Potty Training: The Never-Ending Journey

20th February 2015
I have been attempting to potty train Chunk on and off for about a year now and to be honest I’m getting fed up!

He has given signs for the past year that he is able and wanting to do it and has used the toilet and potty many times, but he just won’t do it regularly.

So is he ready? He turns three next month and I really wanted to do it before then, and I guess in some ways I’m very aware of how other mums can judge when they see him in his nappies, because he looks far older than his years. But the other half of me reminds myself that they all do it in their own time and do I really care what another mother thinks? No!


HUGGIES® Pull-Ups® potty training expert and child psychologist Emma Kenny has been kind enough to provide me with some advice and reassurance so I wanted to share it with you, if like me you are totally clueless about when and what should happen!
Emma says most children are around the age of two and many are nearer three (phew!) before they even begin to show signs that they’re ready to start training. 


According to HUGGIES®  there are 8 Signs of Readiness, which are:




Chunk is showing most of these signs, but he still doesn’t like telling me when he has done a number two, so maybe he really is just not ready yet. My nephew didn’t want to know his potty until he turned three, so it’s more common than I realise sometimes!

But when he is finally ready I already have lots of pants with his favourite things on them (dinosaurs!) which he does sometimes wear when we are at home for the day. His main potty is in the living room and he has tested out the toilet seat I have bought for the main toilet.

I have also made a sticker chart which is stuck next to the toilet and he puts stickers on it whenever he uses the toilet. Again, some days he loves this and other days he just doesn’t care!

His cousin has taught him to wee standing up, but again he is only really interested in doing this if he has seen his cousin doing it. The joys of an only child!

Potty Training Set Backs

If you have already begun your training, according to Emma setbacks can be quite common. Apparently this is because children can start to get bored of using the potty and begin to have accidents again.

Emma advises you stay calm, don’t be negative about it to the child and just remain consistent at all times. And don’t forget to give them plenty of praise when they do use the potty which always helps get them back on track.

Pull Ups

Some parents swear by them and others hate them. I use a mixture of nappies and pull ups just to see if it has a difference. Chunk prefers the pull ups because on the days he feels like copying his cousin and using the toilet he can pull them down easily. He does also just love big boy pants, so trying to teach him that he cannot wee in those like his pull ups can be tricky!

Visit www.pottytraining.co.uk, where you’ll find help and resources for every stage including tips from Emma Kenny, reward charts, games and lots of other free downloads to help make your potty training journey more enjoyable. 

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8 Comments

  • Unknown

    21st February 2015 at 8:13 am

    We are potty training at the moment and she is doing brilliantly, I sit her on the potty regularly rather than asking her if she needs to go because the answer is always no but this is not helping when she needs to poo she is still not telling me so we have been using pull ups rather than pants

  • Lakes Single Mum

    21st February 2015 at 8:56 am

    I don't miss these days! My son was quick on pee but the poo took ages… Good luck

  • Anonymous

    21st February 2015 at 7:22 pm

    Yes, good luck! The one thing you do know is that he will get there in the end 🙂

  • Jenny Eaves

    24th February 2015 at 9:12 pm

    He'll get there eventually, it's not as unusual as people think. My eldest is almost 3.5 and although he likes wearing pants he doesn't ever tell us when he needs to go and so we have tons of accidents, so now he's back in nappies until he starts telling us when his nappy needs changed. I'm not worried though, he has lots of other readiness signs and I know he'll get there eventually.

  • Unknown

    25th February 2015 at 9:46 am

    We aren't there just yet but have introduced the potty, its a slow work in progress but I am OK with that!

    The problem we have here in Dubai is that they need to be potty trained by school, and they go to school the September after their third birthday!x

  • Natasha www.mamaduckquacks.com

    25th February 2015 at 9:44 pm

    S wasn't interested in potty training at all…he'd see my nephews or my dad go to the loo and want to go but just sat there. Then the week before half term, we were home a lot. I bought some George Pig pants, made a big deal of showing them to him. Then one day just put him in them and kept asking if he needed to go peepee. Initially they have to go quite often but once they get the hang of it, they can hold for longer. The first time he went, I was about to sit him on the potty and he said "No, I want to stand". And that was it. We've got the wee down, we've even been to a friends and to the playground without a nappy but he still needs a pull up for his poo…I'm working on it but I believe one day it'll just click and he'll get it. He'll be 3 next month too btw x

  • Unknown

    1st March 2015 at 8:59 am

    We were super lucky with toilet training (we skipped the Potty after a couple of days!) I think mostly use to working with our nursery and I followed advice from #toddlerapprovedtuesday co-host becky. Here's the link in case you'd like a read http://3princessesand1dude.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/potty-training.html

  • mummy24

    2nd March 2015 at 9:50 am

    I remember it well, it can be hard work – they do all do it in their own time so try not to worry too much!

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