my 3 year old son wont stop touching himself what should i do?

[cindymlndz]

my son is now 3 and has been touching himself for about a yr now at least since he's been out of diapers..  he has been caught at daycare one to many times and its starting to anger me.. what do i do?  i've asked him why he keeps doing it and of he obviously doesnt know why other than it tickles.. what do i do. i'm afraid of parents of other kids in the same room making a big deal.. i've talked to the teachers  but they cant stop him either. when he's at home and i see him i tell him no and he stops but at school he hides in other places and keeps doing it.  i've told him that he has to keep his private a secret so that he doesnt take it out and show other kids but now he's doing it under the covers during naptime.  no one i know has ever had this problem with their boys and i'm starting to feel embarrassed about it. i must have turn 5 shades red today when the teacher told me he decided to use his spoon to pleasure himself. he has never done that here... what do i do .. how do i tell this boy not to do it.  i dont aprove of this at all and to me it is not ok to do it. and i'm frustrated   plz help?

[Charlie's girl]

Are you from Florida?  

[Liza55]

Unfortunately it is one of those things that is perfectly natural and normal- exploring and discovering our bodies, that doesn't quite fit into our society. I agree w/ the above post and MD- never make him feel ashamed over it- you'll give him all kinds of hangups later in life. Explain, like maybe going to the bathroom, that although it feels good and it is his body, he can not do it anywhere anytime. It must be done privately (like leave him be if he does it while bathing). Show him how other men and boys don't do it in public and that it's private, not dirty, just private. Boys seem to be facinated w/ their privates all their life (lol), so I think he's perfectly normal. Add to the list of embarassing things kids do....

[pleasehelp07]

Hi, Cindy

I unfortunaly had that problem with my daughter, all the time wanting to play with her self, I can understnad the anger and embarssment of this i went thru it and i spanked my daughter. Which i was told by her doctor NOT to punish them for this because that is natural for a child to touch their self, they explore the natural part of theier body and feeling and touaching. now what he told me to do and tell her thats yucky and tell her if she wants to do that then she needs to go to her room where no one can see her private parts. Now it got bad to the point where she was humping on blocking toys, and of course that pi**** me off more. I ask him again where she has learned this caue i was a single mom with out a male so she didnt see it from me. and he said like i said before it all natural for a child to explore their body parts and if it feels good then they will contuine with it, sorry but i hope this helps,