How should I deal with home vs. school potty-training conflicts?
Even among families who love their preschool or daycare provider, it sometimes happens that parents and professional caregivers disagree about the timing or practices of potty-training. You want your child to sit on the potty at school like he does at home, but the teacher says diapers are easier for the school, given that they have to manage so many kids. Or parents feel the child simply isn’t developmentally ready, but a preschool deadline looms. What to do? The first step is always to talk it out — most daycares would love to help your child achieve potty maturity, but their own experiences might lead them to prefer a later start or to wait until a group of children can begin together. The peer pressure of group care is perhaps the most powerful tool in a parent’s potty-training arsenal. Even for kids who may just reach a preschool cut-off and not seem ready at all at home will sometimes surprise you by using the toilet at school simply because the “big kids” do it. And most prescho
