Moms keeping track

Many of us, me included, have wondered how our moms were able to keep track of our bowel habits and thus able to decide whether we needed an enema, suppository, or laxative. One method that I had completely forgotten was that my mom's sister-in-law would keep track of my two cousins by placing a star on the calendar. My older cousin got a gold star and my younger a silver star. Despite or maybe because of such accurate counting I do remember that both cousins also got their share of visits with my aunt's red bag.

Aside from asking me if I had pooped that day my Mom seemed to assume that I needed a laxative if I was acting cranky and irritable, didn't eat all the food on my plate at mealtime, or had eaten a lot of candy or "junk food" which she felt needed to be cleaned out of me. In my early teens whenever I broke out in a fresh crop of pimples she would give me a big dose of Epsom Salts to "cleanse the toxins out of my blood" that she felt were causing the pimples. I probably got a lot more doses of laxative growing up than I ever needed for actual constipation.

As a mom, I can just say that we know all of the little signs. Crankiness is clearly one, but so is having gas, a somewhat bloated look, picky appetite, and general malaise or sluggishness. As for me I never knew about stars on the calendar, but then again I don't think I ever needed such obvious cues.

My mom was a klismo. I know she liked to get enemas from my grandmother and she liked to give them to me especially when we were going out somewhere and I had to hold in the water I didn’t get out at home. Embarrassing. She loved to embarrass me in any way she could.

I used to love the painful cramps as she filled me up and made me always take more. Still do.

I think my mom kept a record or observed my behavior like Emom and Westy's mom probably did although I was never aware of it. When an enema was needed the neighbor nurse just seemed to show up and I got treated from late grade school through early high school. Later conversation as an adult with her daughter she shared that her mom was also a klismo and she often got enemas at home. Looking back I wish I had been more willing to share some of my thoughts about the reactions they gave me with her daughter when we were both younger. Opportunity missed. Overall those treatments were my marking experience.

I did back then and now still wondered how she would know something was wrong or how i felt etc..

Let's measure quickly she would say.

My mother appeared many times to be clairvoyant. She detected when I wasn't feeling well. She would feel my forehead first. The first question was always. "When was the last time that you voided?" If I answered yesterday, she would counter. "Are you sure?" If I wasn't, she would continue with questions. At that point the die was probably casted and I was in for an enema. If I was firm, she would say the next time that you void, I want you to tell me,

As a mom, I can just say that we know all of the little signs.

Yes @Emom mother's sometimes just know or keep an eye on their kids. It is what they do keep an eye on the health of the family members.

As others have said, it seems like their mom had an uncanny sense of knowing when they were having bowel issues. My mother was like that as well as her two younger sisters. Their mom, our grandmother, was a retired RN and a firm believer in enemas for both kids and adults. And had an uncanny ability recognizing when someone was constipated and was seldom wrong.

When she suspected we were constipated, we got taken to the bathroom, bottoms bared, and placed across her lap. Next, we felt a Vaseline covered finger sliding deep in our rectum. Then her finger moving back and forth twisting as it moved. This continued for a good twenty or thirty seconds. Once she removed her finger, if found not constipated, she offered us a rinse enema that we were free to accept or refuse. If found constipated, she gave us a soapy then a rinse enema, or delegated the job too one of mom's sisters. And like their mom, both girls were good at spotting when someone had issues.

Like us, both girls enjoyed getting enemas. So, as two mischievous teenagers, they used that knowledge to their advantage. Knowing we enjoyed enemas as much as they did, they would tell their mom we’re being fussy or moody, when we were perfectly fine. Because they knew what their mom would tell them, “You know what the problem is. So, take care of it!” Giving them the excuse, to not only give us an enema, but themselves too.

I personally think, girls that are good at spotting things of that nature, simply pay more attention to people than most. I don't know, if they’re picking up on body language, or something else. But my sister was good at spotting my brother and I as teenagers, because she could tell when one of us needed an enema in a heartbeat. And like my grandmother, she was seldom wrong. This led to us swapping enemas with each other whenever she said something about it.

I don't think mom or grandma had a formal tracking system. It was just a matter of monitoring our toileting habits. Miss a Bm one day...get an enema the next.

Stay home from school or other event purporting to be ill or not feeling well, get an enema because that's what Dr Ross would order.

"We're going to give you an enema."...when I asked why..."Just because you haven't had one in awhile and probably need one!"