hello everyone. Just wanted some advice on how to get my 3 1/2 yr old to wipe his butt afer pooping, is he to young or will he come to it on his own? He wont even try he says he cant hes to small. I want him to learn before he goes to school when hes 4. Any advice woould be helpful
Thanks everyone. I do use the kandoo wipes and i got him to do it twice already. thanks for the motivation to handle such a yukky job.
I don't have any good advice, but this cracked me up and brought back memories of my own daughter who's now 25. She used to say "I don't want to have to wash my hands." I think I remember putting my hand over hers and gently guiding her, like you do when helping a kid to hold a pencil and it eventually worked. Good luck!
he is absolutely old enough. if he's really saying he's too small, you may want to look into all of the other things that you do for him instead of having him do it himself. this is a really important lesson (hindsight with my own parenting)! let your son be more independent or later in life he will constantly feel like he can't do things, his lack of confidence will always be low! (again speaking from my own parenting mistakes) he should be able to get himself dressed, brush his hair and teeth. he should be able to do some small household chores as well. it will make him feel like a big kid.
My son is 2 1/2 and he now wipes on his own. After he would go, I would wipe him and then I would say, ok now you wipe. That way he got the practice in, without having to worry about doing the actual cleaning. Before I knew it, he was coming out of the bathroom to show me his toilet paper that he had used (pretty nasty!) but I just praised him and told him never to leave the bathroom with his toilet paper :) We took a relaxed, no pressure, practice approach and that did the trick for us.
do it with him - show him - and then have him show you - how to get and fold the tissue - then hold his hand and guide it to help him wipe - sometimes boys need to use both hands - one in order to hold out of the way what isn't being wiped and one to do the wiping with - he'll get it pretty quick - always make sure hand washing afterwards is part of the routine
The flushable wipes are great. We use the CVS brand, much cheaper than Candoo.
It is comforting to know it's not just us. I've just been working with my 3 1/2 year old boy on this too this past week or so. Same thing as you are saying he didn't even want to try. For a while I just tried leaving him in there. And I tried using love and logic type statements such as "You can come out and play with us after you wipe." And then I'd check back in and say "It is sad that you don't want to come out and play with us." I would tell him that he could do it. I'd tell him if he'd just try, then I would check it and make sure he did good. It seems to me though that the biggest thing that helped him was actually showing him that he was capable of doing it. He put his arm back there with the toilet paper (and said he was too little) and I helped him reach down and basically I wiped him, but using his hand to do it.... and since then something clicked and he's been doing it. I think it helped him see that he could reach.
I think he's old enough. My daughter is 2.5 and tries to do it by herself. She actually does a great job, but I always like to do a follow up wipe to make sure. But by 3, I think he's old enough to at least try on his own and have you do a double check. Maybe encourage him by saying "yes, you can do it. You are a big brother now and big brother's wipe themselves." Good luck!
I agree with the previous poster, the flushable wipes are definitely a big help. However, my almost five year old (boy) still does not like to do it himself, but my three year old (girl) has done it since the day she became fully potty trained at 2.5. I think it might be a boy thing. If my son has to do it on his own, he will. We usually leave him there and he will do it himself. He started wiping more once we bought the wipes:)
Hi M.,
Try Kandoo wipes. My daughter loves them, I put a box on every toilet. I'm not saying she is a good "wiper" but she tries!
S.
My thoughts are that he might want the attension. Perhaps you could try bribes. -Which may sound bad, but it may also work. Tell him that if he tries to wipe himself that you will play a game with him or give him a peice of candy or something. A little insentive may help. Dont expect it grand progress right away. I am struggling with a simular issue and that helped me out. Good Luck!
I agree with Shiya, my now 5 yr old boy liked using them. Kandoo wipes come in 2 or 3 different frangrances. Mine likes the ones in the purple pack. He still uses them!
