Toddler Potty Chair
vs. Toilet:
Pros and Cons
of training with each

Toddler Potty Chair is an intermediate phase, between diapers and “grownups toilet”. But is it a necessary phase?

Some parents choose to skip the “potty phase”, and have their child learn to use the toilet from Day 1.

In fact there are great options featured today as Toilet Training Seats, making it simple and safe for children to sit on the toilet, and saving parents the bother of emptying and washing a Potty.

This article discusses the advantages and disadvantages of training with Potty vs. training with Toilet.

Advantages of
Training with a Toddler Potty Chair

• Some children get scared of sitting on the toilet, and may find the Toddler Potty Chair friendlier.

• Potty Chair can be situated anywhere and used anywhere, whether inside the house (is it really an advantage?? a point to ponder...) -- or while traveling with a child, when you can't always depend on toilet facilities. There are even "Travel Potties" made specifically for this purpose.

• Potty Chair can be suitable for parents who take the child-oriented, gradual approach of starting slow by first introducing the potty.
  A Potty might be easier-to-introduce than a Toilet: it can be placed anywhere in the house, and parents can encourage the child to sit “just to get the feel of it”.
  ...
  The child can experience and become comfortable with the Potty at first, before actually using it for its purpose. Hence the gradual concept.

• With Potty Chairs you can get two children or more to have a “potty-sit” together (like I imagine they do in Daycare). This could be helpful in the context of potty training bowel movements, which is more of a challenge usually.

Disadvantages of
Training with a Toddler Potty Chair

(Or: Advantages of Training on the Toilet, from Day1)

• Children become used to the potty. Transitioning them to Toilet after a certain time might become an issue.

• You have to empty and wash a Potty after each use, whereas with Toilet – the poop already goes where it should go… there are no “intermediate stops”.

• When training them on Toilet rather than Potty, parents can encourage their children to relate to other members of the family who are using the toilet. (And there are simply more role-models this way, than there would be with the Potty.)

• In terms of educating for long-term toilet habits, I feel that teaching toddlers to use the Toilet right from the start, possibly sets a more proper pattern. Here's why:
  
  1) It teaches them to do it in privacy

  2) It teaches them to actually go to the bathroom, whereas with Potty -- they can sit in front of the TV and “go”.

  3) It makes educating for personal cleaning habits more intuitive (sit on the toilet.. get up from the toilet.. flash the toilet (or watch mommy/daddy flash it), and then wash hands in the sink.)

  [Needless to say, it is up to parents to maintain those principles if they wish to do so, and you can do it just as well when you're potty training with a Potty, as you would with a Toilet.]

It’s worth thinking about the differences, weighing the Pros and the Cons, then choosing the option that best fits your point of view and lifestyle.

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