self-soothing boy style

I am so trying to be cool about this and I consider myself completely non-prudish but Elias has his hands down his pants a l l t h e t i m e!! In the beginning I just thought it was funny and I called it his "treasure hunt" and would ask him whether he found treasure each time he went digging but lately, I don't know, there are things about it that concern me. I say "self-soothing" because he does it usually while he is sucking his thumb and I know he is going for his penis when he is upset about something, just like he does with his thumb. I'm just not sure I want him to make the connection between genital stimulation and self-soothing. I guess I'm worried about sexual responses later or some type of behaviour that he might want to break but won't be able to.

Am I making too big a deal about this? It would be difficult for me to consider stopping him because I'd be worried about setting up a shame or "this is bad behaviour" belief but, I'm just not sure it is healthy.

I'm also worrying about him being a pariah but I know he'll likely stop doing it (at least in public) if it becomes socially unacceptable - just like thumbsucking.

What do you all think?

 

I mean it's just a natural thing they are going to do but I know what you mean. My one sone sits on the couch, say, watching a cartoon and next thing you know I look over and he has his completely out, my other son never touches his. I do laugh to myself but I have had to start telling him things like "Sweetie put that away your gonna hurt him" "He's got to go pee pee that's why he is so big" or "If you keep flicking him like that he's gonna break" ??? Seriously, I get more and more creative as the days go by. My DH just "put that away" I don't know, I certainly don't want to discourage him but of course he can't go whipping it out all the time especially in social situations....lol.

 

My neighbor and I were just laughing about this one! Our boys are both 3.5 years old and constantly have their hands down their pants. She actually told me they were checking out at the grocery store and when she looked down his penis was sticking out of his pants. LOL! We were rolling talking about it I think Jake gets a little excessive at times so I just tell him to stop and he does. I asked our dr about it and he just laughed and said it'll be ok I really do think it's a boy thing...

 

My SIL has three boys and she would tell them gently "honey, do that on your own time" while guiding them away by the arm. It seemed to work and their all above 10 y.o. now and they seem okay to me!

 

I knew EXACTLY what you meant just from your title!!! Don't STRESS!!! They ALL do it!!! It gets worse out of diapers, and then they loose as much interest. They still like it, but they aren't in there ALL THE TIME!!

:hug: WELCOME TO THE BOYS CLUB!

 

OMG! I hope I remember this down the road! Totally legit concerns. Ahh, boys!

 

I think that making them feel like it's "dirty " or "bad" is not so good. Best to say that they may do that in private because what they are doing is a private thing. Boys will be boys. I'm not looking forward to the long shower teenage years.
Merijo

 

I don't have much experience with this yet, but I'm sure it's coming. If it really bothers you, try redirection, or giving him something else to do with his hands.

 

Yes, there are times that I had to tell Gabe to put it away. I thought it was funny when he was younger, but as he gets older it bothers me more. I just tell him that his privates should remain private and not everyone wants to look at it!

 

Had to laugh, we (privately) used to say that the penis fairy was going to come and take it away unless he kept hold of it all the time.

Just tell him it is private and to put it away, if he needs to play with it do it in his own room.