Reception child poo in playground!

[canichange]

My DS is 4, he'll be 5 at the end of July so he's one of the youngest. We potty trained him when he was 3, he was slow to get the hang of poos but but by 3.5 he was 10% reliable. I don't think he's ever had an accident since.

Today in the playground after school, he pulled his pants and trousers down and crouched down to do a poo. Luckily I got there and only a tiny bit had come out, so I was able to pick it up and ensure the area was completely clean and safe.

What makes this worse is that his almost 3 year old brother did the same thing on Monday. He'd had a slightly upset tummy, not diarrhoea but he'd been caught short and so I put it down to that. This though, I can't excuse at all.

He did come and tell me he wanted to go home prior to the poo, but then ran off playing. He didn't mention needing the loo.

Other parents saw. I am mortified. Why on earth has this happened and what do I do?! Obviously I have told him off and he is upset. I've said we can't go to the playground after school for a few days because I need to know this won't happen again as it's not nice or safe for the other children. I'm so embarrassed.

Sometimes they hold it in at school because they don't want to go in front of their classmates, then need to go urgently afterwards. He's only 4, give him a break! Don't make a big deal of it to him. I've seen it happen with much older kids.

It sounds like he maybe copying his brother.

Is he withholding is poo at school and waiting until he gets home? Does he have any constipation issues.

The ERIC website and poo goes to poo land app are good.

No advice, but my son did this in reception during lunchtime in the school playground

My ds chose to go in his pants on the playground as he was too scared to use the new toilets (he's autistic) as he wasn't used to them and nobody had bothered to take him in.
This happened at lunchtime and nobody even smelt it !

@Wnikat

Sometimes they hold it in at school because they don't want to go in front of their classmates, then need to go urgently afterwards. He's only 4, give him a break! Don't make a big deal of it to him. I've seen it happen with much older kids.

You’ve seen much older children than 4 pull their pants down and poo in public?

I can completely understand why you’re embarrassed OP, but I really wouldn’t let it bother you too much. You’ve spoken to him, he knows it’s not OK and I imagine he’s very unlikely to do it again.

Don't be embarrassed. Kids do crazy things, we all know this. He might have been ignoring the need to go and suddenly felt like he couldn't control it, and panicked - bodily sensations are very intense at that age. Or maybe someone said something to him that he misunderstood that made him think it was ok? did he see his little brother do it? If so, probably just confusion. Or maybe he has suddenly got shy about saying he needs to poo and wasn't sure what to do.

I honestly wouldn't overemphasise it - I'd go over it again with him that we only poo in the toilet and if he poos on the ground he can't go to the playground, make sure he's understood and then let him go back.

But definitely don't feel bad about it. A 4 year old's brain is still full of a lot of muddled notions, and you dealt with it, so don't feel bad people saw.

Have you encouraged them to do this eg out walking in the countryside? Kids can get confused when it's appropriate (as adults we know it's ok in certain circumstances, I have a poo trowel even!) I would suggest as a routine you take both toilet before going to the park playground after school to minimise risk, but don't overthink it, not that unusual

You've made me feel a lot better, thank you. We've had tea and haven't mentioned it again, I think he knows it was wrong as he has said sorry.

He did see his brother do it. I didn't have stern words but I didn't tell him off as such as I thought it was fair if he had a slightly upset tummy.

Glad to hear it is not that unusual

My son tried to do this on a packed beach last summer! When I stopped him he cried all the way to the toilet that he wanted to poo on the floor like a dog!

@LanguageAsAFlower

My son tried to do this on a packed beach last summer! When I stopped him he cried all the way to the toilet that he wanted to poo on the floor like a dog!

I've just woken up poor dd pissing my pants at this!

@LanguageAsAFlower

My son tried to do this on a packed beach last summer! When I stopped him he cried all the way to the toilet that he wanted to poo on the floor like a dog!

Baby asleep on me and I'm stifling my laughs do I don't wake them!

Especially as the dog is also sleeping next to me

Don't worry OP. This is quite normal. When my eldest was that age, he crawled under a bench at a BBQ to have a covert poo. There were three ladies sat on the bench eating at the time.

I only realised afterwards (as he crawled out with his trousers down). Nobody else was aware. I had to grapple with the dilemma of openly asking them to move so I could pick up his turd or waiting until they'd left and hoping they couldn't smell it. I chose the latter! 🙈

Thanks - you've made me laugh.

This happens more often than you would like to think! and often with much older children.

It's the age. I watched a little boy filling up a plastic bag with wee so he and his mates could wet the sand to play with in the sandpit. That was an interesting conversation when I finally flagged down his mum, chatting away to all the other Mum's of the boys playing with wee sand