Little Boys' Obsession

__mommie__

Hiya
My 4 y.o son is OBSESSED with his peepee. He will play with it and hold it !!!
:eek:
Did your boys do this? Is it just a phase?
- Thanks
Kelly

MarkR

Don't remember me doing this, but you never know. I've read before that if you ignore it they'll eventually grow out of it. Maybe you could distract him with something!

Nevyn

Most childrend to throug this I had it with both of mine boy and girl.
It is the direct feeling and stimulis that they get at keeps them at it.
A bit like kids that suck thier thumbs or others that pull at and twirl thier hair.
Explain to him that it is not an acceptible thing to do, watch to see if it is a pattern of behaviour when is he most likely to start, stop him once he starts it if you can and distract him with something else to do or play with.

luckat

What? You mean guys are supposed to grow out of this?

tj-music.com

Thaedydal wrote:

Most childrend to throug this I had it with both of mine boy and girl.
It is the direct feeling and stimulis that they get at keeps them at it.
A bit like kids that suck thier thumbs or others that pull at and twirl thier hair.
Explain to him that it is not an acceptible thing to do, watch to see if it is a pattern of behaviour when is he most likely to start, stop him once he starts it if you can and distract him with something else to do or play with.

The best approach would be to simply let him play with it unless it is in public or in situations where it isn´t appropriate like while you are all eating together on the table. It is nothing DIRTY or INAPPROPRIATE as such. It is called DISCOVERY and will stop automatically. Making a fuzz sends the wrong signal I suppose.

optiplexgx270

tj-music.com wrote:

It is called DISCOVERY and will stop automatically.

Well it may stop up until hes 12/13 then it will start up again for well the rest of his life. Can't remember doing so myself but have seen kids that age around doing it (i.e. hands down front of their trousers) in public from time to time.

tj-music.com

optiplexgx270 wrote:

Well it may stop up until hes 12/13 then it will start up again for well the rest of his life. Can't remember doing so myself but have seen kids that age around doing it (i.e. hands down front of their trousers) in public from time to time.

... not a nice sight but what can you do

Thanx 4 The Fish

My little boy (3 last week) has in the last couple of months started using the toilet and so has been in pants instead of some nature of nappy. And for a while was constantly at himself. I just tell him to stop playing with it and he does, last week however I was in the shopping centre and I thought he had wet himself a little as he had told me he wanted to go to the bathroom and we were heading to there when he stopped for a second. Anyway, I bent down and touched the front of his trousers to see if he was wet. Top of his voice in the busy shopping center he shouted out "Daddy stop playing with my willy". That was a little embarassing and I did get some very funny looks.

Hopefully he will grow out of it, although with myself and his mum just saying it to him he has almost cut it out completely

Charis

From everything I have read and heard it is a very natural part of discovery. My three year old daughter is fascinated with her "privates." When I went to wash her the other day she told me not to because it tickled. I handed her the cloth and asked her to clean herself and told her that it was fine for her to clean herself. I also told her that these were her special parts and she doesn't have to let people touch them, it is fine to tell even an adult not to touch her there. Seemed like a good time to start introducing healthy boundaries. As someone who was abused as a child I want my daughter to know how to tell someone not to touch her and to tell me if there is a problem. This might be a great time to teach appropriate touch. There isn't a right or wrong here. A lot of guys play with themselves they just learn to do it appropriately, not in public. All of us parents start out as amateurs. Good luck!

DaisyD

My friends boy of five used to go to sleep holding onto his for comfort!

My son never really had an obsession with it when he was younger, but now he's seven and at school he refers to "his privates" a lot.

It seems to be fairly common for small children to have an interest in their bodies, it's something new for them to "examine"! A phase that will pass and according to earlier posts it's a phase that will return and stay!!!

Victor

One reaction I've heard of is "not in public" - just like one wouldn't do other hygiene / bodily function things.