Sexual Agressiveness in a Seven-Year-Old

[Nell]

My son will pretend to hug and kiss me and say that I'm his "girlfriend".  He also will rub his genitiles against my leg while we're laying on the couch together.  I gently move him off, and once had to tell him that mommy's aren't the same as girlfriends and that he would learn about that later on.  Sometimes, he is quite aggressive about dispaying sexual feelings for me, and it makes me uncomfortable.  I tell him that it is inappropriate and to not do it.  Am I being overly concerned?  Is this behavior normal for him?

[Kevin Kennedy, Ph.D.]

Dear Nell,

You are doing the correct thing to set limits on such behavior. Do not permit it, even for a moment.

It really is not the expected kind of behavior for a child of your son's age. It indicates that he might be over-stimulated in some fashion. Think of how he might be influenced to behave this way. Sometimes children are exposed to the sexual behavior of adults or older siblings, sometimes they view movies which are inappropriate for them etc. Try to limit his exposure to behavior that he should not be experiencing, if you can discern anything.

[lisa]

he is probably getting it from school, but just to be safe ask him if anyone is touching him in that way . if he is getting it from other kids ,do not let him hang around them ,i think if that is the case his sexual behavior will go away.i have a 7yr. old son .his father and i are divorsed and last summer he was dating this lady who had a 6yr. old son and her friend has a 7yr. old girl.the girl had been sexually abused before,she showed my son some stuff then when nobody was watching she told him to do stuff and later that night the girl told her mom and then reversed everything that happened , my son got the blame and almost was taken and put in foster care. anyways his dad stopped dating this girl and we have not had any problems since .good luck to you