True Confession I wet the bed regularly until I was eleven or twelve. By regularly, I mean at least once a week. Then it happened maybe once a month until I was fifteen. It tapered off to once every six months until I was seventeen, now it’s once in a blue moon. Why did this happen you ask?
Why am I sharing this?
No, I’m not running low on “Confessions”; I just want anyone else who had this happen to not feel as bad. This was something I was totally ashamed of until very recently. There is no reason to be ashamed of it. It’s not something that you do on purpose. It is an accident. It’s your body’s way of telling that something isn’t right. In my case, I was way too stressed. I’ve also found that the embarrassment factor of it loses its power if I share. It’s not such a deep, dark, haunting secret if I am willing to discuss it.For all of the parents that read this blog,
please keep this in mind if your children have this same thing happen to them. Yelling at them, teasing them or punishing them will only make things worse. They feel bad enough, as it is, trust me. It may be frustrating to you to deal with (laundry, mattress damage, etc.) but it something that if not handled well could still be affecting them into their twenties or thirties. It’s taken me 24 years to overcome.
Thanks for sharing that. I know it must be tough. I’ll remember what you said if my daughter has that problem.
oh Swirly….{{{{{hugs}}}}} i was the exact same way!!! mine stopped entirely when i was 16 though…but it was regular until i was 12 or so…and it’s so true…don’t yell, don’t tease, don’t punish…it does no good…HELP your child, don’t make it worse!!
This was just on a cartoon “Generation O” earlier this week, a senator was going to blackmail a young rock singer if she didn’t sing a certain song for his campaign rally. Instead she went on stage, told everyone that the senator was a creep and sang a song about how she wet the bed and that it was no big deal.
Where is the million eprops button?!?!?
I was a bed wetter until about 11 or 12 too, but it was because of medical reasons. I’ve never told anyone though because I was embarrassed about it.
Oh, Swirly! I could hug you! I was a habitual bed wetter! It finally stopped about the time I got in high school. Thank god. But it was always very shameful for me to attend sleepovers which meant I didn’t attend a bunch. I swear.. we’ve got to be related somehow.
My daughter was a bed wetter until we found she couldn’t toleate whole wheat–and I baked everything with whole wheat–needless to say no more. My son is 9 and still wets the bed every night. He wears his ‘goodnights’ and we don’t make a fuss. He would like to go to the doctor and talk to her about it–since it was his idea I will make the appt. I am not fussy about the idea of medication though. I’m sure he won’t be rustling down the aisle at his wedding wearing a diaper.
Actually a friend told me not to toilet train my daughter until she was 20–that way you knew that every date she went on she would be home right after dinner.
Not to make light of an embrassing situation though…
*hugs*
I’m glad that you brought this up. Parents need to be very concerned when a child continues to wet the bed. All to often they just think there is something wrong with there child…well, maturity wise. “I didn’t have this problem, so why in the world should you?”, sort of thing. Like you said, it’s just an indication that something is not right. In your case, it was emotional. However, it’s often a very telling indication of diabetes in children.
*hugs* And as you can see from your comments, you are never alone. You were just the one brave enough to mention it.
-kh
My older brother was a bed wetter…and I guess I was just born to be a Mama…I never made fun of him! My Mama told me a few years ago when my Blake (7yrs now) wet the bed one night…he was about 4 I think, that I never made fun of David for wetting the bed, and she was very happy and proud of me for being such a “good person” to not hurt him! I dunno why I didnt make fun of him…I was 2 years younger, it would have been the “natural” thing to do…but I guess I was born to be a Mama and I knew it would hurt him. Who the heck knows!! Maybe I’m just that sweet… yeah right~Kimber (sorry to run on and on)
Same here, swirling. I wet my bed until I was about 12 or 13! Stress was the reason I did so. A niece of mine used to have the same problem as a child and when I looked after her and her sisters while their parents were away for a week I was glad I could help her with her problem by at least understanding it and not berating her.
A very brave blog, swirling, from a very special woman!