Poo Smearing

[Jillxx]

Last night my 5yr old daughter decided to smear A LOT of her poo all over the inside tiling of our shower cubicle. It was like the scene from Psycho except not with blood! This is not the first time she has smeared her poo, other times it has been on clothing, walls, floors, toys etc. This was by far her worst. When confronted she told me she did it cos she wanted to!?! We have tried everything from reward charts to taking away privileges but nothing is seeming to work. I feel that at 5yrs of age I shouldn't have to watch ehr like a hawk. She even SOMEHOW got some on our ceiling in the bathroom - we need help - does anyone have any tips/ideas - we are getting desperate now!

Not surprised you are upset and concerned, Jill...have you spoken to your HV about it, or otherwise sought professional advice? This is often a sign a child needs help...it's not the usual sort of mischief any child can be expected to get up to from time to time, but a manifestation of distress/anger/confusion (not the case in toddlers, who don't know what they are doing, but in a 5-year-old it's worth taking seriously). Hope you get help soon. Maybe others here will have some ideas.

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I'm just reading a book about the psychology of the stock market and strangely enough it all comes back to poo, would you believe! According to Freud children go through the examining poo stage, change over to sand in nursery, go on to pebbles as teens and change over to coins in adulthood - hence the fascination with money!! Has a sort of surreal beauty to it, according to the book! I don't know if it means your child will become a stock broker, but I felt I should share it with you! If you think it is all crap (oops!) what about when we say someone is mean, we say they are 'tight-arsed' !!!

Interesting thought, Kia!

Jillxx an idea just occurred to me - don't know if it would work - I think you can buy crayons for bathtime to use on tiles, bath or on skin. The drawings wash off. Could you offer these instead? Also things like colour change shower gels, foam soap etc.

Thanks for all the postings. The thing is these poo smearings are few and far between. The previous time was months ago...sometimes it has happened during the morning, day, afternoon, or evening. There doesn't seem to be a common link! Now we are just watching her like a hawk as if she doesn't get the chance to do it problem solved although in the past it has happened in different rooms etc...
Anyway thanks again for all the comments!