Is Early Better Than Late Potty Training?

New parents are the most common people to ask the questions, "When should I begin potty training, early or late?" or " Is early better than late potty training? ". There are several opinions about when to begin potty training, but it is a matter of fact, they cannot be potty trained until they are ready.

My personal opinion is not to start too early. You obviously do not want to start before they can walk. If they cannot get to the potty on their own, why bother training them. You do not want to start before they find the pee or poop in their pants offensive. You can start after the age of one and a half saying, "eeww", when changing their diaper. This will indicate to them that this is not a good thing to potty in their pants. When they start finding it offensive themselves, put a training potty chair in the bathroom. Take them into the bathroom when you go to use it and tell them to go potty with you. This will encourage them to want to be like a big girl or big boy. You need to give them positive reinforcement every time they act as if they want to use the potty.

One thing that comes in handy is if you have another child, while the older child is still in diapers, to say, "We have to change the baby's diaper now", every time you change the new baby's diaper. Then when you change their diaper, talk about how they are a big girl or boy now and do not need diapers anymore.

Waiting until a child is three or four years old is not good for the child. By then, their friends and playmates have already gone into big girl or big boy pants and you do not want other children to make fun of them. This will lead to insecurities as they grow up. Waiting until a child is past three or four years old to potty train them is sheer laziness on the part of the parents. The cost is enormous too. With the cost of diapers these days, waiting an extra one to two years to potty train your child will put a financial burden on your budget.

While it is true that it is easier to potty train a girl than it is a boy, the age of three is the oldest a child should be before starting training. If your child is a boy, make sure that when an older boy in the family or the father go to use the bathroom that the child accompanies them. This will demonstrate how to stand up and use the toilet. As the child gets older and steps up to use the potty himself, so he learns to aim for the toilet. Use cheerios in the toilet and make it a game for him to hit them. This makes it fun to go potty like the big boys.

No matter if it is a boy or a girl, make sure you use positive reinforcement every time they successfully use the potty. You can do this by clapping and saying, 'yeah!' with a big smile on your face and tell them what a good boy or girl they are being. This will make them want to use the potty again to get that approval from their parents.