Poo-Painting

It assailed my senses as soon as I set foot in the room. My disbelieving eyes scanned the carnage - it was smeared over bedding, stuffed toys AND up the walls, not to mention all over the princess herself, who was sitting in its muddy midst grinning from ear to ear.

And then it hit me. I had a poo-painter.

Her twin brother caught my attention from his cot across the room. ”Ja-ja mess,” he emphasized through his dummy while pointing an accusing finger at the chocolate-coloured scene before us – as if I could miss it.

I boldly ventured further into the room and noticed it was covering her white nightie, had made its way up into her hair and, of course under the finger nails.

The next night it happened again so, posting my frustration on Facebook, I received this tip: ‘A friend of mine would give her boy a cold shower. It worked a treat.’

Well the next day we were heading off camping to the depths of the far north where drought had taken ahold. But on the second night of finding faecal graphics painted up the tent walls around every reaching vicinity, enough-was-enough. We all had to sleep in there after-all.

A bucket of our precious water was brought to the middle of the paddock where a giggling – albeit tentatively - Missy stood and, surrounded by an audience, received her first post-poo-painting shower.

But alas, this did not get the desired effect as, being a hot evening, the water was a cool relief.

We returned home where the problem persisted – intensifying to her throwing it across the room at her brother (and missing thank goodness).

Back to the internet where I googled ‘faecal smearing’.

It turned out to be a common problem among toddlers and, aside from one American mum’s solution of putting packing tape around the ‘diaper’, the recurring answer was the cold shower which is all fine and dandy in the colder climes.

At my wit’s end, it was time for the wooden spoon.

But before you call CYFs, the mere rap on the side of the cot elicited enough of a fright to halt the habit in its dirty tracks.

We then moved onto potty training, which presented another problem: upon discovering a pile of logs in the potty I was so proud I turned a blind eye to the fact a hand had been dipped in and subsequently smeared over the ranch slider.

I decided to take this one step at a time, bearing in mind a quote from that same American mum: “Just remember that curious babies are intelligent babies. My brother did this as a child and now he has his PHD!”

# Says Whangarei Plunket nurse Sue Saunders: “(Faecal smearing) is a sensory experience and I think she was enjoying the feel of it on her hands.” Sue suggests introducing faecal smearers to finger painting, play dough or clay. “A good idea would be to get them to paint in shaving foam as it doesn’t stain anything and wipes up easily afterwards.”