What age did you stop, er, wiping your kids' hiney?

[Dizneefamily+4]

So we finish eating Thanksgiving dinner at my in-laws and some of us are sitting around and others are helping clear and clean up. Suddenly from one of the bathrooms, I hear a loud, "I'M DOOOONE." And then my dbil and dsil essentially do a rock, paper, scissors to decide who's turn it is to go wipe my nephew's hind end. He's going to be 7 in a couple of months.

After my initial shock and after shooting a WTH glance at my dh (it's his sister,) my first thought was, "what does this kid do at school?" We stopped wiping our kiddos (ds12 and dd8) at around 4 years old when they went to preschool/4K. I thought that was pretty standard. Now, of course, there's been the occasional assistance when needed, but those times have been few and far between.

Just curious as to when everyone else stopped the wiping???

 

[Caseheidi]

My DD is 4, and she takes care of it herself, unless we are out in a public restroom. Then she has to use regular TP instead of a baby wipe, and sometimes needs my help. Also, she is scared of self flushing toilets, and refuses to do it herself on one.

 

[Happy 2 B Me]

Maybe your nephew needed some help from mom or dad. Might be that the parents are lucky he will ask for their help. Might have been that taking care of his own need he might have used so much paper he would have caused a toilet back up. Might have been his parents asked their son to give a call for assistance to insure all was taken care of.

Each child is different in and when they feel confident in taking care of the bathroom issue.

My grand daughter was 4 when she decided she did not want anyone to help her. We did have to listen to her sing while in the queens room. LOL -- she is a hoot. Grandson was 6/7 when he decided it was time to do it alone and his parents never worried.

If this is all the parents ever have to worry about they get a high five IMHO.

 

[BadgerGirl84]

My DD is only four months old (so lots of mama-wipin'-the-bottom here!), but I would imagine that kids should be wiping their own bottoms by age four or so--definitely in time for kindergarten. I can understand exceptions, but a child screaming "I'm Done!!!" doesn't sound like, "please come help." It sounds like what the child would say to be wiped by mom or dad on a normal basis.

So yes, that would surprise me too if that happened at our Thanksgiving.

 

[SLP958]

This would not surprise me at all. DS 6 will still ask someone to do this for him sometimes. (We say "no, wiping your own tail is part of life")

I would not expect for it to be yelled out with company present. By that age they should be wanting a little privacy.

 

[Stitchfans]

My grandson is 3 and he does it on his own. The only time he asks for help is if he has tummy problems which ended up in a mess.

 

[luvmy3]

Each child is different in and when they feel confident in taking care of the bathroom issue.

An able bodied 7 year old should have been feeling confident for quite some time. If they don't then there is a problem there.
What do these kids do in school?

 

[bigbabyblues]

I think mine were 4 when they could do it themselves unless they had tummy problems. DS1 went to preschool at 3.5.

 

[minnie mum]

An able bodied 7 year old should have been feeling confident for quite some time. If they don't then there is a problem there.
What does these kids do in school?

My thought exactly. Our DDs were taking care of their wiping needs well before kindergarten.

 

[mumto3girls]

My youngest is 7. I can't recall the last time I wiped a butt--whoo hoo! There was a time I couldn't have imagined that! My guess is my girls were 3 1/2 - 4 1/2 as they were fine at preschool etc although I doubt they would have gone at school unless it were an emergency.

I do recall my girlfriend and my sister (both of whom have an older son and younger daughter) saying that their girls were ready much quicker than their boys. I think my girlfriend said something about her son being so lazy that he refused to wipe his own butt and it wasn't until her much younger daughter was doing it on her own that she realized that he was quite capable of it, he just didn't want to and needed a little push to do it himself.

 

[mombrontrent]

I would say by age 3 all my kids were wiping without assistance. My youngest is 7 and it's been years since I have helped her in the bathroom.

 

[Jennasis]

Outside of physical issues (illness/injury, disabilities) or a special needs child, 7 is well beyond too old to require assistance in toileting.

 

[roliepolieoliefan]

So we finish eating Thanksgiving dinner at my in-laws and some of us are sitting around and others are helping clear and clean up. Suddenly from one of the bathrooms, I hear a loud, "I'M DOOOONE." And then my dbil and dsil essentially do a rock, paper, scissors to decide who's turn it is to go wipe my nephew's hind end. He's going to be 7 in a couple of months. After my initial shock and after shooting a WTH glance at my dh (it's his sister,) my first thought was, "what does this kid do at school?" We stopped wiping our kiddos (ds12 and dd8) at around 4 years old when they went to preschool/4K. I thought that was pretty standard. Now, of course, there's been the occasional assistance when needed, but those times have been few and far between. Just curious as to when everyone else stopped the wiping???

My DS was 4.

DD ( miss independence) Im sure I did when she was first potty trained but I dont even remember helping her. So with her , I would say 2 1/2 -3.

 

[deedeecee]

I think my daughter was about 4. I really had to force the issue, though, because she was quite content to hand that task off to me. So, I started charging her a quarter. That really motivated her to quit asking me and to do it herself.

 

[Gracie09]

My girls are four. They clean urine themselves and try feces. I check them when they do number two. Easier than dealing with skid marks

 

[leebee]

I can tell you what they do at school. Some of them are fine, some not so much. There's a physiological issue with wiping; your arms need to be long enough to "reach." Judging by the skid marks on the seats of the toilets in the K-2 wing at school, my guess is parents are over-estimating the independence and ability of some children!

 

[DVCJones]

I can tell you what they do at school. Some of them are fine, some not so much. There's a physiological issue with wiping; your arms need to be long enough to "reach." Judging by the skid marks on the seats of the toilets in the K-2 wing at school, my guess is parents are over-estimating the independence and ability of some children!

Haha! This post made me laugh. I also work in a school and I completely agree. I think most kids between 4-8can wipe just fine most of the time. But, there are times when things could be a little messy back there and some assistance is needed.

 

[ellone]

Haha! This post made me laugh. I also work in a school and I completely agree. I think most kids between 4-8can wipe just fine most of the time. But, there are times when things could be a little messy back there and some assistance is needed.

After a few skid marks I told my 4 year old she needs to wipe better. Her solution? She tries to get me or my husband to wipe when she poops now.

 

[Soldier's*Sweeties]

My twins are 6.

DS does fine. Sometimes, like a PP said, if he had tummy issues he'll ask for help.

DD still tries to get me to do it, but I won't. She does it herself. It helps of we have wipes.

 

[hegsag]

My youngest is 7 and I can't remember the last time I wiped his butt. He's always been independent and wants to do everything on his own.