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Toddlers

23rd Apr 2020

Seemed like a good idea at the time: potty-training my child during lockdown

Melissa Carton

I’m saying ‘no time like the present’ a lot lately.

Quarantine me seems to think that there’s no time like the present for everything whether it’s gardening, sorting through the stuff in the attic or potty training.

Yes, I’ve decided to use this time in lock down to try and get my two-year-old potty trained.

On paper it makes sense, we’re stuck in the house, why not?

In reality though it’s a very different story. Mostly because my toddler has as much interest in using the toilet as I have for doing the jogging challenge everyone keeps getting tagged in.

That is to say no interest whatsoever. Great.

I think part of this being a good idea was that we’re at home all the time now so she’s free to run around without a nappy.

The other part was the fact that she goes through nappies like nobody’s business and we’re trying to avoid making trips to the shop.

All these things combined potty-training seemed like a good idea, to everyone but my toddler who has decided she’s more attached to her nappies than ever and is not having any of it.

As frustrating for me as that is I think I know why she’s now decided that she can’t live without her nappies, even though she seemed pretty keen on potty-training before lock down began.

It’s generally recommended not to start potty-training children while they are going through a big change in their life.

Kids going through a change, whether it be moving home, changing school, or you know a global pandemic, are already dealing with anxiety. They don’t need pressure to perform on top of that.

While toilet training might be top of the list for a lot of parents right now, don’t be surprised if your toddler isn’t game.

They just might need to wait until quarantine is over and life gets back to normal before they ditch the pull ups.