When Are Children Ready To Toilet Training? This Is The Ideal Age And Signs

JAKARTA - Training children to urinate independently is one of the important stages in their growth and development.

This process, known as toilet training, not only involves children's physical abilities, but also emotional and cognitive readiness. Many parents wonder: when is the real time to get started?

Clinical psychologist and family, Pritta Tyas M.Psi, explained that the ideal time to start training toilets is around the age of 2 to 2.5 years. In this age range, children generally begin to understand their own body signals, such as when they feel they want to urinate or urinate.

"This age stretch is a phase when children are already able to carry out a series of processes, from recognizing the urge to go to the toilet to being able to take off and wear their own clothes," he said in a health discussion as quoted by ANTARA.

However, he also said that not all children have the same readiness. Some parents even choose to start this process since the child was 18 months old, and this is not completely wrong as long as the child shows signs of readiness, such as being able to sit stably in the toilet, showing interest in going to the bathroom, or feeling uncomfortable with wet diapers.

In addition, toilet training should not be postponed for too long. Pritta reminded that starting too late could have an impact on children's readiness to face preschool education.

For example, if the toilet training only starts at the age of 3 years and over, there is a risk that the process will not be completed when the child starts entering kindergarten.

"It could be that at the age of 4, children have not finished their toilet training, even though they have entered school. This can make children feel uncomfortable, especially if their friends are independent," explained Pritta.

Therefore, Pritta emphasized the importance of parents' observation of the development of their respective children. In addition to age, signs of readiness must also be a reference. Toilet training is not just a matter of physical skills, but also about the formation of children's independence and confidence from an early age.