Every parent has to go through potty toilet training and there is never a shortage of advice from family and friends that have already gone through it.
This “how to potty train” advice can be counterproductive especially considering that every child is different and will develop at different stages in their life. As your child gets older there will be time when they will become more aware of their bowel movements and can happen anytime between 2 and 3 years of age.
As a parent you will find that children have all sorts of firsts in their lives and potty training is just one road of discovery that will help them develop as little people and if done right can be a healthy confidence building process as well.
So can you potty train your child? Will they be receptive to your instructions? Well yes you can and yes they will. A child can pick things up much quicker than grown ups. Their minds are like spunges and can take a lot in. The same goes for training your child to use the toilet when they need to go. These signs will occur at different times as children develop at different stages.
So do you think your child is ready?
Along with the cost of nappies or diapers most parents really don’t want to deal with the hassle of dirty nappy changes anymore but don’t be too hasty your child needs to be showing the signs of awareness that come along as they get older. When your child indicates they need to go to the toilet then it means their bodies are telling them something is about to happen and is the basic conditioning that starts to happen. You may notice this as one of the first signs you will experience.
Other signs can be:
• There bowel movements will occur at similar times of the day
Your Child can stay dry for longer spells
• They will tell you when they have soiled their nappy
As a guideline, again this is not set in stone but around the age of 2 to 2 and a half you may well start noticing the above behaviour patterns. Girls usually will be going before boys. Potty training boys takes a few extra techniques but all in all the process is pretty much the same.
If your child can understand simple commands such as “let’s go to the toilet” or “Do you need to Pee Pee” then this is another encouraging sign that you child is ready.