Bottom-wiping

[PrettyCandles]

At what age are children's arms long enough for them to be physically able to wipe their own bottoms?

ps according to my hugely advanced scientific calculations, the issue of insufficient arm length should have been resolved in most children by age 6...

I thought small children were quite bendy, and so could contort themselves to reach?

A small child might be able to bend himself so far as to stick his entire head up his bottom, it's just not necessarily a good or hygienic idea.

I, of course, am hugely advanced in this area, as I not only have learnt to wipe my own bottom, but I have also learnt how to talk out of it.

DS3 (5.5) still needs help with bottom wiping, drives me mad as if I don't get to the toilet fast enough when he yells "Finished" at the top of his voice, he shuffles into the kitchen/living room with his pants round his ankes and half a roll of loo paper clutched in his hand!

However he will be doing the grabbing the elbow over his head excercise tonight and if he passes....no more bum wiping for me.

RedTartanLass, your post did make me lol!!

When my daughter was about 2.5 she decided she wanted to wipe her own bottom (she's got a bit of an independent streak). The resulting mess was one of the most hideous experiences of my life!! My DH and I had to shower down our DD and scrub out the toilet room, throwing a whole toilet roll away. She's now almost 4 and still can't seem to reach properly to wipe her own bum.

Twisting/coordinating is certainly something which develops. My rather uncoordinated ds at 5.5 can now reach perfectly well. But the question of not getting it on your hands, and doing a good enough job, seems to be something else entirely.
Someone mentioned skids - but actually we have more problems with soreness. And avoiding using the toilet at school because of not wanting to wipe. Are there any great solutions?

My ds1 doesn't get skid marks, but he gets itchy, because he doesn't wipe hard enough to get everything out of the crack... No magic solution to this - he'll either have to get used to it, do finger strengthening exercises, hope he can survive 'til bathtime, or enlist the help of a grown up (his favoured option)! Of course, it doesn't help that his total lack of enthusiasm for the task normally results in the poo having started to dry on before he'll even start wiping. It's incredible how much of the day he is willing to waste, sitting there in the hope my resolve will break before his.

Of course, wet wipes would help, as you don't have to wipe so hard for these to work, but I personally don't think this is feasible unless I stand there and watch, as I don't trust him not to use hundreds of them and clog up the toilet. And standing there to watch became unbearably irritating, I found! A snail would do a faster job of it. I'm sure time will sort it out in the end...

my ds still likes me to talk to him while he's on the loo, but he's not daft: he starts to tell me all the things I want to know, like who he plays with at school, what he's been doing etc.

Well didn't test ds3 out on his bum wiping dexterity as he was send home from school for puking in assembly. So now have sick child and very disgusting bum to wipe. Oh the joys of D&V

Thanks for this thread, I was just about to ask the same question.
Conclusion reached is that DD (4.5) is just being lazy - from now on she'll be doing it herself!

By rabbitstew Tue 24-Nov-09 09:45:33

"I, of course, am hugely advanced in this area, as I not only have learnt to wipe my own bottom, but I have also learnt how to talk out of it."

ROFL, nominate for quote of the week!!!

Except I've just realised it wasn't written this week (or even last week)

I can definitely remember in the old days it was normal to shout "I've finished" for your mum until one was about five.

Wiping your own backside was a rite of passage passed around the same time as managing a bike without stabilisers.

However (and this in the era where people think it is normal for 3 year-olds to still be in in nappies), I was rather surprised that school would absolutely not help my August born daughter clean up after visiting the lavatory when she started reception (i.e. was aged 4 and 1 month).

Is this paedo-hysteria, or are teachers and their "TAs" just too precious to do this?

My daughter starts school in January and she will only have just turned 4, so I have been desperately trying to get her to wipe her own botty (with varying degrees of success!!). However, one of the teachers in the reception class reassured parents that she does help the younger ones to clean up after a no.2. Otherwise surely they'd get sore bums?