When is my child ready to start toilet training?
This is a commonly asked question with the commonly answered response being “most children are not ready to control their poo and wee (bowels and bladder) until they are two years old and some not until they are three”. This coincides with the highly recommended, “wait until your child is ready” scenario. It is up to parents to find the full facts instead of just accepting these common answers. We need to seriously evaluate the consequences of keeping our children in nappies longer than what we have to. Whatever angle you look at, whether it be your child’s comfort, hygiene, finances or the environment, it just doesn’t make sense. And the seriousness of each of those scenarios is worth re-evaluating the “normal” recommendations.

Toilet Training like any skill is something that needs to be learned and practiced. And, like any skill, for some children it comes easy and they basically toilet train themselves, where others need a bit more assistance. Add to the bundle, the different personalities and emotional requirements of each individual child and you have a jigsaw of elements you need to piece together to form a larger picture. Just like finding the corner pieces first and then the straight edges of a jigsaw puzzle, toilet training can become a lot clearer for us as parents if we are going into it with a game plan and with the confidence that we are doing the right thing by our child.