I know everyone is different, but I am unsure of when to start asking my son to wipe his own behind. He is 3 yrs 9 mos and has been potty trained for a couple of months. When are kids capable of starting to wipe (and how long before they are good at it)?
Sometimes it takes them a long time to learn to do it properly! Start now, and let him use a wet wipe, so he doesn't use too much toilet paper. Show him how to do it (I mean, you don't have to show him how you do it(!), but take his hand and help him wipe himself, then go over the lesson again every now and then. My son was 6 or 7 before he learned to do it right every time.
My son just turned 3.5 last month and he still asks me to wipe his butt. My husband and I have shown him how to do it and he knows how. Sometimes though, he just wants us to do it. Be careful though with that, because they sometimes tend to use TOO much toilet paper. Tear off an amount you think is enough and show him how to do it.
If you're anal (pun mostly intended) like me you'll probably wipe long past when they can do it themselves, 'cause you don't like poop all over the place. I'm sure I wiped well into their third year, and maybe after?? Can't entirely remember, but I do remember having my 8 year old on the floor with legs over his head scoping out his butt for pinworms (he had them).
Your call.
Definitely start training him how to do it now and just follow up to make sure.
My youngest took a LONG time to do it right because she would want to be done with it and go on to playing. I drilled it into her head to wipe at least 3 times and always look at the paper to see if it's clean. After the 3rd if it's still dirty, flush and start again. I had to set up an incentive of new "big girl" silky panties once she could do it on her own for one month (we had a jar and glass stones to keep count.) This was when she was 8 that I finally found something that worked! I even had a sign made up for the bathroom with each step.
My eldest had it down cold pretty early on, like by 4. So I couldn't fathom why my younger daughter just wasn't catching on to the importance of a clean tushie. Ah, the joys of parenthood!
Have him start doing this on his own right away. You can follow up once he's had his turn, and will probably need to keep an eye on him for a few months until you're sure he's doing a good job. I figure that one of the best benefits of potty training HAS to be that you get to stop wiping poopy bottoms, right?! =)
