I won’t lie – as soon as Jackson started to get close to the 18-month mark, I started to feel some pressure to potty train.

I know it’s silly – he’s so young! But Pinterest is exploding with bloggers who swear they’ve potty trained their tiny little toddlers in a weekend, and everyone I know with young toddlers started buying training potties and are having their kid sit on them daily. Oh, and my mom swears to me that my aunt had her son potty trained by the time he was 15 months old!

Frankly, it was overwhelming. And entirely too much pressure.

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Part of me wanted to consider diving in. Jackson already shows several of the readiness signs for potty training – he hates having a dirty diaper and requests a new “per” (his word, not mine) regularly. He is fascinated with the toilet and asks me to take him to see the potty all the time, and is very interested in the entire bathroom process.

But, I’m not ready.

I think he’s still got a little ways to go before he is ready to actually potty train, but I think that even if he was totally ready right now, I wouldn’t be. I know what it takes to potty train a young child – as a special education teacher I have potty trained many children in my day, and I just am not ready to take that on or put any pressure on myself (or him) to get it done.

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So, long ago I decided that I wasn’t going to rush or put any sort of emphasis on getting Jackson potty trained “early.” We did buy him a training potty, only because he kept begging us to take him into the bathroom so we figured it’d be nice if he had somewhere to sit. He’ll ask to sit on it every once in a while, but has only gone in it once or twice – which is fine. Our plan as of now is to wait it out. I have no desire to get him potty trained before 2 or even before 2.5 – as long as he’s out of diapers before he starts kindergarten, I’m good to go!

(Maybe a slight exaggeration, but you get my point.)

How will I know when we’re ready to actually start potty training a little more seriously?

  • When he’s consistently asking to go sit on the toilet at times other than right before bath/bed
  • When he’s actually going on the potty somewhat consistently and seems to “get” what it’s for (rather than thinking it’s just a fun place to get naked and hang out)
  • When he’s capable of pulling his pants down on his own
  • When I feel like he’s old enough to understand what’s happening, and…
  • When I’m ready to drop everything and focus on basically nothing but potty training for a few weeks!

So, for any other mamas who are stressing about the pressures of getting your toddler potty trained as soon as possible – take heart! There’s no rush, take your time, and enjoy not having to worry about scoping out the closest bathroom every time you leave the house.

What made you decide it was time to potty train?