A thought that comes up in the minds of most mothers of toddlers is ‘When is my child ready to be toilet trained’. When do you move from diapers to the potty? There really is no hard and fast rule – look for cues that indicate that your toddler is ready to move on to the bathroom seat. Each child will take his/her own time and you will know when its time. Some of the non-verbal cues include:
- Staying dry for about an hour or two regularly
- Showing interest in using the bathroom
- Using the words they associate with the event
- Discomfort in wearing a wet or soiled diaper
The first step that I took was to get a baby seat for the bathroom. Fitted over the adult toilet seat, this is ideal for toilet training a toddler. Flexibility is the name of the game when potty training your toddler. Accidents are bound to occur even when the toilet training process is underway.
At no stage must you make the child feel embarrassed over a slipup. Instead work on the encouragement. A warm hug can do wonders. Take this opportunity for basic lessons in hygiene. These lessons are learnt best at the initial stage and remain for life. After all toilet training is one of the first stages towards independence.