Help! My 5 year old daughter is slooowww in the bathroom. She can take 15 minutes just to pee. It's fine when we are home and have no place to go but can be a big issue when we are trying to get out of the house (like to pick her brother up at the bus stop). She sings in the bathroom, & takes forever to wipe. I'm concerned with her starting kindergarten next year that she will miss too much if I don't get her to speed things up.
Thanks for advice!
Just a quick idea for you...buy a 3 minute egg timer and a 5 minute egg timer. When she has to pee use the three minute, when she has to poo, use the 5 minute. That may motovate her! Good luck & best wishes.
My 5 yr old son is the same way. I, too am a bit worried about kindergarten. I have found that he takes longer if he has an "audience" - basically anyone within ear shot to give them play by play descriptions of bathroom activity (yes- aren't boys fun). I remind him that mommy and daddy don't do that in the bathroom and that he isn't acting like a big boy. Then - I ignore him and do what I need to do. If I need to leave - I just get ready to do just that. When he hears me open the front door - he finishes in the bathroom pretty quickly.
Hi S., I see you've gotten a lot of responses that mention the timer idea in one way her another. And also using the wipes to help speed things up and make wiping easier for her to master. Well, we did both of these things with my daughter,
prior to kindergarten and all went well. Our method with the timer was 5 minutes , various times throughout the day.e.g...morning, after lunch, before dinner, before bed. I taught her how to use the wipes for when she would poo, and we kept them in the same place under the sink so she always knew where to get them. Although, at first we had to keep them out for a bit until she adjusted.
Also don't worry, they mature so much in "K" and fall into the routine of the class and teacher. Good luck. W.
S.,
How about setting a timer. This way she knows that she has limited time in the bathroom. Start out 10 minutes and get her down to five minutes. That is going to be the average time she will have in the bathroom once kindergarten starts.
Also explain to her that taking your time in the bathroom is great, but a new routine must start because she is getting to be a big girl and school will be starting for her in a few months.
Good Luck
A. C.
The timer sounds like a good idea to help shorten the time. Don't worry about her in school, teachers won't allow them to spend lots of time in the bathroom.
I love the timer idea from the mother below my response.
My nephew can spend TWENTY minutes in the bathroom when he poos. He takes his Nintendo DS in there and sits and sits and sits. It's funny when you have nothing to do, but an annoyance when time is of the essence.
Hi S.,
Although we don't have this specific problem with the bathroom, we call my son (5yrs.) the master Putzer! Drives me nuts! O. thing we have found helpful to getting out of the house is to set a timer, maybe 10 minutes before we need to leave the house & occasionally say.."OK 8 minutes til we go." Maybe you could use a potty timer? We are just now getting my son to wipe on his own...so frustrating! Have you tried KanDoo wipes? Good luck!
