Am I wrong.....

We are babysitting our 7 year old niece for a couple of weeks while her parents are away. Her mom told me that is wets the bed and has frequent accidents. She wears Goodnites to bed. After school we were going to run errands and I noticed she was farting a lot. Before we left I asked her if she needed to use the restroom and she said 'no'. I told her to put a Goodnite on just in case she could not make it to bathroom. Luckily she did not have an accident. Am I wrong for asking her to put on a Goodnite just in case??? What if she had an accident would help her clean up??? Has anybody been in my situation before where you had to tell a children to put a Goodnite/diaper on before leaving the house??? Thanks in advance for answering my questions.

I think at 7 she should be old enough to go to the bathroom during waking hours. So personally I wouldn't have asked her to put one on during the day. That is just me...
The males in our family have a history of nighttime bed wetting (enuresis). Lucas is 4 and still wears a diaper to bed at night. DH remembers having a problem until he was around 9 as well as DH's father. My nephew also was 8 before his enuresis went away. I asked our pediatrician about Lucas not being trained at night and his reply was basically that his bladder wasn't as mature as his body and not to worry with it unless it goes beyond age 8.
So IMO I would trust her with knowing her body during the daytime and use the Goodnites during the night. If she has an accident she's old enough to clean herself up.

Gas happens and it doesn't always mean you have to poop in the next 10 minutes . Also nighttime wetting doesn't generally translate into total lack of bathroom control. It is a seperate set of issues when compared to day training. If daytime control has never been an issues for her otherwise, like school, but you fear it might happen you can always stick an extra bag of pants and underwear in the car just in case.

Personally, I do think you were wrong in asking her to wear the goodnight for the outing. She likely feels bad enough about the bedwetting issue and now you have potentially bruised her ego even more. Sorry, but that is my opinion and you asked.

I agree. I don't think I would have done that. DH farts all the time, but it doesn't mean he has to go. If I was her I would have been offended and embarrassed. A seven year old knows when they have to go to the bathroom.

I absolutely agree that you were wrong to have her wear a goodnight. Kids who wet the bed are embarrassed enough already but to have her walking around during the day with one of those on is ridiculous. Of course, this is JMO.
The only thing that confuses me is that you asked who would help clean it up if she did have an accident. If the child is in your care, then YOU should be the one to help clean it up. You did decide to take on the roll of her caregiver while her parents were away, therefore you should be doing all the things her parents would do.

Nighttime enuresis is very different from lack of bowel control. In my opinion, and lacking enough information regarding your niece to be completely sure, it was wrong to force her into a Goodnight to avoid an accident that doesn't seem as if it would be any more likely to happen to her than any other seven year old.

I agree with all of the above....You should not have asked her to wear a goodnite diaper out in public, I have an 8 year old and he would have just died, he would have been so embarrassed that someone would have known what he was wearing. I mean, would you want to wear a really thick pad out in public (sorry to the gentlemen of the site)...but it is true...you think everyone in the world can see it. Also, if she were to have an accident...who do you think would help the poor child clean it up? I clean up after my kids if they have an accident or they are sick and I would expect my caregiver to do the same, even if it were my sister.

Sorry to be so rough, but you are the caregiver to a 7 year old child.

I totally agree with everything above.

personally i wouldnt of. usually at that age its the night time accidents where they need to wear them. its because thier bladders are not mature enough yet. During the day she is old enought o know to use the washrrom. just bring extra clothes just in case she does have one...

This post has been edited by JennasMommy on Feb 28 2007, 12:16 PM

yes you were wrong to ask her to wear a goodnites in the day