I was only given a couple of enemas as a child. My father was my only parent. He took the time to explain how everything was going to work, and what was going to happen before starting.
The first time, I must have been 4. Dad came into the living room carrying a red bulb, with a black nozzle. He said it had been in his house as long as he could remember. It was about 4 oz. I think he still has it around somewhere. He set it on the coffee table, called me over, He handed me the bulb, let me handle it, and let me squeeze it. I could do anything with it. He then asked for it back.
He took it, and squeezed it just a little. He said, "This is how we are going to MAKE your body poop, whether it WANTS to or not! I am going to fill this bulb with some soapy warm water. You know how I will get the soapy water in there?" I shook my head "No" He held the bulb like he was holding it in a jar, squeezed it up flat, and let it refill He said, "Like this! You will have to lay in a position that I know is not very comfortable, but you will have to sty in it. I will try to make it as easy as possible. We'll do this on your bed, where you are already comfortable. You can hold any of your stuffed animals that you want. Do you know what this black part is for?" I said, "No." He said, "This is the part that has to go inside you. In your rear end. It doesn't usually hurt, I will take it as slow and easy as I can. If it hurts, tell me, and I will take it out and try again. It DOES have to go all the way up to where the red part starts. Do you know why that is?" I just shook my head, "No" There Is a muscle just inside your bottom that you have control of, and that you can tighten up to keep things out of your bottom. The reason it has to go all the way in, is so that it is above that muscle. So that, once it is in, what's inside the bulb is going inside you as soon as someone squeezes the bulb, and there will be nothing you can do about it. You CAN control whether or not it hurts! If you relax, and don't try to push the black part out, that is a very big part of keeping it from hurting. The more you fight it, the more it's going to hurt. If you don't fight, and just go along, it usually won't hurt. If it does, it will be just a little bit. Not enough to send you screaming and crying, just enough that you want to say 'OW' a couple of times and then it's gone. I will have to keep putting soapy water in you until you feel full, but not painfully full. So you will have to tell me when to stop. Once the soapy water feels full but not too full, that's when it's up to you. I will stop putting the stuff in you. and you need to tell me what you are feeling. You need to make sure you stay in that position, as tempting as it will be to bounce around. You also need to keep your hands and your stuffed animals off your tummy. In a couple of minutes, maybe right away, you will start to feel like you have to poop. Then the feeling will go away. Then it will come back. Maybe stronger, maybe weaker. It will do that a few times over the next couple of minutes, You will feel your tummy rumbling, and probably hear it as well. There will come a time when you just can't hold it nay more, no matter how hard you try. When that happens, but NOT before it happens, you need to run to the toilet. Sit on the toilet, and let it come as fast as it wants to. Don't try any more to hold it back, and don't try too hard to push it out. We will both probably be surprised by how much poop, water and soap all mixed together, really comes out. We Will have to do that twice, but I hope we will ONLY have to do it twice. I'll know when the second one comes out if we have to do it three times. I hope we don't. You NEED to understand, that this is NOT something either of us will LIKE doing. It's not something you do for fun. you do it when it needs to be done. This bulb is NOT a toy. It's not something you play with the rest of the time. Do you have any questions?" I said, "Daddy, have YOU ever had to get this done to you?" He said, "When your Mom and I were together, we used to give each other enemas. Since she has left, I've had to do it to myself sometimes." He said, "Stay right there a minute!" He headed toward the bathroom.
He showed up a moment later with a big bag I now know to be a 3-qt, filled with water. He knelt down right beside me. He held it up to his tummy, and he said,"This is what I use to give myself enemas. I have a hose to connect it to a nozzle and that nozzle gores inside me. Your Mom had a different one, a little smaller that she had to use." he then held the bulb up to my tummy, and said, "See the difference? It's not easy being a grown up!" He then runs back to the bathroom, and emptied the water out of it. When he came back in the living room, he said, "Anything you want to know?" I said, " When I'm a grown up, will I have to use a bag like that? He said, "Probably, but there is no way to know right now. It won't be for several more years anyway, so don't worry about it now."
He then looked me in the eye, put his hand on my shoulder, and said, "Now you have a choice to make, are we going to do this easy, without a lot of crying and fighting, or do it hard? Not doing it is NOT among the choices! I know you won't LIKE it, nobody does,I don't exactly WANT to do this to you. It's no fun for either of us, and it probably never will be. You can either work with me and do it as easy as possible, and make it hurt as little as possible, or you can fight me, and work against making it sure that it will hurt a lot!" I said, "I don't want to!" He said, "Neither do I! It is the sort of thing that that is not done often, and it would be best for a mom to do, when it does need to be done, but there is no mom here to help us, so we will have to get through it the best way we can. let's get started!" He got up, pulled me up by the shoulders and said, "Nobody ever WANTS to do this, least of all a kid, but we gotta do it, so let's do it as easy as possible!" He was already leading me down the hall. he said, "I am going to let you watch me mix the water and soap, and I am going to let you see me fill the bulb. That will make you less scared. I was scared my first couple of times, and I was even more scared the first time I gave one to your mom, but it worked out OK, it always does." He got a pitcher out from under the sink, and a big Rubbermaid jug with a screw top, and a bar of soap floating in it. It looked like that bar of soap had been floating there a while. He shook it around, and poured a little of it in the pitcher. He then got an old wooden spoon, like the one in the kitchen out of the bathroom drawer, and let the water under the tap get warm He filled that pitcher, and stirred it up until the soap and the water were well mixed. He squeezed the bulb as tight as he could, He then put the bulb, up to the top of the nozzle in the pitcher, and let it fill up.
He then carried them both into my bedroom. he sat them down on my desk. I was wearing what was basically a sun dress. he moved my pillow almost to the center of the bed, and pealed the covers the rest of the way back. He said, "This is why I haven't made your bed yet. I find it more comfortable to put my feet under the covers, but that's up to you" He said, "Take off your shoes, tights, and panties, and kneel on this pillow." He then showed me how to get into the knee-chest position, and said, "Any questions I haven't answered well?" I said, "NO!" He said, "Are you scared?" I said, "a little." He said, "that is actually good, because then you won't try to do this when it's not needed." He said, I Know it's not easy in that position, but it's important to relax as much as you can. Now remember, if you don't resist, it WILL be easier! There is no certainty that it won't hurt at all, but if it hurts a lot one or both of us made a BOO-BOO!"
I took 3 bulbs full. held the first one almost 10 minutes. The second one, I took two bulbs full and held it again nearly 10 minutes. Dad coached and encouraged me all through the process. Just like he said, it hurt a little but not a lot. I whimpered a couple of times but I never cried.