My 8 year old son hates going to the bathroom and ends up wetting his pants? He doesn't seem embarrassed by this at all. How can we teach him to be aware of the sensation of having to go-and then to g

-- Irwin Bensel (franwein@yahoo.com), June 08, 2000

Answers

Why does he hate to go into bathroom?

-- Lyn Woods (Lyn@Woods.ch), June 09, 2000.

First, the problem will likely go away with some patience and planning. We went through similar problems two years with our son who is now ten.He maintained he'd "gone" and didn't need to pee, only to have a small accident in the car or just after going to bed.Patiently encouraging him to visit the bathroom regularly helped.So too did stopping him from tanking up before bed.There's an off chance he might have a low grade urinary tract infection that's causing the problem.Gently setting a routine that makes him aware of the urge while in the bathroom might work. It did for us.

-- Gary Watson (cg.watson@sympatico.ca), June 28, 2000.

Has he always been like this or has he regressed due to something you can explain? - some upset or change - and are there any gains for this behaviour?

-- jeniJames (imani@mcmail.com), February 08, 2001.