I dreaded potty training with twin boys, I did not enjoy potty training my three older kids with traditional potty training methods. I also really did not want to go with traditional potty training methods again, so I didn't. Child led potty training was the answer for us!
At 15 months old , I bought a potty and a snap on potty seat for the toilet. I bought a few pairs of underwear for them, and I talked about it some with them. Then I just pretty much waited. We would talk about potty training here and there, read a book about it here and there, then wait. They would decide on their own when they wanted to use the potty or the snap on toilet seat. Sometimes they did, sometimes they didn't. We would still just talk about it and read books about it here and there, and wait.
I did not struggle with them, stress over it, or make it mandatory. I let them decide when they were ready. If a child is not ready to potty train, they most likely won't. If you are stressing and forcing potty training, is that really the answer? Not for us. I like my twins to enjoy their days and nights, not spend them in potty boot camp with me as Sargent toilet.
Who really wants to be Sargent toilet?
So we continued to enjoy our days, and nights. We continued to talk about using the potty and read books about it here and there. Sometimes they asked to wear underwear, sometimes they didn't. I never constantly talked about using the potty or constantly read them books on a daily basis about it.
The talks about potty training and reading potty training books were never constant, very random and sporadic.
I never pushed or enforced potty training. I just let them go at their own relaxed, self decided pace. Fast forward to age 3 and I switched them all day and night to night time pull ups, just to make diapers disappear for good.
The riddance of diapers made them want to step it up a bit on their own. I bought a few more pairs of underwear. I still didn't enforce it. I mentioned it a little more often, but I was not forcing or pressuring them to potty train.
They will be 4 years old on Saturday and have been fully self potty trained since they were 3 1/2. They did it on their own, at their own pace. No pressure or potty boot camp. They just did it naturally.
I am happy I let them do it on their own. It helped them and myself to enjoy their toddler years more. It helped get us out of the house to do fun things without stress. It worked out really well for us.
Kids really can potty train at their own pace, they won't be in diapers at age 5..... thats just a dramatic myth that your Grandma wants you to believe. Don't let friends or family pressure you or your kids into forced potty training. It makes potty training miserable.
