Potty training can be a trying experience for parents sometimes. It's extremely important to make sure that your child feels like he is well supported and that you maintain a positive attitude toward him if you want to ensure success. Here are some things that you will want to avoid. Don't try to force the issue. Make sure that your child is ready to use the potty, is able to tell you what his needs are and can handle what is needed to do it before starting.

You should be sure to always offer encouragement and support. If your child refuses to go, because if you start forcing him to go and sit on the potty you will only create a very angry and hostile atmosphere and can lead to more resistance. It can create negative associations with using the bathroom that can be hard to undo later, and can also cause your child to start bedwetting, which can be emotionally harmful. Try to approach this time of learning much the same as you did with other skills like sitting up, walking and talking.

Don't start potty training during a time of stress for your child. Even good stress is bad stress when it comes to potty training a kid. Marriages, new babies, and during vacations can be just as difficult for your child as a divorce, death or moving into a new home. If anything big and new is coming up in your lives, reconsider potty training until the time is past. Wait until life settles down and the normal flow of life comes back. This will help creates a secure place for your child and helps him place toileting easily alongside other routines.

Don't set deadlines in the training process or try to accomplish training in a set number of days. Young children don't work too well under pressure and they certainly don't have the same concept of time that adults do. Make sure that you are realistic with your time expectations from your child, which is really important if you are looking to potty train an infant. Programs that promise that your child will be potty trained in three days, one day or even 100 days aren't being very realistic and they are certainly not taking your child's individuality into account. Each child has his own temperament and brings different skills to the table, so there is no set potty training method for any child.

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Additional Resources:

The Potty Trainer
I can highly recommend the Potty Trainer Ebook. Johanne Cesar has done such a great job in putting a tremendous amount of hands on potty training information and advice in this ebook. You will get a step by step guide to potty training your child.