Hi, I wondered if I could ask for some advice please. I'm not sure how to deal with this situation. I'm scared of where to ask for help so I found this place and thought it seemed more safe than the internet in general to ask for advice from other mothers.
My 3 year old is just getting out of nappies and into 'big boy pants'. He's started playing with his private parts and I came into the room tonight and he was lying on his back on the floor with his penis out, playing with it. I just looked at him in shock but I was thinking, 'don't act shocked! just distract him!' so I just said 'do you want to play cars?' and he eagerly said 'yes mummy!' and he jumped up and we played with his toy cars for a bit.
Am I right in thinking that the best way to deal with this is to distract the child and to not make a big deal of it? All the books I read said that you shouldn't stress about it and that it is normal and you just have to distract the child and not give them a complex by reacting to it but at the same time you're supposed to let them know that they aren't allowed to do that in public but he's 3, I can't explain the difference between public and private to him. I don't know how to make him understand that and I already feel guilty that I have to work and go to college and don't get to be with him 24/7 anymore.
I'm scared of not dealing with this the right way... Do you have any advice or experience please that you could help me?
thank you
x