5 year old boy and girl showing their bits to each other - normal?

[Victoria72]

I have a DS5 and he had a friend over the other day, a little girl who is 5 also. They were playing in his room with the door shut (I have never had an issue with this before) but when I went in (I knocked then opened the door) to say their tea was ready, my son was very flushed and just looked at me and said "Nothing, nothing's going on." Without me even asking. Then as I got to the foot of the stairs, the little girl (at the top) pulled down her knickers and quite explicitly exposed herself to me. I brushed it off and said "No thank you (name), that's yours and I don't want to see it." My little boy then whispered to her "I thought we weren't going to tell anyone!"

Now I know kids get very inquisitive at this age and apparently the little girl (according to her mum) has known where her bits are (clitoris in particular) for quite some time now and she seems to know about the 'fun' it can provide and does so on a regular basis. My little boy looked so embarrassed and I laughed about it to my husband later on but I did feel ever so slightly heart broken that he is now 'at that age' i.e. he is no longer my baby. I am assuming that it was merely 'show and tell' and I haven't mentioned to my son and he hasn't mentioned anything either. I don't want to draw attention to it unnecessarily. Does anyone think this is normal at the age of 5?

Yes completely normal but still a good idea to try and teach them that their genitals are private

You handled the situation well re the little girl exposing herself.

dd and her male friend went through a phase of this just a few weeks ago. His parents and I have talked to them seperately and together about the differences between boys and girls, and that their genitals are private.

I've told DS ages ago that his bits are HIS bits and are private so he does understand that and I know children get curious at this age. What worries me is that the little girl is a bit of a handful inasmuch as her mum is worried about her because she does seem to have some sort of attention disorder and is quite a live wire. I just worry that, and this is going to sound really daft considering their age, but that she might lead my DS astray. I know he's only 5 and he can make up his own mind etc. but I just feel like she's a brazen hussy and he's an innocent lovely baby! Pathetic eh?! I hope all they do is show and tell and nothing further. What do I do then?!?!?!?

Surely they only get the message that there's an embarassing problem with their bits from us??

I guess you don't want them exposing themselves every five minutes in public but I think any 5 yr olds doing that is pretty normal/forgiveable isn't it? Although it may be embarassing for us

I seem to remember being naked with girls and boys at about that age and exploring stuff - it's perfectly normal I'd say. Same as being curious about your toes or lips or whatever...

My ds and his friend (a girl) spent loads of time paying doctors. (aged 4.5) At some point they were looking at each others bits. We (both Mums) played it down, had a word about how they are private, and then made new rule about the bedroom door being open when we have friends round. It was very innocent looking at each others, and I think quite normal, but I was very relieved that the other mum was calm and laid back about it.

you're talking about a 5 year old girl as if she is some sort of lolita! Why on Earth would it 'go any further'?

"Brazen hussy"?

This is someone's five year old you are talking about - how would you feel if someone thought of your son as a "horny little manslag"?

Not a fantastic attitude to have towards a child, is it!