How do you potty train your kid?

I have to say, first and foremost, that I am not a mom. but, I have been helping raise a 3 year old since he was one. I have seen him learn to talk, learn to walk, AND the first time he WANTED to use the potty. basically, my aunt has been letting him go on the potty whenever she thinks about it. before/after his bath or whenever she’s going to the bathroom or right before he goes to bed. she got a little scared that he was already 2 and didn’t know how, so she taught him with regular underwear. she made him a deal that if he didn’t go potty in his “big boy underwear” then he didn’t ever have to wear a diaper again. he still wears one at night of course, but we just tell him that it’s special nighttime underwear. he’s pretty much done with potty training, but soon his little 1 year old brother will be starting. a good sign that they’re ready is whenever they walk up to you and they say, “mommy, I pooped” lol.

My advice is to wait until your child is good and ready. So many parents try to rush it and then their kids have a lot of accidents. I would much rather change a few more diapers than deal with accidents.

Some of the ways to know if your child is ready is if they consistantly are dry in the morning. My daughter actually decided on her own that she wanted to start using the potty at 30 months so she pretty much potty trained herself. We did let her pick out some panties that she would get to wear when she wasn’t wearing diapers. Being able to wear her Dora the Explorer was motivating to her.

In general girls are ready for potty training before boys and black kids are ready before white or asian children.

Some parents feel like it reflects on them badly if their kid is not potty trained by a particular age. I’ve heard a lot of parents brag that their child was potty trained by 18 months. I’m not sure what award is available for such an anchievement.

I agree. The child begins to show you signs that they’re ready. That normally comes between the ages of 2 and 3, in my experience. The signs might be that he tells you when he’s going to do something in his diaper. If he knows in advance, he’s becoming ready! Or he might watch older friends on their potties and want to try too. Clever children might be able to do this earlier, but not necesarily. The ones who are most aware of their bodies (sporty kids) are probably earliest.

The only time to worry about not having him potty trained is if you want him to go to a nursery which requires ‘dry’ children. They don’t normally do that before the age of 3 in my experience. I bet the two of you will have managed it by then!

A few ideas about ‘when’ - do it when you know you’re going to have a lot of time at home with him. It’s unsettling for the child to be on holiday or in too many other people’s houses for the first few weeks of potty training. They need to feel their potty is nearby and that accidents won’t cause a problem! Also, just go for daytime dryness at the beginning. Quite a lot of children keep nappies on at night for a while after they’ve become dry at day.

And, of course, never get angry with him when he makes a mistake! I bet you wouldn’t anyway, but it does get a bit stressful if you don’t remind yourself to keep relaxed about it. Maybe you could introduce it to him as a bit of a fun experiment, so that if it doesn’t work you can say to him: ‘Never mind, we’ll try again when you’re a bit older’.

Good luck and have fun while he’s this age!