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Moms Talk: Flushing the Potty Blues Away

If parents didn't potty train their children, everyone would be running around with diapers and bathrooms would be obsolete. 

Thankfully, there comes a time in every parent's life where they have to say no to diapers and yes to flushing. 

How do you tackle potty training with your child? Do you wait until they want to do it? Or mandate an age? What useful tips do you have? 

Karin Jackson When my oldest two reached not only 2 years, but then two and-a-half and were still not potty trained—with a third one on the way, boy did I hear it from my mother! I'm from the parenting style that says 'they'll get it when they get it,' but she potty trained me at 13 months. Yikes! 

I know there are moms out there who can, did, and do successfully potty train their children at younger ages, but my mantra remained through all four of our kids: When they walk up to me and say, 'I want to use the potty,' then that would be the day they would use the potty!

For the most part, it worked like a charm! I, too, used the seat that sets on top of the big potty. I set aside an entire day with a timer and a lot of patience reminding them to sit there every hour. The twins were actually the easiest of the four, and they were the first. My second son liked to hide in the basement toy room and come out very wet. My youngest daughter refused despite gentle asking for months and months. We joke that food is the way to her heart, but even the age-old M&M bribe didn't work with her. 

Absolutely every kid is different. And I believe whole-heartedly that eventually they'll get it. Mine did. And before the age of 3! It really does just require the right timing,  enough There are several factors that affect potty training from my experience. My oldest child was the easiest to train.  When she was two, I was very pregnant with her brother. I did not want to buy double diapers. So, several weeks before he was born, I simply planned to stay home for a few days while we got started. I put some cute little panties on her, which she loved and told her she needed to get to the potty on time so that she wouldn’t wet her new undies. She had already practiced a few times, but not consistently.