Toilet training is just a continuation of the expectation in the classroom of the ability and willingness to care for self. You have probably noticed that dressing, perhaps many times a day!, is a joy for young children. Even young 2s are able to undress and dress with little help, including socks and shoes. This is doable, with some thought, and gives a great sense of satisfaction to the child. At school, for example, we encourage them to sit on a low stool for shoes, pants and underwear, so no balancing is necessary. Eventually we expect, and see, children noticing a need for new clothes, getting them out of a cubby, putting wet clothes in a bag, getting dressed, putting everything away with no word to or from us, then returning to their work.

So, since Montessori education is all about independence, when you are ready to tackle toilet training, in our classroom, we will expect the child to be able to undress self, wipe, flush, wash hands, and re-dress self if there is an accident, all with little help. Children are expected to know when they need to use the toilet, we do not "take them", or remind (unless we see the "potty dance", then we reassure that whatever is going on will wait or continue until they are done with the toilet!). So it is reasonable to wait until there is that level of independence at home before tackling toilet training at school. There are accidents at first, but this is no problem for us, and the other children are low key about it as well. They remember those days, and we still hear conversations among the threes about being dry at night, or not. We do not put any pressure on you or the child, so please take this on at your leisure. It is a complicated dance of maturity, awareness, power, and control!