Parents, Why the Big Rush to Potty Train?

You can save yourself and your toddler a lot of frustration if you exercise patience where potty training is concerned. Admit it. You do dream of the day you can finally walk down the baby supply aisle of your local supermarket without having to load in several huge packages of expensive -- very expensive -- diapers for your child. Most of us have been there and understand what you are going through.

However, in spite of the articles you run across detailing a couple's amazing feat of potty training their infant before he or she was 3 months old, the chances of you duplicating that feat are next to nothing.

The truth is, the average toddler will end up potty trained when he or she is ready to be potty trained, and not before. Therefore, all the effort you make before that time is just going to cause both you and your child to become tense and upset, and may, in some cases, delay the process much longer than necessary. It is kind of like trying to teach a 5-year-old to ride a two wheeler. It can be done, but if you wait until he is 6 or even 7, it can be done in a fraction of the time minus many of the spills the child would suffer if pushed into learning to ride before he or she is ready.

Several things will show you that your toddler is ready for this new step in life. Once you observe most of them on a fairly consistant basis, you will know it is probably time to make some beginning attempts at potty training.

1. Is your child staying dry for at least two hours at a time? If not, you may end up having to put him on the potty so often that he will come to resent it and not be co-operative. (You probably already know how un-coperative a two or three-year-old can be.)

2. Does he give any indication that he dislikes, or is uncomfortable in soiled diapers? Some children would happily remain in soiled diapers for the rest of the day, but others may remove them or come and tell you they want to be changed. This is a good sign of readiness for potty-training.