sex play?

I am a care provider, I take care of a family of two boys ages 10 and 6 and two girls ages 9 and 8. I also have a three year old little girl. The other day I was watching the 6 year old little boy and he was playing with my daughter. When I came into her room to check on them he had closed the door and taken off his underwear and my daughter had taken off hers. I didnt over react at first I asked them if they had touched eachother and they said yes. I explained to my daughter in private that showing and touching other peoples privated parts is not acceptable behaviour, she sadi it was his idea to close the door. When I ask him if he had seen and touched his sisters vaginas he said no, and I reminded him that we dont touch other peoples private parts . The next day my daughter told me that he had also asked her to kiss his penis and bum and he also kissed her vagina and bum. I spoke to his parents about this but they dont seem to really want to get to the bottom of where this might be coming from. Im really concerend that he might do this again. When his parents asked him what he had done with my daughter he lied and sasid we just took off our clothes. What should I do to prevent this from happening again? Should I quit my job or maybe not just watch him anymore, but how will I expain that to his parents?

[Kevin Kennedy, Ph.D.]

There is no need to stop caring for the children. It's important that you exercise very careful supervision. Children of that age, whether or not any inappropriate behavior has occurred, cannot be unsupervised. Closed doors are almost always a warning sign. You have expressed your concern to the parents, and unless you have some very specific reason to suspect any abuse or neglect, there is not really anything else to do except be the best caretaker you can while the children are in your care. Your local library likely has books intended for young children that address this topic. Take a look at some of them and see if you might utitlize them in your work.

[jenniesgroups]

I disagree with the doc.  I would not continue watching the child.  I am currently in a similar situation.  It is hard for the parents and on us, especially when we've developed bonds, but we have to think about what is best and safest for our own children.   You cannot watch children every minute of every day so there are going to be times when they will be alone/together.  It doesn't take very long for something to happen.  For us, I was upstairs cooking and they were in the basement playing.  I was very close yet didn't know what was going on.