6 yr old boy touching self

My 6.5 year old son has developed a habit of touching his penis area
through his pants or PJs. We've tried to explain to him that its not
polite behaviour and should be done in private. I'm concerned that he
is having a hard time breaking this habit and will be ridiculed at
school and in any case is indeed not polite... I've gotten him new
underware and talked to him about this but to no avail.

When asked he says it itches or just that he needs to. I have no
reason to believe he has a urinary tract infection or any other
medical problem.

Any ideas on how to get him to stop this habit ?

Thanks!

S.S. wrote:
My 6.5 year old son has developed a habit of touching his penis area
through his pants or PJs. We've tried to explain to him that its not
polite behaviour and should be done in private. I'm concerned that he
is having a hard time breaking this habit and will be ridiculed at
school and in any case is indeed not polite... I've gotten him new
underware and talked to him about this but to no avail.

When asked he says it itches or just that he needs to. I have no
reason to believe he has a urinary tract infection or any other
medical problem.

Any ideas on how to get him to stop this habit ?

Thanks!

He said it itches. Why don't you belive him???
Why isn't itching a reason for a medical problem???

Sheesh.

/dan

Could his undershorts be too tight? I know if I have a seem hitting me in
the wrong spot it gets itchy.. Also have you thought to look for a rash?

Tori

--
Bonnie 3/20/02
Anna or Xavier due 10/17/04
"S.S." wrote in message
om...
My 6.5 year old son has developed a habit of touching his penis area
through his pants or PJs. We've tried to explain to him that its not
polite behaviour and should be done in private. I'm concerned that he
is having a hard time breaking this habit and will be ridiculed at
school and in any case is indeed not polite... I've gotten him new
underware and talked to him about this but to no avail.

When asked he says it itches or just that he needs to. I have no
reason to believe he has a urinary tract infection or any other
medical problem.

Any ideas on how to get him to stop this habit ?

Thanks!

"S.S." wrote:

Any ideas on how to get him to stop this habit ?

Ignore it. The more you bring it up, the longer he'll keep doing it. Ask
his pediatrician for advice too.

"S.S." wrote in message
om...
My 6.5 year old son has developed a habit of touching his penis area
through his pants or PJs. We've tried to explain to him that its not
polite behaviour and should be done in private. I'm concerned that he
is having a hard time breaking this habit and will be ridiculed at
school and in any case is indeed not polite... I've gotten him new
underware and talked to him about this but to no avail.

When asked he says it itches or just that he needs to. I have no
reason to believe he has a urinary tract infection or any other
medical problem.

Any ideas on how to get him to stop this habit ?

Thanks!


My daughter does the same down to the using the It Itches excuse. AND yes I
know it's a line. There is no reason everything fits fine and she has been
to the ped about it. Kids this age are capable of lieing believe it or not.
The only thing that I have been able to do is to tell her is that if she
MUST do it then it's only allowed in her room when she is alone. It has
gotten somewhat better.
HTH

KYlee

In article ,
"kylee" wrote:

"S.S." wrote in message
om...
My 6.5 year old son has developed a habit of touching his penis area
through his pants or PJs. We've tried to explain to him that its not
polite behaviour and should be done in private. I'm concerned that he
is having a hard time breaking this habit and will be ridiculed at
school and in any case is indeed not polite... I've gotten him new
underware and talked to him about this but to no avail.

When asked he says it itches or just that he needs to. I have no
reason to believe he has a urinary tract infection or any other
medical problem.

Any ideas on how to get him to stop this habit ?

Thanks!


My daughter does the same down to the using the It Itches excuse. AND yes I
know it's a line. There is no reason everything fits fine and she has been
to the ped about it. Kids this age are capable of lieing believe it or not.
The only thing that I have been able to do is to tell her is that if she
MUST do it then it's only allowed in her room when she is alone. It has
gotten somewhat better.
HTH

KYlee



I find the idea of accusing a child of lying about an itch, just because
there is no obvious or medical reason for the itch, to be unacceptable.

Maybe she has a sensation that feels like an itch to her. There may be
no medical cause, or no particular reason that YOU can see, but it makes
more sense to take her at her word than to assume she's lying.

Though my brother was much younger when this was an issue (he was 2 or
so) my mother had much better luck simply engaging him in some sort of
play that required two hands. When he got older, she's just tell him if
he needed to touch his penis he needed to go to his room or the
bathroom, because it just wasn't something to do in public. There was
no punative tone or anger or accusation -- just a quiet statement of
fact, like explaining to a child that it isn't considered OK to pee on a
tree in town, even though you might allow it at home (when home is in
the country). (Mom also taught him to say "I'm masturbating" so when
some prim type saw him with his hand down his diaper and demanded to
know what he was doing he could answer . . .)

She probably is touching her genitals for the same reason most of us do:
it feels good. An itch that occassionally needs scratching . . .

meh
--
Children won't care how much you know until they know how much you care

"dragonlady" wrote in message
...

Though my brother was much younger when this was an issue (he was 2 or
so) my mother had much better luck simply engaging him in some sort of
play that required two hands. When he got older, she's just tell him if
he needed to touch his penis he needed to go to his room or the
bathroom, because it just wasn't something to do in public. There was
no punative tone or anger or accusation -- just a quiet statement of
fact, like explaining to a child that it isn't considered OK to pee on a
tree in town, even though you might allow it at home (when home is in
the country). (Mom also taught him to say "I'm masturbating" so when
some prim type saw him with his hand down his diaper and demanded to
know what he was doing he could answer . . .)

I think I like your mom! ;-)



Bill
--
Bill Peckenpaugh

http://www.plimu.com/bill.htm (Boring me...)
http://www.plimu.com/daniel.htm (The Amazing Daniel!)

dragonlady wrote:

(Mom also taught him to say "I'm masturbating" so when
some prim type saw him with his hand down his diaper and demanded to
know what he was doing he could answer . . .)

Brilliant!

--
Sara, accompanied by the baby barnacle

In article t,
"W.D. Peckenpaugh" wrote:

"dragonlady" wrote in message
...

Though my brother was much younger when this was an issue (he was 2 or
so) my mother had much better luck simply engaging him in some sort of
play that required two hands. When he got older, she's just tell him if
he needed to touch his penis he needed to go to his room or the
bathroom, because it just wasn't something to do in public. There was
no punative tone or anger or accusation -- just a quiet statement of
fact, like explaining to a child that it isn't considered OK to pee on a
tree in town, even though you might allow it at home (when home is in
the country). (Mom also taught him to say "I'm masturbating" so when
some prim type saw him with his hand down his diaper and demanded to
know what he was doing he could answer . . .)

I think I like your mom! ;-)


I know *I* do!

meh
--
Children won't care how much you know until they know how much you care

On Tue, 15 Jun 2004 00:32:35 GMT, "kylee"
wrote:


"S.S." wrote in message
. com...
My 6.5 year old son has developed a habit of touching his penis area
through his pants or PJs. We've tried to explain to him that its not
polite behaviour and should be done in private. I'm concerned that he
is having a hard time breaking this habit and will be ridiculed at
school and in any case is indeed not polite... I've gotten him new
underware and talked to him about this but to no avail.

When asked he says it itches or just that he needs to. I have no
reason to believe he has a urinary tract infection or any other
medical problem.

Any ideas on how to get him to stop this habit ?

Thanks!


My daughter does the same down to the using the It Itches excuse. AND yes I
know it's a line. There is no reason everything fits fine and she has been
to the ped about it. Kids this age are capable of lieing believe it or not.
The only thing that I have been able to do is to tell her is that if she
MUST do it then it's only allowed in her room when she is alone. It has
gotten somewhat better.
HTH

Okay, first of all, I have a problem with automatically accusing a
child this age of lying, medical reason or not. Perhaps the only word
that the child can come up with is "itch". Just because said child
has a medical problem doesnt mean it doesnt itch.

Barb

KYlee