Reading on the potty - bad habit?

[MiaSparrow]

I'm gearing up to properly start potty training 26mo DD very soon. [shudders]

But so far she's been offered it at nighttime before or sometimes after the bath with a couple of successes.

Thing is, when she wants to give it a try she'll go and get her potty and a book, wanting me to read to her while she's on it. Is this too much of a distraction? I have to say she's barely done anything on it when she's been engrossed in the book. But she absolutely does know what the potty's for rather than it simply being a nice reading chair.

When I start training properly should I give her a book if that's what she wants? I have a nasty feeling it's going to be a bit of a crutch and will complicate things, but then again it could be absolutely nothing.

Advice please, wise mums. xx

I never understood the technique of sitting a child on a potty. If she wants to go...then she should be in a position to let you know before it happens or at least AS it is happening.

This is achieved with discussion...there's no point at all in sitting a just turned 2 year old on a potty and hoping they will perform.

I have trained both DDs by waiting until they told me "Doing a wee now" or whatever they said ...whilst they were still in nappies...or I'd ask them "Are you doing a wee/poo?" which opened up conversation about the subject.

Then I removed nappies in the house...had a potty in most rooms, when the child told me "Doing a wee" or I spotted one happening... I'd grab the child or the potty and put them together.

DD1 took a week at age 2 years and 9 months and DD2 took the same but was a little older...not quite 3.

DS2 has always loved books and when he was starting to potty train I would sit him on the potty and read to him and when something happened I would get all excited and praise him - that gave him the idea of what was expected of him. He pretty quickly got the idea and was reliably dry and telling me he needed to go within a couple of weeks when he was about 26 months.

I meant to say, he very quickly didn't need the stories.