What age for complete bathroom independence?

[Anonymous]

3.5 year old still can’t wipe after pooping (we really haven’t tried) and he fools around washing his hands so he can’t really be completely alone. What age can they do everything completely alone?

[Anonymous]

A teacher friend of mine said the best gift we can give to teachers is for our kids to be able to wipe themselves by kindergarten! In all seriousness, my now 6yo could mostly wipe himself by age 5, but at home I sometimes get called in if it’s a messier one. He always does his best to finish wiping before asking for help.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A teacher friend of mine said the best gift we can give to teachers is for our kids to be able to wipe themselves by kindergarten! In all seriousness, my now 6yo could mostly wipe himself by age 5, but at home I sometimes get called in if it’s a messier one. He always does his best to finish wiping before asking for help.

Same situation here with 6yo DD. We've been at about that level of assistance since she turned 4.

[Anonymous]

Started at 4. Mastered by kindergarten (almost six!). Who knew it would take them that long!

[Anonymous]

Definitely by kindergarten, unless there are special needs.

[Anonymous]

My DD was doing all the potty steps solo by age 3. Every so often she needs wiping help. She’s a pretty independent child though, the I do it myself stage never ended.

[Anonymous]

My kid is a summer bday and I wanted her to be fully competent before K so for us it was 4.5. I’d say independent aside from wiping after pooping around 3.5.

[Anonymous]

So when do kids start wiping and being completely bathroom independent?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DD was doing all the potty steps solo by age 3. Every so often she needs wiping help. She’s a pretty independent child though, the I do it myself stage never ended.

So she isn’t bathroom independent, right?

[Anonymous]

Poop wiping was last for us. I’d say it became a hot topic of mom conversation when everyone was turning 5. My kid got peer pressured into it right around then.

[Anonymous]

My 5.5 year old still asks me to wipe his butt, much of the time. He will do it himself but if he feels that it's "messy" he wants me to do it. Of course no one is going to wipe his butt for him at school, and I've seen some underwear that tells a tale.

[Anonymous]

My kid is 4.5 and we're really close to her being totally independent but I actually think she's still just not physically big or coordinated enough yet to be totally on her own. Her arms can just barely reach for wiping her butt and the coordination is still awkward, plus the idea of cleaning herself in a place she can't really see remains hard for her. I'd say we have to come in with a follow up at least half the time. But we make her do the first pass because it's the only way she's going to get better at it.

I will also say that her bathroom independence has gotten so much better since starting full day (9-3) preschool. The teachers don't help the kids in the bathroom unless they specifically ask for it, so she's gotten really good at doing the whole routine totally on her own. But she rarely poops at school so she hasn't been forced to go solo on that as often. But I absolutely think she'll be good to go by the time kindergarten starts in the fall.

[Anonymous]

Definitely by kindergarten since the teachers do not help. I think we started teaching our kids around four.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DD was doing all the potty steps solo by age 3. Every so often she needs wiping help. She’s a pretty independent child though, the I do it myself stage never ended.

So she isn’t bathroom independent, right?

If you call needing help to wipe diarrhea when sick twice a year not potty independent then I guess not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A teacher friend of mine said the best gift we can give to teachers is for our kids to be able to wipe themselves by kindergarten! In all seriousness, my now 6yo could mostly wipe himself by age 5, but at home I sometimes get called in if it’s a messier one. He always does his best to finish wiping before asking for help.

This has been my experience as well (almost 6yo twins). I get called in once in a rare while to help, but otherwise I have pretty much zero involvment or even awarenss - seems that school has made them be much more independent in this regard.