My son shat by the footpath.

[LumpyMcBentface]

He said he was going for a wee, on our twenty minute walk home from school. He went behind a bush next to the footpath. When I went to pull his trousers up the evidence was there to see (and smell). He proclaimed innocence to start with and then giggled uncontrollably all the way home.

I usually have poo bags with me but I'd left the dog at home and hadn't considered I'd need them for walking a five year old. So I had to leave it.

We scarpered down the path and I think we got away with it, but I am mortified.

Should I have gone back to clean it up? I considered it but then, erm, didn't. I'm now feeling a bit guilty.

How bad is this? Please tell me your children are as gross as mine!

This post has me in fits giggling.
Don't worry op. Happened to my friend and her Dd in the middle of a busy playground. I was no help. I couldn't stop laughing. But I did have nappy bags to offer her.

As far as my three boys are concerned it's not de rigeur to poo at school. Op - don't worry, he's only five. It'll be a lovely story to embarrass him with at his wedding.

I can't help but laugh at this. He's 5 FFS!!! He shat behind a bush not in the middle of the path... fairenough mum should of picked it up but fucking hell some of the comments are a bit OTT!!

I suppose it would of been more reasonable for him to shit in his pants and walk the rest of the journey home with it there?
He's 5, he clearly needed to poo.

Ds 3.5 shat in a garden at the national trust! .... The national trust !!!!!!
I speared it with a stick and flung it into the bushes

Nofuckingworriesmate flung it in the bush ^ hahaha!! Laughed out loud at this!!!^

God, you're easily amused, Digestive ??

haha brilliant !
dnt worry, things like that happen ! My daughter (while i was heavily pregnant) crawled under the play apparatus in full view of all the other congregated mothers in th playground after school, and proceeded to take a dump. I had to crawl under there and scoop it up with wet wipes and crawl back under the toddler bridge holding it..
be thankful urs was a more discreet turd !!

Can I ask if said accident was bog standard ???

Flogging- not easily amused no I just think things like this can't be helped and actually found the way nofunking described the accident with her child funny. If this is being easily amused then I guess I am. walks away with no shame would rather have a sense of humour then be someone who thinks a five year old shitting behind a bush is disgusting

I don't. I've said repeatedly that I don't. I found your extreme laughter at flinging shite into a bush a bit bemusing; but it was a bit pass remarkable to say so. Sorry.

No worries. I maybe did put too many laughing faces I have just looked back at my post so can probably understand why you said what you did.
However I did find the way the woman described it slightly amusing and will not hide that fact.

& I wasn't aiming my comment at you directly either so I apologise if it seemed I was.

What a lot of fuss over nothing. Of course it couldn't be helped! I'd probably have 'speared it and flung it into the bush' as well, if I didn't have a nappy bag with me, rather than gone back later, but it's not the end of the world. Can't believe posts calling the poor chap 'gross' etc....!

Raised eyebrows on reading negative reactions here. As a small child growing up on a farm and roaming far from the house, I had no compunction about having a pooh whenever I needed! A few leaves to wipe and cover, hands washed in stream - job done! Admittedly no one was ever going to accidentally step in it and I wouldn't enjoy walking through human or dog dung infested parks or countryside but nature is nature and I would never admonish a child who was caught short. My first child (yes, rural too) took a wee under the tree in the school playground on his first day.... I wasn't embarrassed. He was advised this wasn't the done thing and didn't repeat it.

FWIW my four children all refused point blank to pooh at school all through their school years and would race each other home to hog the bathroom...

And don't get me started on dogs and milk-fed calf dung....

For those asking why you wouldn't go back for child's shit but you'd pick up dog shit, you'd normally carry a dog bag with you when walking a dog. I don't know anyone who carries a child shit bag when they walk their child...

Why do so many on here dramatise everything and make OP feel like the most horrendous parent over something so trivial and unavoidable?! The child is 5, he might not have realised he needed one until it was on the way. My DD had diarrhoea for the first time since getting her out of pull ups for poos and she came and told me she had done one in the garden. I just hosed it down and thought nothing of it other than bless the poor little darling not being able to make it to the toilet. If you think he's done it to be naughty that's a different thing and obviously needs nipping in the bud but you're a mum and know this anyway. Poor little sod just got caught short. As for going back to pick it up, that's up to you OP and I can't say whether I would or not as I haven't been in that situation (yet) but I would probably just get it the next day on the way home just to keep a clear conscience

I was walking on a footpath near our house recently (in the countryside) our dog lives rolling in fox poo. I saw her roll and yelled at her, she came to me with thick poo pouring down her side, all on her collar and ears. I was cross. Put her lead on and took her home to hose down. As I walked I could smell it and I thought I've not seen fox poo that colour. Anyway, once dog delt with I went back to the footpath. It was human poo, right on the footpath, with a pair or torn up boxer shorts hung in the trees used as toilet paper.
It was the most disgusting thing ever. I can't believe the gross dog rolled in it!!
But a 5 year old doing it isn't so bad.

Loves rolling...not lives!

It's obviously not to be encouraged but accidents happen. Of course it is gross to think about but it's not like he did it on purpose. If he had diarrhea and couldn't control it people would be less quick to condemn.

I don't see anything gross about it... much better than doing in the pants :), though I would have gone back and picked it up. If it is on the way to school, then I am assuming you walk there all the time and could still go and get it.

this thread has royally cheered me up today. And to all the pearl clutchers, you are what is wrong with this world. 4 year old takes a shit in the woods and op practically branded worst mother in the world whilst child is slagged off. Pffft. Dont feel bad op. Shit happens, literally as you now know . Anyway its biodegradable and am pretty sure that should (the fucking remote/impossible chance) that any child accidentally step in, some how get it on their hands and then into eyes/mouth then its not dangerous and no one will die. Do all the pearl clutchers feel the same way about horse/fox/rabbit poop etc?

Well, it's not on the footpath and not something that you could have easily anticipated.

You do need to clear up dog poo as it has dangerous bacteria in it and can cause blindness in small children.

Can anyone with too much time on their hands go back and find all these myriad pearl-clutchy posts that have made op feel like the worst mum ever? I haven't read the whole thread but it seems to me to be 55% good humoured and supportive, 40% posters getting hysterical over the "mean" posters, 5% a bit judgey about leaving the poo in situ and 0% judgey about a child having an accident.

But, as I say, I haven't read all of it!

My son did this when he was 3 so I do feel for you! He just couldn't hold it in and it turned out he had a milk allergy.
I'd say that if this becomes a habit, or even when he's at home and just has to go urgently, then it could possibly be an allergy to something or another underlying medical condition.

So it's rural, in a bush, a nearly five year old? Christ, It's really not the end of the world.