My daughter will be three in August and she's just started showing interest in the potty..is this normal?

Question

We have tried to put her on the potty before and she always resisted. But in the past few weeks she refuses to wear a diaper and loves to sit on the potty. We have officially started stressing potty training on her. We wanted to wait until she was ready as with her big sister we pushed her too early and she did terrible with it. I personally wish she would have started before now but I figured it was best to wait until she was ready. But now I have people giving me c**p about being a bad parent. My grandma keeps comparing my kids to my sister's kids(they were both potty trained by age 2) and it's starting to hurt. My sister has the time to work with them a great deal, she doesn't work or ever leave the house. Me, I go to school full time and it's hard for me to find time to use the bathroom myself. What do I say to these people to get them to shut up? Or should I just start telling them to kiss my ***?

Answer 1

I am the mother of 3 kid the first two were both right at 3 before they were potty trained.  My youngest was 2 in February and shows only a little interest in the potty.  Don't sweat it - You have no idea how many messes your sister really had to clean up. My sister in law said her kids were all potty trained before 18 month but she sure did spend a lot of time cleaning up pee and had to take 2  or 3 extra outfits everywhere she went - I personally don't call that potty trained.

Answer 2

3 is a little late, but every kid is different.  Even if you did insist on potty training her earlier, you could still be at the same place you are now, because they aren't going to go until they are ready.  She is a little older now, and she is interested, so it will probably go quicker than if you tried earlier.  Many kids show an interest in using the potty when they are ready.  I had a cousin who is literally a genus and he wasn't potty trained until he was like 4 or 5. Everyone learns at their own pace and a different times.  Your not a bad parent, many parents force their kids into too many things or before the kid is ready.   To much stress isn't good for a kid.  I'm in school too, so I know how hard it can be, everyone decides to have a test the same day or week, papers are always due a the same times, it seems like professors coordinate to make our lives as miserable as possible.  Even when you are home you can't escape school, there's so much reading and studying, its really hard to b a mom and go to school.  I don't have kids, but I don't think I'd be able to run a family and go to school.  Your going to school is going to create a better life for you kids, and you should be proud of the sacrifices you are making in order to make your whole family's future better.  Good luck in school and good luck with your daughters.  When she gets potty trained isn't going to affect her life all that much, just tell people you are doing what you think is best for your children and that you may not agree with everything that person chose to do while raising their kids, but everyone has their own theories and beliefs on raising a kid, and no one is even close to being 100% right.  All that matters us that you try to b the best mom you can.

Answer 3

Yes it is normal.  My son is a late talker as well.  Many kids who are slow to develop in speech take a little longer to potty train than "typical" kids.  There is actually a study on late talkers that shows many characteristics of children that are late talkers (without any other delays I should add) and one of the characteristics is delayed potty training.  

Many people don't even start training until kids are 3 because some research shows that starting before a child is truly ready will result in a regression of skills.  If she is showing an interest that is great!  Go with it, and don't worry so much about what is "normal".   No matter what you do people will find ways to criticize you on your parenting.

Answer 4

That is the perfect age in my opinion! they are more sturdy on their feet (and on their bottoms) and can make more rational decisions on their own.  At the daycare center I worked at, kids graduated to the 3's once they could use the potty with minimal accidents.  It's great that your daughter wants to sit on the potty!  Most kids are forced into it.  Out of the two questions at the end, I would go with the second.  These are adults.  They can take a sharp comment or two.  Their mothers, fathers, MIL's, FIL's, sisters, brothers, cousins, aunts, uncles, and friends probably ridiculed them when they were new parents.  Ask them what the difference is in the long run.  Ask them if, at age 18, she will be any stupider, slower, fatter, or more unhappy than her cousins who sat on the potty a year earlier.

Hope that helps!

Answer 5

my kid 3.5 just started showing an interest once he got moved up into the big class at daycare and didnt want to be called a baby- peer pressure helps

ignore the others- yr child is an individual. potty training has nothing to do with how smart a kid is.