I am regularly asked by parents in the child care centres that I work about toilet training and when is a good time to commence it.

This is an excellent question and is of course an individual thing depending on your child. In my experience, doing it too early can be too much for the child and the best time to start is around 2 - 2 1/2 years of age.

It is important to make it fun and not force your child to go and here are some tips that will help from my experience.

  • I have always found the best approach is to show your child their potty and put it in a place where it is easy for them to get to.
  • Ask them every hour if they need to go. This may seem commonsense but sometimes children get so engrossed in what they are doing that they forget!
  • Give them an incentive to want to go such as reading a book whilst on the potty.
  • If they don’t end up going, it is important not to make a fuss about it.
  • I have found pull ups a waste of time because to the child, they are still wearing a nappy and see no reason to go to the potty.
  • Praise them when they do something on the potty and let them know that you are happy with the results.
  • Concentrate on getting it right during the day at first and put a nappy on them when they go to bed. This takes the pressure off and when they are ready they will tell you that they no longer need a night nappy.
  • Take them on a special shopping trip to get knickers/underpants and let them choose the ones that they want. This way they will be excited about trying them.
  • Encourage them to go the potty before you put their nappy on at night and do not force them if they do not want to.
  • Accidents go with the territory and will happen. When they occur, I would run them over to the potty, saying “this goes in the potty”. This teaches the child that they still need to go to the potty and that no time was saved. Be patient and do not get angry because accidents are to be expected in the early stages.
  • A good time to try this is in the summer when they can run around with no nappies/diapers and then you can catch it in time.
  • If you find they are doing well and then they regress, just relax and let them be. Your child is picking up on your urgency.
  • Do a star sheet and when they go, add a star to the sheet and when they have reached a certain number, give them a treat such as taking them out somewhere that they choose. I suggest that you do not give them treats such as sweets or chocolate, since this may develop into a sweet tooth.

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