Masturbation as a little girl

i work in a nursery, and have encountered a few children (boys and girls) who would go through a “humping” phase of things. it’s completely normal, especially developmentally. and each child discovers it at some point in their life. i agree with you completely x

Totally agree with you.
It’s normal behaviour for young children.
Shaming isn’t the right way to handle anything IMO, especially something that’s natural and normal behaviour for infants discovering their body and senses.

I’d just personally put boundaries in place and explain at an age appropriate level, especially if it’s moved on from stimulation on objects to using their hands- e.g you can do that in your bedroom at home but not anywhere else, you should not ask or let anyone to touch you like that, and you should not touch anyone else like that either, that part of your body is private etc.

My son has noticed that if he stimulates himself he’ll get an erection, so of course we’ve talked about it and I’ve just reminded him similar to the above. He’s got nothing to be ashamed of.

My mom never made masturbating some big deal. She explained to me when I was about 11-13 that it’s okay to touch my body and learn it. Just keep it private. Thus why she called my genitalia “privates” because we keep them private. She also explained more or less how to do it, example being wash your hands before and after, don’t stick certain things inside, change your underwear afterwards, etc. I think it’s important to explain about masturbating (depending on age obviously) because how will you know what to tell someone about what you like if you never explored yourself and found out.

I agree with you, I was the same way, as I grew up I knew it was embarrassing when I got caught, but I’m the youngest out of three and I saw my oldest sister do it and so I tried it and I don’t find anything wrong. Now being that young and doing it I’d be concerned, bc now that I’ve had trauma in my life some things popped in my head well memories that I must of hid away since I was young but a man did touch me down there when I was very young.

can I please ask how you've explained to your son as mine has just started this. He knows it's his private parts and his body belongs to him so no one allowed to touch or look at him and vice versa him to others but I've been unsure how to appropriately address him touching himself

Is there anyone else like me who is more thinking about how they need to wash their hands after touching there, just like after going toilet?

I guess I’m the only one that isn’t comfortable with my 4-5 year old daughter or son masturbating.

I was not aware this is common & normal! You may have posted incognito but thank you for sharing 🙏🏻 I specifically remember starting when I was 5 & did not understand what I was doing other than knowing it felt good. The very few people I’ve told this to growing up have looked at me weird so I’d just pretend I said nothing & pray they forget it 😭 May I know how all the mamas who commented went about this with their kid other than the hygiene aspect? I’m not sure I’d know how to properly address it when the time comes as I learned on my own to be discreet & no one in my family ever knew about it.

I feel like 4 or 5 is too young for that but early teens like 11 or 12 I feel like it's ok in private and to know no one else should be involved to keep them from being abused.

I remember walking into my brothers room when he was 4 and he was rubbing himself on his pillow. I was 12 at the time and thought it was weird but i really didnt care. On the other hand i didnt discover masterbation until i was 15.

I think I rmbr doing this when I was like 6-8? Some kids just develop it earlier ig .. but I got caught one time and was super embarrassed .. i don’t ever remember having a talk with my mom about anything sex related & I don’t want my kids to experience shame or guilt for learning about their body. I believe educating them is key 🔑

I wouldnt do either I mean I would do more like your parents because I don’t think people should be doing that. But I’d probably try to explain it better than just yelling or getting them in trouble. I’m still not sure how I would explain it but I wouldn’t let my child just do that

you don’t think people should masturbate?

depends on religious belief system too: I know a lot of christian’s and other cultures frown upon masturbation and lacking of self control… so even if it’s not done in a sexual manner, we are meant to teach our children to develop self control of urges. doesn’t mean you should embarrass the kid or shame them. but help teach self control and protect their innocence… just my two cents…

We just said that different parts of our bodies do different things when they’re touched and that’s just what his penis can do if it’s touched.
We explained though that if he wants to do that, it isn’t something he should do in front of other people, so his bedroom would be a better place. And like how he’d wash his hands after touching his penis to do a wee, he should wash his hands if he’s going to touch his penis any other time as well.
He didn’t mention anything about why he did it, it feeling different or nice or whatever, so we didn’t go into that either - but we would have talked about that if it had come up in the conversation with him.
He really doesn’t do it very much at all now after an initial few occasions, I think because we made it into such a non issue. He explored, found out how it worked, and now chooses to leave it alone. 🤷🏻‍♀️

researchs show it is not early. It is normal as early as 3 years old. And it is not sexual. At 11 or 12 is already a sexual thing.

thank you so much 🙏🏼

I think as long as she’s being educated at an age appropriate rate. I was very sexual as a child from an early age, but I was exposed to pornography by the second grade so it’s different.

Just make sure as she ages she learns what it is, how to do it safely and that she is not to talk about it with anyone but you.