why?

I just want to know why little children feel the need to announce LOUDLY and REPEATEDLY that they need to poop in the middle of whatever public place you have to be in (for us, it tends to be Target or the grocery store, because we are always there). I suppose I need to teach them to just say, "Mommy, I need to go to the restroom," but I'm not sure it would work.

We were at the toy store this morning looking for a birthday present for a friend. And TWO SEPARATE times during said shopping trip Abby made me take her to the bathroom to poop. Otherwise we'd have been in & out of the place in 5-7 minutes--seriously. I knew what I wanted to get and just had to have them wrap it up for me. But no, it quickly became a 30- minute errand. Of course she announced her need as I was standing at the counter handing my items to the cashier/saleswoman. I'm sure they are used to it since it's a fairly popular store that caters to young ones (and they have a very nice, clean restroom for public use), but still I felt myself flush (pun intended) and for an instant wished I could just disappear.

Because she pooped twice at the toy store, I felt as if we should be all clear to go to the grocery store afterwards. There's a winter storm approaching and we're expecting as much as 8 inches of snow tomorrow, so I wanted to make sure we were well stocked. But no, we're shopping and Abby insists she has to go potty again. I refuse this time, because I'm quite certain there's nothing left in her intestinal tract. She then proceeds to get angry with me and start shrieking at the top of her little lungs, "I....HAVE....TO....GO....P-O-T-T-Y!" My mind races. What can I bribe this child with to temporarily distract her/shut her up?

There is only one answer, and it's candy, folks. Pure sugar.

Sure enough, I paste a smile on my face and say, "You girls have been so good, I think you deserve a little treat. Should we each pick some candy?" And we pull up to the check out aisle. SCORE. They both jump out of the cart like it's on fire and start tearing through all the packets. They can only identify a few kinds of candy (Starburst, M & M's, and Skittles are really all that they know), so thank God for small favors. I let them each pick one thing and I never heard another word about anyone needing to use the potty again.