increase with time. As in, if he asks to go on the potty once in a
while right now, next month he will be asking to go every day. Again,
this is just my experience, but I’ve found that if you don’t seize the
appropriate window, the kid just moves on and forgets about it. In
other words, the interest in using the toilet does not increase
exponentially with time—it peaks and goes away.
Most moms, probably including you, are reading this book because
you know deep in your heart that your child is ready. Go with that
feeling. I’m going to help you tap into your own intuition about potty
training. I’m a big believer in “go with your gut.”
“We’re just being really casual about it.”
I hear this one a lot, and to some extent, it’s fine. Just know that if
you’re really casual about potty training, your child will also be really
casual about it. I should clarify that by “casual,” I don’t mean you
have a casual demeanor. I mean you have your child pee in the potty
once or twice a day, or you sometimes put a diaper on him and
sometimes don’t. The problem with this approach is there comes a
time when it’s no longer appropriate. Maybe your chosen preschool or
kindergarten won’t allow your child attend untrained. Or you were
fine with the casual approach for a two- or three-year old, but now
your child is four, and you feel like it’s time to get serious. Stay casual
too long and you will have missed the window of opportunity;
consequently, it becomes infinitely harder to train the child. You’ll
be facing nothing but power struggles, and your life will turn into a
living hell.