I don't potty train my kids. By that, I mean I don't take them to the potty every hour each day in the toilet training process. I don't have the patience..... nor the time. And........... I'm lazy. So.......... I wait! I wait till they are nice and ready. My motto when it comes to toilet training is "I ain't ready till they're ready."
When they are ready, I take them straight to the adult's toilet (with a child seat of course). I find it so much easier this way. No need to clean up dirty little potties. No need to do double training ie have to retrain them in the transition from potty to the adult big seat. All I have to do is flush the toilet after they're done.
Just like any development stage of a child, you can easily tell when they are ready. Just pay attention and watch for the signs. I like this article on Potty Training Readiness and totally agree with it. Here is an excerpt but do read the full article from the link.
"The most important factors are not necessarily age, but rather physiologic, physical and psychological readiness. Before a child can be "toilet trained", she must have attained a certain amount of physiologically readiness, namely "bladder readiness"
The article went on to say that the child must be able to recognise that she is voiding, be physically able and be willing to learn. I also agree with the following statement.
"Last but not least, look at yourself and your family situation. In order for toilet training to be as painless and smooth as possible, make sure that you AND your child are ready."
So, now that my boy can tell me:
- that he wants his diaper changed
- he can use a term to describe the process which is "Shh shh" for pee and "Umm mmm" for poo in our home
- he is showing willingness to learn
Well, it looks like he is ready so its time for me to show him how.
My boy is 2 1/2 years old. I am unfazed by anyone who tells me that I am starting the toilet training process late. To me, every child is different and every parent is different. When it comes to parenting, there is no right or wrong. Whatever feels right for your child and you according to your family circumstances is the right thing!
As for my girl who is 4 1/2, I've put her back on diapers for afternoon naps and during the night since she's had too many bed wetting incidents. I may have tried to get her off the sleep time diaper before she was ready causing us both a lot of stress. So now we have to backtrack and wait till we're ready to try again. Oh well, like everything else in life, you get some of it right and some of it wrong. In this case, the timing was not right. (The daytime toilet training process was quick, easy and painless ie over in about 2 weeks but I think we got the timing for the nighttime training all wrong). My big worry now is that it'll be harder to get her off the sleep diapers now, since we've failed once before (and I gave her a hard time by getting worked up over it) and she may have developed a bad habit of peeing in her diaper.
Related Links:I'm Ready For Toilet Training
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Hehe...I am oso lazy to potty train my son n bz with my work. I'll only ask him whether he wants to pee or not when I remember or before he shower. Sometimes, when he sees the bathroom, he'll tell me he wants to pee pee. Whether he really wants to pee pee or not, I'll just open his diaper n let him pee..But I was kinda frustrated when I see him squatting down n pee. My MIL taught him to do so. Eventhought I told her off, she still does that. Now, whenever he pee, I'll hold him in a standing position to pee. My son still cannot tell me that he wants to poo yet. Whenever he finished poo, then only he'll tell.
ReplyDeletesabrina,
ReplyDeleteYah hehe. At the moment, I oso let him pee in the shower. Later only teach him how to aim into the toilet bowl.
I always shake my head when I hear people push for babies to be toilet trained. To me "toilet trained" means the child can walk to the toilet/potty and do it themselves. How can babies do that?
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I'm with you on the "when they are ready" idea. Why put unnecessary stress on yourself right? Like we need more stress. heheheh.
I never really trained Justin too, but MIL and SIL had different thought which I just ignored. However, Justin knows how to say mm mmm before one, and after wetting his pants so much (no nappy or diaper) and cleaning the mess for 21 months, he can be diaper free already, except bedtime! Yippie!
ReplyDelete*Tau tap tap* Guilty Mom....Mei Mei is still using diapers.
ReplyDelete