Toilet training marks one of childhood’s most exciting leaps toward independence. Yet many children today are reaching this milestone later than previous generations.
In the 1950s, most children mastered toilet training shortly after turning 2, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics. By the 2000s, the average American child could handle bathroom business independently just after reaching 3. Now, early educators report that some otherwise typically developing children are coming to kindergarten wearing pull-ups or diapers.
These statistics align with the results of a January EdWeek Research Center survey of 1,163 early educators and administrators who work with children in pre-K through 3rd grade. Most respondents agreed that, compared with two years ago, students are struggling more with basic skills and tasks—from following instructions to tying their own shoes and, in some instances, personal care, including toileting.
This reality raises some questions. Why are more developmentally on-track children arriving at school without basic self-care skills? Potential factors include lingering pandemic-related disruptions, time-strapped parents, and changing trends in the approach to toilet training. A more pressing question for schools is how to respond.
Policies vary widely. Some districts and states enforce policies that prevent typically developing children from enrolling in school unless they’re toilet-trained. Many have no clear policies. Others take a different stance, publicly acknowledging that they welcome children at all stages of toilet training.
In one Maryland district, responsibility shifts to teachers
A recently adopted policy in Anne Arundel County Public Schools—the fourth-largest district in Maryland—allows principals to assign staff, including teachers, to assist kindergarten students with toileting needs.
“We don’t turn children away,” school board member Joanna Bache Tobin told WTOP News. “We can’t and we shouldn’t. Because we would be turning them away, to a large extent, based on what their parents didn’t do. And no child should be penalized for that.”
Educators and parents should be “partnering with one another,” Bache Tobin said in that interview. Neither Bache Tobin nor other board members responded to EdWeek’s multiple requests for comment on the policy or what the district is doing to partner with parents.
District teachers responded strongly to the new policy. During a 30-day public comment period, several of the district’s early elementary teachers signed a letter to the board expressing their concerns.
“Families play a key role in preparing children for school readiness, including the development of independent toileting skills. Schools certainly support students with occasional accidents compassionately; however, expecting teachers to take on routine potty training responsibilities shifts a fundamental developmental responsibility away from families and onto classroom educators,” the letter reads.
Maryland law supports the district’s approach, stating that children cannot be excluded from pre-K or kindergarten due to a lack of toilet training. Self-care skills cannot be used as a condition for enrollment.
Some districts and states put the onus of toilet training on families
Elsewhere, policies diverge. Utah now requires students to be toilet-trained before enrolling in public school unless they have a documented disability.
In states without explicit policies around toilet training, districts sometimes implement their own. Florida’s Pasco County school district made headlines recently as it considers requiring incoming kindergartners (without medical or developmental delays) to be toilet-trained.
In an email to Education Week, spokesperson Stephanie Sedacca said Pasco County schools is “fully committed” to supporting students with disabilities.
“The broader conversation is not about students with disabilities or students with legitimate medical needs,” she wrote. “It is about a growing concern schools across the country are experiencing related to students entering school without age-appropriate independent restroom skills and readiness expectations.”
A district tries to partner with parents
In Walker County, Ala., veteran educator Tanya Guin- says her district has recently seen an uptick in students arriving at school not toilet-trained.
But the district has no formal policy to address it—nor does Guin, who oversees pre-K-8 curriculum and instruction, envision that happening. “We’re committed to [providing the] assistance necessary for any student to access their educational program,” she said.
But, Guin said, teachers set specific goals for students who aren’t toilet-trained, and they make parents part of those goals.
“We try to make a plan with the parents and execute that plan, so that the same thing that’s happening at home is happening at school,” Guin said. “Unfortunately, sometimes parents just don’t know how to do that without the support of the school.”