Hahah yep I believe both my 4 year old and 2 year old are like this! My 4 year old always says “No, I don’t, cause I’m scared” too poo at Kindy. And my 2 year old, well she always does a poo every morning before her daycare drop off and the moment she is home from daycare but it’s only those two daycare days she goes in the week where she poos exactly at those times so I have suspicions she doesn’t poo at daycare! Oh well what can I say, hopefully they grow out of it as they are still very young.

This is concerning!

This is concerning!

This is concerning!

Along with my other comments below; it is also incredibly good to locate and use all available resources on toileting for children. It is is important to take the stress out of using a variety of toilets and knowing that it is so important to poo and wee and get rid of waste from the body.

Thankfully my daughter does not have this issue however I am aware of a few mum friends whose kids do struggle with this and find it hard to go at school. I think it is important to remind kids that school is a safe place and it is ok to go if they need too as holding it in all day is really bad for you and would be very uncomfortable for them.

From a very young age I encouraged my daughter to use public toilets. Never made it a big deal to ensure she didn’t have the stress I did as a child of not wanting to go at school.

This isn’t even unusual. My child won’t go anywhere but home and it worries me dreadfully. But it’s very common. I think the school’s in general could make their bathrooms more inviting. When my daughter started kindergarten, I was pretty sad to learn they only had adult sized toilets, no steps or kiddie seats. Being smaller in size, this alone makes it hard for her to use. Plus they dark, cold, the toilet paper is always moist and there is visible mold on the cubicle walls and doors. I use it frequently to encourage her but I have to admit it’s not pleasant.

This isn’t even unusual. My child won’t go anywhere but home and it worries me dreadfully. But it’s very common. I think the school’s in general could make their bathrooms more inviting. When my daughter started kindergarten, I was pretty sad to learn they only had adult sized toilets, no steps or kiddie seats. Being smaller in size, this alone makes it hard for her to use. Plus they dark, cold, the toilet paper is always moist and there is visible mold on the cubicle walls and doors. I use it frequently to encourage her but I have to admit it’s not pleasant.

I am not surprised by children not wanting to use toilets at school. I know of many adults in the workplace that also refuse to use the toilet to poo. Thankfully; we have never had an issue with using toilets at school or public toilets. We encouraged using toilets in different places from a very young age.

I’ve known a lot of people, both when I was a kid and now as an adult, that have a phobia of using bathrooms outside of home. Definitely trying to instill a positive outlook on bathrooms to my toddler. There is a great Daniel Tiger’s Neighbourhood episode about using different toilets.

Such a strange thing! I know I never really hesitated at school. I was brought up seeing going to the toilet as being quite normal and when we would go on road trips I was encouraged to always go to the toilet at roadhouses. I guess that made me more organised, so that I would try to go in those break times and not need to ask during class.

My youngest who has down syndrome had a fear to let go of her poo for a long time and certainly within the school setting. She was quite late with toilet training and had regularly accident (pee & poo) till she was 10 year old at school. there was certainly an embarrassment factor that played a negative role. When you have to rely on help and yet want to be independent is of course hard. For some kids in her class this was all hard to understand and they would tease her at times.

Wow good to know I thought it was only my kids that did this

Taking number 2 in public feels so daunting and uncomfortable as an adult so I can only imagine how my little one would feel when he has to go in public facilities, yikes!!! Not surprised by this research at all
I feel like a research on adults would probably show similar results too, honestly

Yeah, my little kid is fully toilet trained BUT even if he does use it he wants a nappy at daycare… and of course poo always at home.. I guess the best is not put pressure on the them and just teach when the times come how everything works… w

That doesn’t surprise me a single bit ! I myself don’t like using public toilets at all and the thought of all those bare bums using the same toilet seat seriously puts me off. School toilets are often dirty and no toilet seat cleaning spray is provided. When my older kids were in high school they would try to avoid using the toilets too, certainly for a poo