Child Exploring Himself at Age 8 - Mohall,ND

I work in child care and I can tell you that his behavior is normal from what I have seen. Actually, I work with children that range in 3-5 and frequently see boys becoming more curious. However, they will explore themselves at times when they think nobody will notice, such as nap time or in your case bath time. I'm sure he will grow out of it but I don't have very much advice for what you would say to him if you chose to talk to him. I think you would have to be careful with your approach so you dont embarras him or make him feel like he is doing something wrong. Good luck

Totally normal I'd say he's at that age where you need to not come in when he's bathing either. He needs his privacy now.

My daughter explored at age 3-4 and I told her she needed to do it in privacy either in her bedroom or the bathroom because that's something mommy doesn't like to watch or want done in the living room LOL....

I also remember my little brother in the bathtub at age3 telling my dad at the time that he can make his pee pee get bigger he was exploring himself as well.

I use to work at a inhome daycare center and I can't count how many kids did that. We also had 5 and 6 year old boy/girl like to rub on eachother and kiss and go under the covers and like spoon eachother so we had to seperate them. Another boy was 3 and would wake up from nap with his little pee pee hard so I couldn't change his pullup/diaper til he was unhard and would urinate. He wasn't quite ready for potty trainin yet. It was embarassing but the owner and I would laugh about it. I would be like well I have all the kids changed except so and so and we would both know why.

It's totally normal what your son is doing and not bad or wrong and he shouldn't feel ashamed or bad about it either. I would seriously start knocking on the bathroom door and give him his privacy. He'll be having wet dreams in the next few years if not already and it's just normal thing for boys.

Normal. Let him explore and give a knock from now on. I have a friend who's daughter has masterbated since she was about 4 so at 8, I'd think it's normal. It's not that far from 10, and many kids masterbate regurarly at that age.

As the other mom's responded, I think this sounds totally normal. I'm sure touching himself feels good so he keeps doing it, not really understanding why it's not appropriate, etc. I would suggest getting info online or a book that discusses appropriate behavior, etc. Just make sure to let him know it's okay to want to touch himself, but that he needs to do it only when he is alone (as you've said you've already told him - just keep repeating).

Hi L.,

Reading your post reminded me of a woman I used to work with, and she'd come in the office and complain about how her 8 year old was playing with himself on a daily basis! LOL! She did this regularly and talk about how many showers he took in one day, how he'd walk out of his room still at attention, and other things. It was actually really funny to me, a non-mom at the time, but I think 8 is a normal age for some boys.

It also reminded me of the other coworker I had, who sat at her desk at work, crying for 3 days straight when her oldest daughter started her period at 12. Unfortunately, it's something all of us parents face. I'm sure I'll be the same way.