My beautiful granddaugher is 2 years 3 months. Her dad (my son) told me yesterday that she is starting to pee in the potty. It sounds like it is at her initiative, supported by the daycare program. It seems to be that if she wants to wear panties, OK, and if she wants to wear diapers, OK. When she makes it in time, the response is "that's very nice", and when she doesn't, it's "Oops - now, would you like dry panties or do you want to go back to the diaper for a while?" All of which sounds just fine, because we all know that toilet training under pressure is not a good thing.

Still, she's awfully young, isn't she? I ask, because her mom is a bit of a perfectionist, and her dad is more than a bit big in the head because she is, as he tells us all "an exceptionally bright child". Yes, she is bright, and a sweetheart. But still, isn't she a bit young for toilet training?

Or, maybe I'm just borrowing trouble.

By Trina~moderator on Monday, February 18, 2008 - 01:51 pm:

If she's doing it on her own, then no, she's not too young. My DD started at about that age and basically toilet trained herself by the time she was 3. We followed her lead.

By Reds9298 on Monday, February 18, 2008 - 03:51 pm:

Nat toilet trained 2 weeks before her second birthday. It was a breeze and took less than 2 days. She showed all the signs of being ready, so *I* initiated it. I overloaded her with fluids the first half of that first day and that was a mistake. We went back to regular fluid intake and she trained very easily.

I think if there are signs and the child is willing, go for it. If it's tried and doesn't work, then wait and try again later. There's such a big range in when kids are potty trained. Mine just happened to be early and it was easy. Others it's age 4 and all the struggles in-between.

By Tink on Monday, February 18, 2008 - 04:16 pm:

My girls both initiated potty-training before their 2nd birthdays. My first one was fully day and night trained within a couple of weeks but my youngest was more on and off again and it was about 6 months before she was fully trained. My son, on the other hand, was nearly four before he was ready and, even then, it required a lot more guidance and reminding from his father and I before he took the reins, so to speak. It sounds like your DIL and DS are keeping it low-key and unpressured for now so I'd just stand back and wait and see. It may be that your DIL's standards have been passed on and Brooke will hate being "dirty". That seemed to be the motivation for my oldest.

By Enchens on Monday, February 18, 2008 - 04:25 pm:

I wish I had this type of thing to worry about. My boys have been not so willing. lol My older ds finally potty trained after 4 and he still has several accidents, though they happen mainly at home, not school. Oddly enough, he showed interest right before his second birthday and was fine until his brother was born a month later. My other ds will be 3 in April and will sometimes use the potty and will sometimes absolutely refuse to have anything to do with it.

So you never really know what the child will do. I agree that keeping it low-key and unpressured will help her.

By Dawnk777 on Monday, February 18, 2008 - 04:43 pm:

It sounds like they are doing the right thing. At 2, I think I wasn't ready to tackle it. At three, it seemed better, but every kid is different and there are certainly lots of kids who were trained before mine were. It's just what worked for us.

By Kaye on Monday, February 18, 2008 - 04:49 pm:

My dd started asking to potty by 18 months. We just took a very non chalant approach, if she had more than two issues a day we put a diaper on. It was no big deal. By a little over 2 I realized we never wore diapers except at night.

Each kid is different. But it sounds like she is right on target. I actually think it becomes much much harder if you wait until they are 3, because they start pushing parents more.

By Crystal915 on Monday, February 18, 2008 - 05:27 pm:

Another for the time is right if she's initiating it. We introduced the potty at 18 months for both kids, and Mads definitely took an interest first. BTW, it might seem early to you because you had boys, and boys traditionally train later.

By Vicki on Monday, February 18, 2008 - 07:53 pm:

I don't think she is too young at all. I think she is taking the lead and it is all good.

By Debbie on Monday, February 18, 2008 - 08:47 pm:

Well, since your granddaughter is initiating it, and they are taking such a laid back approach, I say, go for it!!

My two boys were both close to 4 when they trained. I would have loved it if they were potty trained at 2!

By Nicki on Monday, February 18, 2008 - 11:35 pm:

My dd took the initiative at two years as well. For her I think she was tired of wearing the diapers and the feel of them against her skin. We were really low key about it all. As I recall she had some set backs later on, but again, we just took it in stride. We didn't get too excited either way, meaning if she made it to the toilet or not.

By Andyjoy on Wednesday, February 20, 2008 - 03:05 pm:

I was fully potty trained before age 2 because I wanted to be! I was a very verbal child; at 18 mo. I would strike up conversations with adults at the grocery store and speak in complete sentences! My mom said that potty training came naturally because I could verbalize my needs and desires and wanted the next step of "big girl panties." As long as the parents aren't being punitive for accidents, I say let them go for it and don't worry.