1. Does it affect children to put their hands in their intimate parts?
From birth to toddlerhood, children always explore and learn about everything around them to learn many things and satisfy their curiosity. In particular, children will also be curious about their own bodies and find ways to explore. Therefore, some children often play with their intimate parts, also known as masturbation.
Masturbation in children is the act of children playing with their genitals, this is a sexual characteristic of childhood that parents find difficult to respond to comfortably and accept. Some people may even think that children who often put their hands in their intimate parts is an unacceptable behavior. However, according to a study by the University of Michigan in the US, most children from 5-6 years old often touch their intimate parts.
At the age of 15, nearly 25% of girls and 100% of boys have reached orgasm from masturbation. Therefore, the behavior of children playing with their intimate parts is a form of body exploration that occurs in both sexes. At this age, children are in the process of developing and understanding their own emotions, so this is a normal behavior that is not shameful or a sexual problem. However, parents should also distinguish this behavior from cases where children scratch their genitals, which may be infected.
2. What to do when children often put their hands in their intimate parts?
When seeing children playing with their intimate parts, parents should first try to keep themselves calm and not panic. Then, parents should distract the child with a story or game that the child likes. If the distraction is not successful, explain to the child that this is a behavior that should not be done in crowded places.
In addition, it is necessary to increase physical activities for children, while taking care of loving gestures from parents. When children participate in physical activities, the body will release energy and the spirit will be more refreshed, helping to limit masturbation in children. Discuss with the preschool teacher or daily caregiver about how to react when children often play with their genitals and how to handle it so that children are not confused by too many opinions. It is especially important that parents should not punish children when they see them touching their intimate parts, nor should they yell about this. Because the early years are very important in life, children's experiences and their relationships with people around them. Those initial foundations have a significant impact on learning outcomes and behavior as well as mental and physical health that occurs in children's lives.
In short, the behavior of children often putting their hands in intimate parts is a natural state when children are curious about their bodies. Therefore, parents should not worry too much but calmly distract their children and let them participate in more outdoor activities as well as practice physical activities to help children release energy, limiting children from touching their intimate parts.
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