DS(4) has been sat on the bog screaming...

[Chuckthefucklebrothers]

...the house down for the last half an hour because he doesn't want to wipe his bum!

He went for a poo when I was in the bath (separate room, thankfully!) then demanded that I get out to wipe his bum. Something just snapped & I thought 'No! Do it yourself, you lazy ratbag!' (I didn't say that though. I've been repeatedly saying 'Have a try yourself & then i will help you') And good parenting doesn't involve doing stuff for them that they can do thselves, right? And he will need to be able to do it before he starts school.

Just how long should I leave him in there???

I'm not in the bath anymore btw!

Go in and talk to him. A reward would be kinder than trying to break him, his legs will go numb.

Well five min after I posted, he swiped a bit of loo roll in the general direction of his bum, I called that trying & did it for him. He wasn't upset by the way, just shouting at the top of his lungs with a bit of fake crying now & then. I'm not completely heartless, I just don't want him thinking that he doesn't have to even attempt to do it himself coz I will just drop whatever I'm doing & come running to attend to his little bottom!

My DD (4) is a bit like this too. She is reluctant to learn how to do it herself but will now if it's just a wee and is quite proud of herself when she does it all alone. We're almost there with the poo bit but I think she likes the attention of sitting on the toilet shouting "I'm ready!!' Then when you go half the time she says "I'm not ready"

Glad it's not just mine that does that! Am I being unrealistic to think he should be doing it himself? It doesn't seem too much to ask of a 4yo & I'm fairly sure DS1 could do it by that age (many moons ago, no pun intended!).

Have you shown him how? My four year old struggles and I need to remind him.

A battle of wills.

Good luck with that one.

ha! i was in the exact same situation with ds3 the other day (also 4yrs old)

in our case he is perfectly capable of wiping, he just doesn't want to because he doesn't want to have to wash his hands afterwards!?!?!?

i refused and eventually he did it