Our Potty Training Journey
When our child was two years old, we had just moved into a new home in the middle of the 2020 shutdowns. Around that time, we started noticing signs that he might be ready for potty training. We bought the book Potty Training in 3 Days as our guide, and both of us took turns reading it. It really helped us get into the right mindset.
Although the book suggested three days, it realistically took us about a week just to introduce the idea of potty training and not to actually ditch diapers yet when going out to a public place. There were plenty of meltdowns and lots of resistance in those early days.
In total, it took about four years for our son to become completely diaper-free in public. He began potty training in the summer of 2020 at two and a half years old, and we quickly learned that the season really matters, it’s so much easier to go without pants in the summer than in the colder months!
Looking back, we realized that our biggest challenge wasn’t his readiness but our own anxiety about public restrooms. There were countless meltdowns in public bathrooms, and we often defaulted to using pull-ups because we weren’t ready andnot because he wasn’t. It took us a while to understand that.
We started with a small potty that made a flushing sound, and later transitioned to a toilet trainer seat. At home, he never wore diapers except at bedtime. We kept mental notes of his potty schedule each day. Yes, there were plenty of accidents , pee and poop on the floor/carpet but we learned to mentally prepare for it. After all, no one can potty train your child except you and your caregiver who truly has your child’s best interests at heart.
We also consulted his special instruction therapist at the time, who was a former nanny and had potty-trained many children. She told us that one of the hardest parts is getting kids to stop peeing in their diaper or pull-ups when they wake up because they know they’re wearing one. The goal, she explained, is to help them understand that it’s not okay to go in the diaper, and instead, they should ask to use the toilet or go to the bathroom themselves. Her advice helped us set realistic expectations and cultivate the right mindset for both us and our son.
Consistency is key. Fast forward to 2025 , he is now officially potty trained! And for a boy, being able to stand and pee was a huge milestone. His occupational therapist once told us that most boys can stand to pee around age five. Elijah finally did it at seven — and it was a major victory for all of us. We had once doubted if he’d ever be diaper-free in public, but he proved us wrong.
Check out our step-by-step guide to see how we made it work!
Disclaimer: We’re not potty training professionals — just parents who’ve been through it all: the meltdowns, the messes, the anxiety, and the small victories that made it all worth it. Our goal is to help bridge the gap for parents who feel stuck or unsure where to start because we wish we had known all these and he would be diaper free earlier. Every child is different, and that’s okay! Some may respond best to scheduled potty times, others to reward charts, visual cues, or modeling by siblings or parents. You can even try retraining gently by revisiting the basics — letting your child explore the potty again, celebrating small successes, and keeping the process positive and pressure-free.