2 or 3 or even 4 years old. Even if you feel your child is ready sooner, you really should wait until they are two years of age.
Your third tip is to be sure YOU are ready. Yes, this is important. It is best not to begin the process of toilet training when you are feeling pressure from family or peers or other issues in your life. There will be numerous interruptions all day for running to the potty. You will have to know where bathrooms are no matter where you are during the day. All this is a commitment that is best undertaken when your life is running smoothly.
The fourth tip is to be sure your child is both emotionally and physically ready for the training process. Your child may want to start just because of a reward you mentioned they will have, or because they want the ‘big boy’ pants or they are excited about the ‘potty chair’.
Signals that your child is ready for toilet training will be their physical ability to raise and lower their own pants, pick up objects, and maneuver between rooms without any problems. Their bladder is ready when they remain dry for several hours, usually wetting between four and six times in the day with the ability to completely empty their bladder. Your child needs to be able to understand the words ‘dry’, ‘pants’, ‘wet’, and ‘bathroom or potty’. You will be giving some instructions and your child will need to be able to understand what you tell them. The big one is when your child is showing signs they are aware they need to go potty, then they are ready.
