Toilet Training
John's Most Recent Articles
Starting Toilet Training Early Pays Off
Posted on 12/27/2022
Q: My grandmother maintains that her children – my mother and her two siblings, all born in the 1950s – were completely toilet trained at 18 months. Her terse explanation: “I just gave...
Read MoreThe Problem With Pull-Ups
Posted on 11/1/2022
I finally tracked down the fellow who invented the so-called “pull-up.” His name is Lucapher (Big Lou) Saytan. Reputedly, Mr. Saytan lives in an underground bunker from which he develops and...
Read MoreOn Chores, Discipline, Potty-Training
Posted on 3/29/2022
Q: When I give my 5-year-old daughter a chore, she does it, but all the while she is muttering under her breath, huffing and puffing, and so on. Do I discipline that behavior or just let her...
Read MoreThe Keys to Relatively Quick, Painless Toilet Training
Posted on 1/12/2022
Q: I recently tried toilet training my 32-month-old, but after a few days of no success, I decided to stop. A friend tells me to hang in there, but my pediatrician says my son isn’t ready. She...
Read MoreWhere We All Went Wrong
Posted on 8/25/2020
My profession, psychology, began demonizing traditional childrearing in the late 1960s. I was in graduate school at the time and on fire for the promise that the proper use of psychological...
Read MoreSome Benchmarks on Toilet Training
Posted on 6/9/2020
“There’s no one-size-fits-all model of childrearing for all the world’s parents,” opines Alma Gottlieb, Professor Emerita of Anthropology at the University of Illinois. Gottlieb was quoted in an...
Read MoreToilet Training Is Not Rocket Science
Posted on 9/26/2018
Talking today’s mother through her first experience with toilet training is akin to talking someone off a ledge. Both situations involve massive anxiety, high drama and lots of yelling and...
Read MoreDebunking Hot Potty Training Myths
Posted on 8/14/2018
“Potty training is a nightmare.” So begins advice from Meghan Leahy, advice columnist for The Washington Post. More accurately, potty training has, of late, BECOME a nightmare, thanks to advice of...
Read MoreI Spy Toilet-Training Atrocities
Posted on 7/10/2018
Strolling through my go-to grocery store the other day, I happened down the Baby Products aisle where I spied packages of toilet-training pants featuring pictures of happy children who looked at...
Read MoreNip Toddler Misbehavior in the Bud
Posted on 12/19/2017
Q: My parents recently told me that my husband and I are letting our toddler run our family and that it’s becoming increasingly uncomfortable for them to visit or have us visit with them – they...
Read MoreRecent Questions
Teaching Child to Dress/Undress Helps With Potty Training
Posted 1 week ago
Hello, we've hit a plateau with potty training. Our 2yr old is accident free when her pants off (thanks to John's method). Introducing underwear and pants is the next step we're having issues...
Read MoreHow Do I Resolve My Daughter's Potty Training Accidents?
Posted on 4/17/2023
Our 4-year-old daughter continues to have pee “accidents.” I’m putting that word in quotation because I don’t know why she pees herself, because she’s been potty trained since she was 25 months...
Read MoreHow Do I Resolve My Daughter's Potty Training Accidents?
Posted on 4/8/2023
Our 4-year-old daughter continues to have pee “accidents.” I’m putting that word in quotation because I don’t know why she pees herself, because she’s been potty trained since she was 25 months...
Read MoreWhen To Begin Nighttime Potty Training
Posted on 4/3/2023
What age or when should we implement night training for potty training?
Read More2 YO ISN'T GETTING THE TOILET TRAINING THING
Posted on 4/2/2023
My 2.4 son has potty trained for 6 weeks and still poops and pees his undies. When talking to him he looks away. We are confused, we use the bell but not enough. If we introduce the gate how can...
Read More2-Year- Old Potty Training Regression is Normal
Posted on 3/31/2023
Potty trained regression!? Our son turned two at the end of february. We potty trained him exactly how the book says at about 22 months, naked & 75! And he conquered potty training really well in...
Read More18 month old protests potty training
Posted on 3/27/2023
I’m potty training my 18 month old boy. In your book, you state to not get into a power struggle if he is refusing to get on the toilet. But to be authoritative with telling him we go poop/pee on...
Read MoreDIAPERS AT NAPTIME AND BEDTIME?
Posted on 3/5/2023
We have just embarked on toilet training our 22-month old son. Will you kindly clarify why there are conflicting answers on this site as to the question of wearing diapers at naptime and...
Read More18-m/o girl stands before finishing her business
Posted on 2/23/2023
We’ve been potty training our 18 month-old girl for five days. We’ve been using the gate and the bell, though sometimes they’re not necessary now. She will sit on the potty when we tell her she...
Read MoreStarting potty training
Posted on 2/20/2023
My 27 month old boy will start potty training. He has a brother 6 month old. How can we manage the situation of no diapers around the house at all? What language can we use to make him realise...
Read MoreVideo
Toilet Training Made Stress Free (Webinar Recording)
Posted 1 week ago
In 1955, Harvard University determined that nearly 9 out of 10 children were completely toilet trained to the point of being accident-free by 23 months of age. In the 1960s, pediatricians began...
Read MoreTopics Covered
- ADHD and other disorders
- Adoption/Foster Parent
- Aggression
- Allowances
- Alpha Speech
- Anxieties, Fears
- Arguments with Children
- Audio Files
- Bedtime/Sleep
- Bedwetting
- Behavior Modification
- Biblical Parenting
- Bill of Rights for Children
- Bonding With Baby/Child
- Boundaries
- Bullies/Bullying
- Character/Values (teaching)
- Chores/Responsibilities
- College
- Consequences/Punishment
- Daycare/Preschool
- Depression/Self-Harm
- Developmental Issues (e.g. late talking)
- Discipline Methods (e.g. time-out)
- Disobedience/Defiance
- Divorce/Custody
- Drugs (marijuana, cocaine, etc.)
- Education
- Electronics (Computers/Video Games/Television/Cell Phones)
- Elementary School
- Extracurricular Activities/Hobbies
- Fathers
- Food/Eating Problems
- Gender
- Gentle Parenting
- Grandparents/Grandchildren
- High School
- Homeschooling
- Homework
- John's Discipline Methods
- Learning Disabilities
- Lying
- Manners
- Marriage Issues
- Mealtime/Eating
- Mental Health
- Middle School
- Miscellaneous Discipline Problems
- Miscellaneous Editorial Columns
- Mothers
- Nouveau Parenting
- Only Children
- Pacifiers/Security Blankets/Thumbsucking
- Parent Leadership and Authority
- Play
- Post Modern Psychological Parenting
- Preschool
- Psychology
- Rebellious Behavior
- Respect
- Rewards
- School Issues
- Seasons of Parenting
- Self-Esteem
- Seven Biggest Mistakes Parents Make
- Sexual Issues
- Shyness
- Sibling Conflict
- Single Parents
- Social Issues (fighting/arguing with friends)
- Socialization/Social Skills
- Spanking
- Step-Families
- Strong-Willed Child
- Tantrums
- Teenage Issues
- Terrible Twos
- Toilet Training
- Videos
- Webinars
- Woke Parenting