I'm suing my mother

There are very few childhood dreams I remember with clarity , especially the ones that recurred more than once.

I am outside the house playing with my neighbors. We started playing police and Thief and we’re running round a compound that looks like ours. All of a sdden, the scene changes and we’re in a field. There’s a little gutter by the side, and I turn to damola my neighbour who’s with me “lemme quickly pee here b”

So I bend down, hike my little gown and pee in the gutter. . Suddenly I feel wetness around my leg and my eyes open…

Yes, you guessed it! I’m still on my bed!!! Immediately I start crying because I know what that means for me- Lots of ridicule from my mom!. I was one of those children who didn’t stop bedwetting till almost 8 years old. I can’t begin to recount the hell I went through at home because of this. I remember my mom telling me that she was going to tie an empty can of milk to my leg and call all my friends and tell them to sing for me if I ever wet the bed again.

Today, I had to listen to a presentation on enuresis given by one of the residents that was in the afternoon clinic today. Here were a few highpoints:

• Some of the reasons for Enuresis (bedwetting) include: a small bladder, frequent Urinary tract infections, brain maturation delay, sleep disorders etc.
• It is actually a diagnosis in the DSM IV
• It tends to run in families. Most children have a parent who was a bedwetter. If both parents were, there’s a >80% chance that the child would also be a bedwetter.
• Drugs can be prescribed for the treatment
• There are also behavioural classical conditioning techniques that can be used to help stop it

Well, my mom (like many parents) took the behavioral route in trying to stop it. Only that instead of using an alarm to help me train me to recognize my full bladder, she threatened to beat me many times (cant remember if she actually did). I was made to feel like there was something wrong with me. So did my mum’s tauntings, threats, and everything produce any significant results?

This time around, I’m with my sisters in the house, sometimes in the room when I feel the fullness in my bladder. I’m happy that I was able to sense it, and then make my way to the bathroom. I sit on the toilet…when I remember to actually double check whether it’s a dream or not. I open my eyes, check my surroundings and I’m sure I’m on the toilet seat. I let out a huge sigh of relief for averting a potential crisis. I let out the pee and only that instead of going into the toilet, I feel the wetness around my legs…

Oh shit!

I had many of such days. On days like that, I would cry. My mom caught me on one of those occasions crying and I told her what happened. I did feel my bladder fullness. I tried to wake myself up, I went to the bathroom ONLY THAT IT ALL HAPPENED IN MY DREAM!

A lot of children start bedwetting whenever something traumatic happens in the family like a divorce, birth of a new child, bullying in school etc. I was a middle child and that was traumatic enough!

Anyways, I love my mom or else I’d sue her for emotional distress, psychologic scarring and…blogville lawyers, what else can I sue for?

2. Blogville mummies, (solomonsydelle, fluffycutething, etc) how did you handle bedwetting in your kids

3. Blogville residents, I’m sure I’m not the only one who was a bedwetter, do you care to share any such experience?