This isn't just another parenting book filled with warm platitudes or old wives' tales. It's a clear-eyed, practical guide for parents facing a problem that's more common than folks care to admit: chronic constipation and soiling in children. The first thing to get straight is this—stop blaming the kid. Most people, including doctors who ought to know better, chalk these issues up to behavioral defiance or laziness. That's not just wrong—it's counterproductive. What's really going on, more often than not, is a physiological jam. A kid with chronic withholding stretches the rectum to the point it loses sensitivity—a condition that's been accurately (and unflatteringly) termed a "megarectum." The nerves go quiet, and the kid doesn't feel the urge to go until it's too late. That's how you end up with soiling accidents and a child locked in a cycle of pain, shame, and more withholding. Getting to the Root This is not something you fix with prune juice and wishful thinking. The solution requires a long-term medical approach, not a weekend of "more veggies." Think sustained intervention—often a regimen of osmotic laxatives (Miralax, for instance), sometimes bolstered by stimulant laxatives when needed. The goal is simple but not easy: daily, soft, complete bowel movements, day in and day out, to let the stretched colon heal and remember its job. What Matters More Than Discipline And while you're at it, toss out any ideas about discipline or embarrassment being useful here. They're not. In fact, they'll make things worse. The book lays out practical language for talking to your child—and to caregivers and well-meaning but misinformed relatives—without shame or scolding. This is about education, repetition, and rebuilding the child's sense of bodily awareness. Call it the brain-gut connection, call it common sense—but it works.