What You Should Know Before You Start Potty Training a Child

Toilet training is one of the toughest challenges a parent has to face. There are a lot of parenting books out there, but you can buy everything available and still end up very confused. I don't think anyone should have to pay for any parenting advice. Parents should not be denied knowledge on the basis that they cannot afford it; children are too precious for that. This is why I decided to write this series of articles based on my own experiences.

Do not buy any E-books that claim you can potty train your child in 24 hours or a week. These have been written to make their authors rich and the methods featured in them often require you to buy more potty-training materials. Each child is different and therefore the same method might work for some toddlers and fail for others; some children can be potty trained in a day (even though I doubt this is true), others need months to master toilet going skills.

The first thing you need to do is make sure your child is ready for toilet training. There is not a set age when you should start potty training even though most parents do this when their child is between 18 months (which I think is too early) and 3 years (that might be pushing in the opposite direction). In the real world, pre-schools only accept children that are 3 or older and they need to be toilet trained; your child is a person, not a machine so if you have a deadline, give yourself plenty of time and you will save yourself and your toddler some stress. Ask yourself the following questions:

- does my child understand simple questions that require a yes or no answer?
- does he/she show an interest in other family members going to the bathroom?
- is he/she able to partly dress/undress himself/herself?
- does he/she show satisfaction at being praised for something he/she has achieved?
- can he/she stay focused on a TV programme, book or toy for more than 5 minutes?
- does he/she sometimes try to imitate you or an older sibling?

If you answered yes to at least 4 of these, then your child is probably ready for potty training. Before you start, I strongly encourage you to read the following articles: "Prepare Yourself and Your Child for the Potty Training Challenge" and "How to Successfully Potty Train Your Child".