DD is turning into a wee Bobby Sands.....help please!!

[BunnyLebowski]

DD is 22 months old. We haven't started potty training yet but have bought a potty to familiarise her with the idea of sitting on it etc.

In the past 2 weeks (latest incident 2 hours ago) there have been 4 instances where I have been out of the room (for at most 10 mins) whilst doing housework etc and she has pooed.

She has then taken the poo out of her nappy and painted the sofa/tv screen/her legs/her toys/her hair with it and smeared it in all sorts of inappropriate places (not that there is an appropriate place to smear poo but I digress).

Has anyone had any similar dirty protesting with their dcs??? Is it a sign of her being ready to potty train?? Does it mean she has behavioural problems??

Or is it just natural curiosity in a toddler??

And how do I deal with it?? So far I've gotten a bit cross with her and then marched her to the bathroom and cleaned her off while telling her why I'm cross with her. She seems to understand at the time that she has been naughty but then does it again .

Surely I don't just ignore this behaviour??

Gah my house smells of shite .

Any help would be desperately welcome .

But surely the humour is used within a group of people who understand where it comes from and why its used? Not in an open forum where you dont have that same experience?

Not saying its wrong - just interested. Am aware this is not the right place for this discussion on a potty training thread btw

I am just wondering if any of the non NI people are thinking only of the hunger strikes, or are 'getting' the dirty protest? My dd1 has a friend called after the mayor of Cork who died on hunger strike in the early 20th century, these things are taken seriously in Ireland, but also humorously like Patrick Kielty. I think we need a NI consensus...

Kerry - I don't think my MIL would be saying it in a way that would make you laugh aloud - just a shorthand 'comment'. With rolls of eyes etc. (And I hope OP can sort out the toilet issues without too much trouble, it can't be easy.)

I really don't think referring to what "background" you're from is ever helpful when discussing the Troubles. Sorry.

Pixie - that has to be one of the daftest comments I have ever read on here.

Those pesky Northern Irish and Irish hey - getting all touchy about the Troubles

Well maybe if you had explained a bit more instead of using a completely ludicrous example that would have helped.

Well, the shit's really hit the fan on this one.

Because Joan of Arc died in the 15th Century and as such your example wouldnt be that upsetting and shocking - weird but not shocking. Her name doesnt resonate with visceral emotion like Sand's does as she has passed into history and away from that raw emotion.

Its the juxtaposition of a toddler with Bobby Sands that stands out isnt it - if the OP had said her toddler was having a dirty protest it wouldnt have been so shocking I think.

tethersend

I think the background you come from is important - as I say my MIL would be liable to say this, and she'd be from the same background as the hunger strikers. If I said it, coming from a completely different background, then I'd consider whether I was being offensive, provocative, whatever.

DH is from NI and says "Nobody from NI would be offended". This is totally their sort of humour.

I swear to god some of you people must scour MN actively looking for things to be offended by .

It's my sense of humour. A sense of humour formed by growing up in NI in the 80's and witnessing the troubles first hand.

What I said would not offend anyone I know and care about in any way and quite frankly I'm not going to acquiesce to a load of 'Disgusted of Tunbridge Wells' type mnetters.

Kerry - 'I don't think anyone from a republican background would be making such jokes at this time of year either.' I guess considering that I come from a republican background this cannot be true?

Anyway I'm off to Ireland in 7 hours. Feel free to continue this daft bunfight in my absence .

And a genuine Thank You to the people who offered genuine advice on my situation with DD .

Bunny,I am reading what you write with a Norn Iron accent! Maybe the change of scene will help you get sorted;there was a thread on this on rollercoaster.ie a while ago if you have a search there. It can be an equally scarey site .

I thought it was hilarious.

Me too tethers.
I'm not from NI, but immediately knew what it refered to.
We call it "staging a dirty protest" chez Sutherland.

In answer to the op, I've found only pre-empting the poo works.

I'm from the South and I did think it was funny in a black-humour kind of way. I clicked on the thread because I thought the child wasn't eating and I did have experience with that on ds1.

Mind you, we were at a Dara O'Briain gig a while back and I laughed at a potato-famine joke and dh thought Dara was terrible for making the joke and and that I was terrible for laughing.

Any thread with any Irish connection is liable to go off at a surreal tangent

hi

being from the south of ireland isnt the same as being from the north, I am from the north and the fact that ur a brit referring to bobby sands as a 'dirty protest' well its only honourable that we get annoyed and tut, now if ur from here ur are more than entitled to use this kind of humour, its all about diplomacy and understanding

good luck with ur baby though though

I think it is a case of Patrick Kielty can talk about issues in a way which would be wryly humorous in norn Iron - if Stephen Fry, or even Graham Norton said the same things there'd be outrage...Now chipmonkey and the famine, that's a whole different matter

Actually, that is true!

dh had dinner with a UK colleague once who cracked jokes about dh having nothing but potatoes and I was incensed!