Some things come easy for preschoolers. Some things do not. In the case of our three year old daughter, pooping fits in the latter category.
It’s not that she can’t poop. It’s just that she won’t. At least not where we would like her to start pooping.
It’s not that she’s afraid of the toilet. She takes care of her other business easily on it. She’s been doing that for a LONG time.
We’ve tried offering incentives (that’s parent-speak for bribing). We’ve tried not cleaning her pants for a while after she goes in them. We’ve tried leaving her walking around the house kind of like a hippy. We’ve tried to ask her if she’s afraid. We’ve tried begging. We’ve even come close to yelling at her.
All for naught.
She’s 38 months old. It’d be great if she took this next step any day now.
Maybe this experience just teaches me a new saying. “You can lead a toddler/preschooler to water, but you can’t make her poop.”
Anyone else feeling our pain?
We’re going through something similar with Sam. We’re now 2 weeks+ with all pooping being in the potty, but it’s more-often-than-not a BRUTAL experience. He needs to go, knows he needs to go, wants it to “stop hurting”, but there’s just something there that makes him scared and it takes FOREVER.
The thing that’s difficult for we adults to understand is how, when we know, and he knows, how much better he feels after the deed is done, what’s going on in his head that makes getting to the feeling-better part so difficult?