Per the Houston Chronicle newspaper (8-28-2011, B2), a 10-year-old Dallas-area boy died from his father’s punishment for wetting the bed. It’s too late to help that youngster, but perhaps other children are being punished for their “accidents.”

I too wet the bed as a child. My parents never scolded me; instead, they tried everything they could think of to help me avoid the accidents. Their efforts alleviated the problem without solving it. The problem harmed me psychologically. I declined every invitation to spend the night at a friend’s home, for I feared wetting their bed.

The accidents did not occur every night, but they occurred fairly often. Then at age 12 (many years ago!), my appendix ruptured and was removed. NOT ONCE since that operation have I wet the bed. Clearly my appendix—not my psyche—was causing my bedwetting. Removing my appendix COMPLETELY solved the problem. My enurisis (the technical term for bedwetting) was a physical—not a psychological—problem. Whatever the mechanism is within our bodies that wakes us so that we can go to the bathroon instead of wetting the bed, my appendix was keeping that mechanism from working properly.

So parents, please consider seriously the possibility that a child’s bedwetting is a physical problem that is entirely beyond the child’s control. Punishment is the last thing such a child needs. The child needs love and understanding from his or her parents.