Toilet Training

Is your child ready to use a potty? The more important question may be, are you? Children are usually ready around ages 18-24 months. They often signal that they are ready by letting you know when their diapers need changing. You should be prepared to commit to three months of daily encouragement. Successful trips to the potty should be rewarded. Missteps shouldn't get as much attention. Training requires patience. If it is not successful, it may mean your child is not ready.

Many children wet the bed until they are 5 or even older. A child's bladder might be too small. Or the amount of urine produced overnight can be more than the bladder can hold. Some children sleep too deeply or take longer to learn bladder control. Children should not be punished for wetting the bed. They don't do it on purpose, and most outgrow it. Until then, bed-wetting alarms, bladder training and medicines might help.

Toilet Training on Wikipedia

'''Toilet training''' (or '''potty training''') is the process of training a young child to use the toilet for urination and defecation, weaning him or her off of reliance on diapers. Potty training is usually done between the ages of 2 and 4. According to Sigmund Freud, a child can get problems later in life if the training doesn't go well, or is too strict. As an adult a person can strive for perfectness or excessive cleanliness because they were too harshly trained. The current popular wisdom on this subject is that it is a task that is always best accomplished as a mutual task, requiring cooperation and agreement and understanding between the child and the caregiver. The use of coercion and shame as disciplanary instruction tools during this phase of development are most strongly recommended against. In some extreme cases, some caregivers have even been known to intentionally sabotage this proccess. In such unusual cases, the caregivers seem to gain some form of vicarious pleasure by intentionally inducing and inflicting shame and trauma upon the child during this proccess. Such intentional sabotage is now generally regarded as a form of child abuse and possibly a variant form of pedophilia. One of the possible outcomes of such abuse is the development of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infantilism#Forced_Diaper_Wearing.2C_A_Form_of_Child_Abuse.3F infantilism] in later life.

See also

External Resources

Original OutBack Camping Toilet - Sells a portable toilet for outdoor recreation and potty training.

How to Litter Box Train Your Dog - Offers a guide for teaching dogs to use indoor toilet areas. Download and/or CD-ROM and/or hard copy.

My Lil Miracle - Offering bibs, toilet training products, body care, diapers, and stain cleaner.

Positive Parenting Products - Expert advice and humorous parenting products for toilet training, behavior changing, discipline, incentives, awards and rewards for all kids and those with ADD/ADHD.

Toilet Time Targets - Developed to assist in the training of boys and make potty time fun.

The Potty Store - Potty training supplies and information including potty training charts, potty seats, toilet targets, and potty books and videos.

Totco - Offering a training toilet that looks identical to the real thing.

EZ Train - Offering a semi-permanent training seat that is attached to the toilet. Includes articles and safety information.

Peppercorn Trading - Sells Weeman, a toilet training urinal for boys, targeted especially for 1 to 4 year olds

PottieStickers - Offers sets of colorful stickers and beautiful scenes used as a reward and motivation system to toilet train children.

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