Is it ok for a 9 year old boy and 6 year old sister to share a bath?

[ilovemynewjumper]

Just that really. Prompted by another thread. It's got me thinking. Mine still share and seem very happy about it. But maybe I need to stop it. Thoughts?

NB 9 year old very young for his age (and only just turned 9)

No.

Well, my daughter has the option of a shower by herself, which she sometimes chooses. They love each other, they're children, it's innocent, and they play. Plus one of us is always nearby. She hasn't properly hit puberty yet, but after this thread I will make sure that she knows it's her choice when to stop.

Not at that age, mine is 4 and already knows about intimate areas so it would be totally inappropriate really

God no!

Mine don't struggle with asking for privacy! The eldest was around 10 when he told me to close the door 😅

Teaching children privacy doesn't mean they lose their innocence, if anything it may mean they can retain it longer.

No, and certainly not unless you're constantly supervising. I and several women I know experienced curious touching by cousins/siblings as young children, and the children doing the touching were also very young. They weren't monsters or deviants or anything like that- in these cases I'm sure it was just simple curiosity (I'm only talking about the situations I know of here) but you still need to protect children and not put them in the position where this could happen. I still feel very weird around the person involved and I expect, if he remembers, he probably feels mortified by it too. It's a shame because he's grown up into a perfectly nice, normal person and it would have been much better if we hadn't been put in that vulnerable position. I don't think it occurred to our parents and I'm not blaming them but I think this is a better safe than sorry scenario.

I don't think it is wrong particularly. But it is definitely about time it was wound up and conversations about privacy were had.

@BigBadBoom
It's not the child's place to decide how she or another child should be safeguarded, that's your place as her parent to teach her boundaries that she can use at home and away from home. At 10 she should definitely have her privacy.