Opinion

Juliette Rayner: Reversing the trend of late potty training starts with education

What impact does the trend for later potty-training have on families and early years practitioners? Juliette Rayner, CEO of ERIC, the leading charity supporting children and young people to attain good bladder and bowel health, explains why they have devised a course for early years staff
Juliette Rayner: 'Sadly, families often don’t know where to turn for potty training advice, partly due to the decreasing numbers of health visitors and cuts to community bowel and bladder services.'

Children are now being potty trained later than they used to, which is causing problems when they start school. To help tackle the crisis, we need to educate early years practitioners about potty training so they can better support families.   

Potty training has become a growing issue in recent years. In the UK, the average age that a child is potty trained has risen. There are many factors contributing to this.

A recent survey by early years charity Kindred² showed that one in four children are now starting school not potty trained, and that teachers divert 2.5 hours a day away from learning and towards supporting school readiness.  

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