[...] Why I Abandoned the “Readiness” Approach to Potty Training. [...]

[...] Why I Abandoned the “Readiness” Approach to Potty Training. [...]

[...] Why I Abandoned the “Readiness” Approach to Potty Training. [...]

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I decided to potty train my son the week after he turned two, despite the fact that the only ‘readiness’ sign he had was good communication skills. He was not staying dry for more than an hour at a time, he never asked to have a clean diaper, he didn’t seem to have any obvious cues or places he’d go to do his business. And because he was a boy, lots of people thought I was crazy to try. Well, one morning, we put on underwear and had a total potty-focused day, and since that first day he’s been in underwear whenever he’s awake. (Nights he wears a diaper, but I don’t care about that) There have been a handful of accidents, of course, but not many.

Maybe if I had waited another year or more, he’d be so ‘ready’ I could just say, “Hey. Here’s a potty. Do your thing.” and he would, but he’s also a very different kid now in terms of stubbornness/independence, I think it would be a much trickier job for those sorts of reasons. And he just seems like such a big boy now at 3 that I can’t imagine still changing his diapers.

If I had gone by recommendations, there’s no way I would have tried when I did, and I think it would have done him a disservice to wait this long.

The Brazelton method worked great for us. She was potty trained right after 3YO and she’s never had an accident in bed or anywhere else. I say use whatever works for you and your child (you know him best, afterall), why does it matter so much at what age they are trained? (please provide something other than the environmental argument)

We’re doing part-time EC (diaperfreebaby.com) and my 7mo old has periods where he’ll consistently pee and poop in the potty. When he hits a milestone (like now he’s teething and learning to crawl) it “regresses” considerably.

We do this partly for my agenda (even if it’s one less diaper a day – it’s one less diaper a day) and partly so that he retains the knowledge of what’s happening “down there” so that when he is ready it’ll be easier.

It’s not for everyone, but – like you said – I’m the mom and it works for me :-)

I let my kids potty train themselves. They trained “late” (3s) but never had accidents and were dry at night at the same time as day. Some of us don’t want to be in the driver’s seat. To me, the idea of my child urinating and defecating in numerous pair of underwear and/or on my floor, is completely and utterly revolting. Um, no thanks. And don’t even get me started on having to spend my days (every 10 minutes!) focusing on someone else’s toileting habits. That’s not for me either.

I truly think parents push their toddlers too hard to potty-train much too early. My mother-in-law often bragged when my son was little that her three boys were all potty-trained before they turned 2. Bull. :p I clean the bathroom. I know my husband still doesn’t hit the bowl 10 out of 10 times. ;)

I waited until I thought my son could understand what was expected of him and until he was old enough to understand peeing is the ONE THING you stop playing to take care of. ;)

A few weeks before he turned 4, we started Potty Boot Camp one Friday morning. We started with a kitchen timer set to go off every hour on the hour. We’d stop what we were doing, go sit on the potty, and go or not. Day 2 had us dropping everything to go try to go every hour without the timer. By that evening, he was recognizing that he needed to go and going between his hourly bathroom visits. By day 3, he was in underwear and running to the bathroom as soon as the urge to go occurred to him. That was it. Daytime and nighttime potty-trained in 3 days. We used pull-ups for security at night for a few more weeks until everyone was sure of themselves, but he was fully trained and has had fewer than a half dozen accidents in the 5 years since Potty Boot Camp Weekend. =D

Chrissi, Cyber School Mom
http://cyberschoolmomdiaries.blogspot.com/