How to Potty Train Your Kid Before College
The laziest but most appropriate potty training technique coming at you fully unsolicited from a boymom of three:
WAIT UNTIL THEY’RE READY.
Literally. That's it. When might that be? It could feasibly happen when they're around two, but it's not uncommon nor is it bad parenting if they're not ready until they're much older (before college in most if not all cases.). Frankly, in my experience and observations, introducing it too soon can be very detrimental and actually result in stunting their potty skills.
Potty training should not be hard. If it's feeling difficult or frustrating, you're doing it wrong. Put a diaper on the kid and call it a day. Or a week. Or a few months. Or college, I don't even care at this point. When they're ready they will potty train easily with little to no effort from you.
RESPECT THEIR AUTONOMY. This is an area where it is crucial to not condition them to think it is acceptable to be forced or obligated to do things they’re uncomfortable with. If they hate it, PLEASE STOP! If they don't yet understand the perks of not peeing one's self THAT IS OKAY! They are little, they have the rest of their lives ahead of them to figure this stuff out, and trust me: they will!
If you're reading books that say you can do it in twenty four hours or three days or a week or any span of time short of college feel free to throw it out.* Anything that adds pressure and stress and yet another timeline to this stage of life is garbage. You only get one shot at parenting your cute little human so please don't waste precious time following cookie cutter advice and comparing your tot to their peers.
I am not, nor do I consider myself to be, an expert. But studies have shown that beginning potty training too soon results in a much longer potty training time, and that just sounds like a lot of unnecessary work. Getting your child out of diapers at 18 months sounds enticing but it most likely comes with a price tag of pullups until they’re 4 years old. Whereas waiting will give you a fully potty trained three year-old (in most cases) in just a short period of time. If your three year-old is not ready that’s also not abnormal, these are just in-general statements. I also know 18 month-olds that were potty trained in like a week. Every kid is different.
Okay, I think that's all for today. If you want specifics or have questions on how some of my toddlers literally potty trained themselves, drop them in the comments below.
* (Full disclosure, I have not read any of these potty training books and I suppose there is some potential that they could be rich with helpful advice in complicated situations so I will withhold a few crumbs of judgement. I just don’t like techniques for parenting conundrums such as this that get your brain stuck on a number on a calendar as opposed to what would actually be healthy and beneficial for your child and your relationship with them.)
