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Put down your junk
Help me people.
My 5.5 year old keeps grabbing himself. Like a mini-Michael Jackson doing choreography, all day he idly reaches down and grabs himself.
How do I make him stop? Is this normal? Why is he doing this? How do I make him stop?
For the record, talking about why has made no dent. Reminding him each time has had no effect. Taking away a toy each time he does it has not helped.
Chastity belt?
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Diggy on -
Hey, my recently 6 year just started doing the same thing. But he is doing it as a tic. He tends to have those a bunch and rather than the usual face things he has done in the past, he's now grabbing his junk. And sometimes he grabs it hard. Like it makes me grimace. Anyway, it seems to be pretty normal. My wife and I were talking about it last night and she was actually kind of happy that one of our kids finally started grabbing his penis. It seems as though all of the other kids have done that and we lucked out until now. Anyway, I'm sure it'll pass. My kid will stop when told, but then goes right back to it in a few minutes.
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Permalink Reply by SweetJudyB on -
I'm in the same boat with a 4 year old. Sometimes it's a cue to head to the bathroom, but it seems that more and more frequently it's just grabbing. Kind of embarrassing for me when he's playing with kids at the park (and then falls on the rope ladder and says "Ow, my nuts!"). He also does not wear undies- no matter how hard I try to make them seem cool and appealing. Maybe if he wore undies and the twig and berries were snug, he wouldn't play with them. Does you guy wear undies?
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Permalink Reply by mcglory13 on -
Yep, he's in underwear. Diggy, it does seem like a tic. He doesn't seem aware that he's doing it. Well, at least it's normal. Normal is all I ask for. Really embarrassing, but normal.
Maybe I'll make him wear a cup all the time. Hard to grab through that.
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Permalink Reply by Zealflyer on -
My nephew went through this when he was about six. He's now eight and has outgrown it. They just kept pointing it out to him every time that he was doing it. Usually, he didn't even realize that he was handling the junk.
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Permalink Reply by TommysMommy on -
I'll chime in with the normal and embarrassing. Himself (5-3/4)will be standing around and will reach down to play. It's totally unconscious.
If anyone finds a magic solution besides "they'll grow out of it", please let me know... :)
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Permalink Reply by ruth on -
Yep, totally normal. Seems to vary a lot from kid to kid in terms of frequency, length of obsession, etc. I had a friend who used to call my older son "Chief Hand-in-pants" because it was pretty much constant. He used to sometimes say "it hurt" when he had spontaneous erections, which my pediatrician also assured me was a really common reaction (not that it really hurt, but a lot of boys use that word because they don't know how to describe how it feels to them.) We just reminded him A LOT that it was ok to touch but only in private, and if I remember correctly we eventually came up with a non-verbal signal of some kind to let him know to knock it off or go to his room.
Oh and I had a friend whose son was really obsessed with it, and would actually go to his room and say "I need some privacy." LOL!
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Permalink Reply by Lady Grey on -
Baby Grey has gone through spells of it and I fully expect it will come back at some point. I try to ignore it unless we're in company or in public and then I ask him if he needs to go to the bathroom and if not that he should try not to do that in public because it makes some people uncomfortable.
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Permalink Reply by ks on -
A just turned 7 and he constantly plays with his junk. Constantly. We are always having to remind him that it is a private activity and to get his hands out of his pants already. He doesn't seem to do it at school (at least, nobody has complained about it), but at home it is pretty much all the time. This was never a problem with N, but A does seem a little bit obsessed.
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Permalink Reply by mightyninjamom on -
B went through this as well...probably from about 6-7, and then it tapered off. I think it's just a phase, and any other parent of boys is not going to bat an eye at your son, because their kid will have done it, or is doing it.
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