What Do You Consider Potty Trained?

I agree with you. A child isn't 'potty trained' until they can get themselves to the bathroom without being reminded (I'm not talking an occasional reminder as in "We are going to the park in 10 minutes, please use the bathroom before we leave").

I personally don't think a child is *fully* potty trained until they can do it all themselves.....pull pants down and up, wipe, wash hands, etc.

potty-trained: when you can relax & not participate in any of the event. :)

Agree with Sue H. When the child is completely trained, not the parents ;-)

I consider a child potty trained when I can reasonably expect to take the child out in public and have said child use the potty vs having an accident. She will also go on her own and tell me when we need to find a potty. I can also take her to my sister's which is a 2.5 hour drive and she will tell me that we need to stop or if we stop, she will use the restroom. DD is not always dry at night, so we still use pull ups then, but I'm not worried about that right now. I'm worried about the tiny wet accidents that come from waiting too long to stop an activity. Sigh.

Let me answer that question from a preschool director's point of view. We have to answer this question for parents and teachers all the time and I have found that there are MANY different definitions. I consider a child to be potty trained when he/she can go to the bathroom on their own throughout the day without constant reminders. If a child can do this AND stay dry throughout their nap for a period of 2-3 weeks, I would consider him/her potty trained. That's not to say that accidents won't happen or that the child may ned to be "asked" to go potty before they go to sleep or if they seem to be very involved in an activity for an extended period of time. All too often I hear parents say that their child is potty trained because he/she goes to the restroom in the toilet every hour-because the parent takes the child into the restroom every hour. Children need to be able to recognize the sensation of having to go to the bathroom-both pee and poop. Your child is NOT potty trained if he/she still poops in their pants but pees in the toilet!!!
Going throughout the night without accidents is much more difficult for some children and should not be a determining factor in the potty training definition.
Just my opinion : )

Potty trained is no diapers at all during the day. I have a friend that says her DD is potty trained, but she wears diapers when they leave the house...um, not potty trained!

I felt different when my kids were trained. I stopped worrying about accidents. With that said, my little guy is currently having a regression. No clue why, but he's wet his pants a few times in the last few days. I still consider him trained because save for this regression, he hasn't had an accident in months. He has been night dry for 9 months, and poop trained for 9 months too.

Reminders don't mean they arent trained. 2 year olds get distracted. Hell, my 4 year old had an accident recently because she waited too long.

All I know is that I feel it when it is no longer my responsibility and they have taken it on themselves. That's what it means to me.

I love the answers so far. I guess I say my little one is mostly potty trained because he does not need to be reminded anymore, but he sanitary habits leave a great deal to be desired.

Since I teach and have the summer off he has been at home and not in daycare. We start back next week, so while I do anticipate some regression due to all the changes, I know the daycare will be a huge help in the hand washing & wiping departments.

Hey, I wanted to send them a fully potty trained kid, but I'll take what I can get.

For me it's when they have the ability to recognize the need to go without being prompted, can pull down/up their pants, wipe themselves, and flush. However, getting them to just actually GO on the toilet (not one of those yucky kid pottys) is a huge milestone for the kid and their parent, so I'm not going to knock someone's moment of glory. haha!

No diapers or training pants, staying dry through the night 99% of the time = potty trained.

I would consider my kids 100% completely potty-trained when I no longer need to be involved in the process, they stay dry throughout the day, I don't need to carry any special toilet seats with me, and they do not need diapers at night. An occasional wet bed at night is okay.

But, as my kids (twins) are going through potty training now, it's all a matter of levels. I'll be jumping up and down for joy when
1) they tell me when they have to go pee and poop, even if it means I have to go with them to the bathroom.
2) I feel confident that I can leave them at pre-school and know they will either go to the bathroom on their own or ask an adult to help them.
3) I can go out with them and not have to be in constant worry about where the nearest bathroom is and whether they are going to wet their pants.
4) Going potty (again) is no longer a delay tactic at bed time. :-)

No day time diapers = potty trained.
An occasional accident (once a month) is just an accident.
Night time is more a function of age and bladder capacity/maturity and many kids don't have it till they are 10 yrs old - but they can handle their own pullups for over night.

Never really thought about it..

But I bet your friend just jinxed herself. Seriously.

I posted on FB last night that DD was only having about 2 accidents a day. I even baked her blueberry muffins to celebrate.

So far today she has had at least 4 accidents... :-/

She goes to the potty herself without any reminders from anyone. Her accidents happen when she doesn't get there in time. But I cannot get her to wear panties because she refuses to pull them down. She'll literally sit on the potty and pee through the panties. She has the concept of wiping down so I just need to get her to do it properly. When these things are accomplished we will move her to the actual toilet.

So she is "potty training".

Potty trained is when a child knows when they need to use the washroom and is able to do so independently. My friend insisted her son was potty trained when he was two. Everywhere we went for a year she had to bring a change of clothes, because he peed his pants daily. When he was three I babysat him. He told me he needed to pee, but I had to turn on the bathroom light, pull down his pants, lift him up and put him on the toilet, help him wash his hands and pull up his pants. In my opinion he was not potty trained, and I felt it was wrong to tell me he was!

Well by all the definitions already give...my four year is still not "officially potty trained then"...Cause I have to remind him to wipe and flush about half the time. But he sure can wash those hands with no reminder! :)

No I consider him potty trained because he is able to go without me telling him it's time. That was just an accomplishment in and of itself!

Only reminders about going is when we are leaving to go somewhere...and I tell the WHOLE family (including dad)...go to the bathroom before we leave, there is no stopping! But well we have stopped in the past but I'd rather them think no options. Cause I always get "I don't have to go"...but it never fails 5 mins from home..."I should've peed!"

So now we "try" to go before we leave.