Potty Training: Is My Child Ready?

At what age should we start to potty train our child? I often come across this question different forums. Mommy Issa's little girls (aged 3 and 19 months) are already potty trained. On the other hand, I have friends whose kids are older and yet they haven't started potty training. And then, there's also other cases like baby Izabella, who was potty trained as early as 6 months.

So, what's the ideal age to start potty training? The short answer is: it depends on your child's readiness.

When my son turned 18 months, I bought a musical potty. I got too excited and showed it to him, but to my dismay, he didn't like it. I tried to coax him to at least  sit on it, but no, the little king doesn't want to sit on his throne. I've decided to just put it away until he's ready.

How do I know he's ready? A quick google search will lead you to lots of helpful websites. I've decided to grab this image because it's easier to absorb-graphical information always is.

(Ironically, this is from a Huggies website - so moms who cloth diaper their babies, pasintabi po :) ) 

8 signs of readiness from pottytraining.co.uk

If the child is showing most of the signs, then it is safe to start potty training.

In my son's case, it's 4.5 out of 8. I haven't had a chance to observe if my son's poos are regular. And he isn't interested to use the potty. He can pull his pants down, but I haven't seen him pull it up.

I guess I should wait a little more. Forcing this on my toddler could have some psychological effects (hello Freud!)-which is something I don't want to happen.

Holding off  is good, since I don't have to dispose of the cloth diapers from our collection-not yet, anyway.

However, I have been slowly adding more training pants because my son is starting to prefer those over pull ups and cloth diapers.

I am mentally preparing myself for potty training, as well. Mommy Issa (whose two daughters are already potty  trained) had warned me: It's going to be messy...

I cringe at the thought.

Wish me luck, mommies!