5 year old boy and his willy!

[ChocolateBiscuitCake]

DS1 plays with it all the time and announced yesterday, "look Mummy, it's really big"...

Have told him it will drop off. He has laughed and said, "oh dear, then people will think I am a girl!".

Any top tips for getting him to stop without making it a big deal (I have ds2 & ds3 to deal with as they discover their trouser snake too in time )

I really had to laugh. My DS has recently come out of nappies and is totally infatuated with his! I will watch this thread with interest!

It won't drop off, as he well knows.

Just tell him it's fine to touch his willy in private, but not when there are other people about. You may have to say it a lot of times.

It is likely to be something they obsess about for the next 70-80 years!!!

Not sure if you are going to win here!!

Willy fiddling is fine - in private. End of conversation.

Please don't tell him it will fall off, turn blue etc. etc. He will probably understand you are joking but his younger brothers might take it more seriously if he repeats it to them.

Talk to him sensibly, tell him willies are private and if he wants to play with it he needs to go up in his room.

It won't drop off? Really?

I understand the sense of playing in private, but we are at home (abroad and hot, post swim) so he is sitting on the sofa naked, watching telly just tugging or cupping... Are are in private, so to speak, but I don't want to make him feel wrong and neither do I want to watch him get a stiffy!!!

There are too many willies in my house!!!

But if you are there, it isn't really in private is it?
There is time when they are babies/toddlers when there are very few boundaries between private and public, because so many of their intimate needs have to be dealt with by an adult. My DCs didn't really have a private life because almost every moment there was an adult watching and helping them.
It is sort of sad when we have to start teaching them those boundaries, because it is a move into a new, more mature, independent and aware phase, but the boundaries will help keep them safe and happy as they grow older.

My 5yo DS has discovered he can poke his willy through the hole in his onesie. Which is a slight improvement on getting it out and running through the ladieswear dept. .

Don't tell him it will drop off!
That was your opportunity to explain that girls/women don't simply lack a penis but have their own equally splendid genitalia (he has no sister I'm guessing)
Seriously, I used to think Freud talked a load of nonsense till I had a son. No need to add fuel to the fire though.

On the sofa watching TV isn't private

If he can't leave it alone while naked, put some pants on him. If he wants to tug at it, he needs to have some alone time.

MrsCakes

I tell my boys that is like picking their noses: something to be done in private, ie when they are alone.

My dd is always doing it, you just have to say do it in private and they will get message in the end. I doubt she will be playing with herself in living room at 15 so cant say it worries me.

Ds2 sometimes sleeps with a finger up his nose and the other hand down his pants.

Well he is alone!

I would never let mine sit on the sofa naked. I have seen how he wipes his bottom.

Wise words ladies!

I have just started the pants on rule - it is strange (in a maternal " my little baby is growing up" sort of way) how all of a sudden, seeing them wander round naked is no longer cute, whereas ds2 & ds3 can get away with it.

I never really thought about the sofa - although always insisted on pants at the table for the same dirty bottom theory.

I will chat to him pass it on to his dad. Only kidding - will have a grown up chat later.

In this house playing with your willy is fine - in private.

In private means: by yourself in in the bathroom, by yourself in your bedroom or in bed at night.

Mine have never had the urge to roam naked, but manage to locate it through clothes/PJs hence enforcement of the above.

I think however hot needs to wear pants while watching tv otherwise hard to explain about willies being private.

Had a good chat with him - explained that now he was growing up and five, it was important that he always wear pants or swimmers around the house/garden. Whilst his younger brothers may still roam naked, he needs to cover up a bit like the rest of us. He was rather chuffed to feel special and has worn underwear all day.

...now to remind him to play with himself in his bedroom!