The pattern shows up consistently in surveys of early childhood educators: more children arriving in kindergarten who can't reliably manage bathroom trips independently, who have daily accidents, or who haven't been trained at all. This isn't anecdote — it's a documented shift that's been discussed in ECE professional communities since 2021.
The pandemic effect is real. The 2020–2022 cohort of toddlers spent critical training windows at home with disrupted routines, no peer modeling, and parents managing significant stress. Many families simply didn't prioritize or complete training during that window. Those children are now in kindergarten.
Developmental differences are more visible. Schools are also seeing more children with autism spectrum disorder, ADHD, sensory processing differences, and other neurodevelopmental profiles who weren't identified or supported early enough. Potty training is genuinely harder for these children, and without early intervention many arrive at school not yet trained.
Building independence before school: One of the biggest gaps teachers see is children who were "parent-trained" — they go when asked but can't self-initiate reliably. A Benny Bradley's Potty Training Watch helps bridge this gap by teaching children to respond to their own timer — building the habit of self-initiated trips before they need to manage it in a classroom. Available for girls and boys.