Employees need coffee and lunch breaks. People need vacations. Football players need time-outs. Don't let potty training take over your life! Be sure to talk to your child about other things. Read books on other subjects. Praise your child for other accomplishments.

Being too preoccupied with the state of your child's bowel and bladder is likely to create the kind of stress that leads to burn-out and rebellion, depression and stress, and a wide range of physical, emotional, and psychosomatic problems. Unending concentration on potties conveys that success in this area is all that matters — and that's just not true! Your child's worth as a person is the same whether or not he is accident-free today or tomorrow or in the next six months. By high school graduation everyone manages!

If potty training is too intense for too long, you can lose your patience and objectivity. Although the diaper years can seem long indeed, someday you'll look back at this stage and be able to smile about it. You may not believe it now, but it's true. So why not start now?