Any parents can tell you, potty training isn’t always easy. However, in a race to make things “cleaner” and prevail in this difficult task, many parents overdo it by making it a little more difficult than it needs to be. Before you even begin the “boot camp” it always pays to ask yourself is my child really ready? In this article we bring to you some of the common potty training mistakes:

• its very important that you don’t start potty training during a stressful time in your child’s life, such as a move or around the arrival of a new baby in the house
• you will face a brick wall and spend your energy in vain if you continue pushing the potty training when your child obviously isn’t interested
• Its very common to have accidents while you are potty training so please try not to punish your child for every such incident
• remember that potty training isnt a quick process and will not be finished in a few days or a weekend so take your time
• try not to migrate your child quickly to regular underwear as soon as you begin potty training, especially not before your child shows signs of staying dry for long periods of time or regularly using the potty
• don’t expect your child to complete all aspects of potty training at the same time, such as potty training in public, having bowel movements on the potty, or using the potty each and every time he has to go
• its usually not a good idea to rely on the same potty training method for each of your kids. It may need to be uniquely “tailored” to each child, as each one of your kids may have very different temperaments
• since bedwetting is not usually related to potty training, try to realize that your child may continue to wet the bed at night, even after he has finished potty training

The root of most of these mistakes are parents who have unrealistic expectations about potty training, which usually include that they should start at a certain age or that they should be finished by a certain age.
Nowadays we hear lots of people talk about potty training their infants, however most parents will find that their kids aren’t ready to begin potty training until they are about 18 to 24 months or older. More than that, the whole potty training process could take a good 6 months or more to complete. Not surprisingly, the older your child is when he begins potty training, the quicker the training typically is. So while a 2 year old might take 6 or 9 months to finish potty training, a 3 year old might just take 3 or 4 weeks.
And keep in mind that 3 is not a magic age when all kids are potty trained. About 25 percent of kids finish potty training after they are 3 years old.