Is poop a bad word?

“That whole first year, jeez, your entire life revolves around poop. The presence of poop. The absence of poop. The discovery of poop. The aromatic sensation of poop. The waiting for poop. Seriously, I can’t express how much of your life will be spent waiting for poop once you have children.”

Fredrik Backman, Things My Son Needs to Know about the World

I had an experience at the store the other day that got me thinking; is poop a bad word? We were standing in the dairy section of our local Kroger where I was picking up yogurt and Activia for my toddler and he very loudly announced “That’s to help me POOP!”. I didn’t think anything of it – we talk about poop all the time – but the reactions of some of my fellow shoppers left me wondering. No one said anything to us, but we definitely got a few side eyes and mildly shocked looks. I think as a parent, and especially a stay at home mom, I’ve become immune to the taboo and stigma that surrounds the word poop. From the moment our babies are born we are talking about, monitoring, and dealing with poop. I never in a million years imagined I would be talking about something so much.

A few weeks ago my youngest was sitting on the toilet and insisted he couldn’t go unless he had a song to do a “poop dance” to. Cue Lori Henriques’ catchy “The Poop Song”. We first heard this song on a kids’ radio station in the car and both of my boys have requested to listen to it numerous times since then. It makes them laugh uncontrollably and for that reason alone I love it. Surely everyone realizes that we all poop – there are so many books on the market about just this subject! There are toilet paper commercials featuring fuzzy bear butts telling you to “enjoy the go”. So why did we still get the looks at the grocery store? Should I be telling my child to keep quiet about needing to go? Isn’t that counterproductive to helping him become independent and fully potty-trained? What’s a mom to do?

I guess in the future I will gently remind him that we don’t need to yell about poop in the middle of the grocery store. But I don’t see a day when I will tell him not to talk about it. Sure, I’ll remind him that there are times and places when we shouldn’t talk about it. After all, poop isn’t a bad word. At least not in our house.