Potty Training

Potty training requires a great deal of patience, and setbacks often happen. Many children begin potty training between 18 to 24 months of age; however, it's not uncommon for a child to still be in diapers at three years of age. This is an important stage in your child's development. Be sure to show kindness, love, support and respect as your child moves out of diapers. Praise your child when the job is done correctly!

Tips on starting potty training

Be sure now is a good time to potty train your child. Begin potty training when you are ready to devote the time and energy to encourage your child on a daily basis for at least three months.
Watch for signs that your child is ready. When your child is ready, he will signal that his diaper is wet or soiled or will tell you that he would like to go to the potty.
Let your child explore. Introduce your child to the bathroom and make his time there comfortable. Let him practice flushing the toilet and sitting on the potty.
Keep it positive. Tell your child that the potty chair is his own chair. And never force your child to sit on the chair. Stay with your child when he is on the potty chair. Reading or talking to your child when he is sitting on the potty may help your child relax.
Help your child make the connection. Place your child on the potty chair whenever he signals the need to go to the bathroom so he'll associate the potty with the urge to go.
Regularly go to the potty. In addition to watching for signals that your child needs to urinate or have a bowel movement, place your child on the potty at regular intervals. This may be as often as every 1-1/2 to 2 hours.
Reinforce success. Praise your child when he goes to the bathroom in the potty chair, but do not express disappointment if your child does not urinate or have a bowel movement in the potty. Be patient with your child.

Author- Kimberly Baker

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Comment by The BAM Project, Anita Smithson on September 22, 2010 at 11:06am: Yesterday was the beginning of our potty training journey with our baby girl.
I had went out and got Dora training pants and made a big deal about it with our daughter.
I took her on average every 30-45 minutes to the potty and had her sit there and look at her book....
(she did not go either, but we are practicing sitting on the toilet)

the cool thing is she does get the process and knows she needs to pull up her panties, well atleast is trying.

so in the middle of the night, she had come in our room= it was really cool, instead of crawling into bed with me, she stood at our bathroom door and pointed.
(well i was half asleep and didnt realize what she was doing, so i kept telling her to come to bed- btu she kept standing there "like HELLO mom, lets go potty"... anyways i thought it was cool that she was getting in the routine... so we woke up today and sat on potty again, nothing- but i think it will work soon
dropped her off at daycare, and rania will be taking her every half hour... so with both of us doing this, it will happen right???
more stories to come.......

Comment by Dede on February 28, 2010 at 10:10pm: Great question Connie! According to Life.Familyeducation.com, it is normally easier to train little girls .
This is what they said:
"It usually takes boys longer to potty train than girls because boys have to learn two ways, sitting and standing. It's best to start boys off with sitting only and try not to confuse them."

Comment by Connie Doyle on February 27, 2010 at 3:09pm: Do girls or boys learn quicker? I'm a step mom and we share custody of my husband's 2 1/2 year old daughter. We try to provide a loving and stable environment for her but we "fight" back and forth with the biological mom. Any recommendations?