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DryKids  Ontario

Dr. Max Maizels, author and professor, Children’s Memorial in Chicago, founder of the “Try for Dry” clinic.

Parent’s Role in Try For Dry:

There are two critical roles for parents to play: nurturer and coach.  Much of what needs to be done to treat enuresis falls to your child to do herself, but  she will need your understanding,  encouragement, and at times firm insistence if she is to attain her dream of dry nights and dry clothes. This is not the time to   chastise, scold, or punish, no matter how frustrated you become. Keep  in mind that your child is frustrated, too.

Dr. Stanford Friedman, an expert in the effects of corporal punishment on  children, says that parents who  use corporal punishment to address their child's  bedwetting problem do so out of frustration with  not  being able to resolve the problem in any other way. Parents who use this severe treatment are in the minority, and we hope that, as successful methods of treating enuresis become more widely known, all parents will refrain from resorting to harsh punishment when  dealing with their wet children.

Whatever treatments you decide to use, it is important that parents be unified in their support of the program.  Today a child may live with one or two parents, biological, foster, or adoptive, in one or two households, as well as  with stepparents or grandparents--under the influence of as many as  four parental figures. For the sake of the child, all the adults  involved must be informed and supportive of the  chosen treatment  plan. When parents openly disagree  about a treatment plan, the child may get inconsistent  messages about the importance of her compliance with the  program, and she can also lose confidence in  the  treatment. Children may thwart otherwise good efforts by  using their parents' disagreement over this issue to play one against the other. Because the child's ability  to comply with the prescribed treatment plan is the essence of its Parents, as well, need  support during treatment. They can help each other through the  fatigue  of interrupted sleep and the frustration of slow or  little progress. Parents often find it helpful to take turns getting up with the child during the night, particularly when an alarm is being used.

There is a simple reason that the Chicago program is called Try for Dry and to name our book Getting to Dry. We want to remind children and families alike that  the "trying," the ongoing  commitment to making a positive change, is fundamental. No treatment  program  for any medical condition can guarantee 100 percent   success, but we believe that if you and your child  maintain your  optimism and stick to the plan, you will  see results and get to dry.