Can 4-5 yr old boys be sexually stimulated?

[MammaBear99]

Hi. I have read other questions similar to this, but wanted to submit my own as well. My son is now 5yrs old. And when he was 4 1/2 he had an erection while looking at a swimsuit calander in a bookstore. Is this normal for a child this age? Or is this too young? Is there something wrong? Maybe something I am doing as a parent-or letting him watch on tv? He wasnt real sure what was happening or why. So I can only assume it wasnt a "sexual" response as an adult would have. But his body reacted in some way for a reason. Can someone explaine this to me? At that time he was real interested in looking at girls in bikinis too, in magazines (like Womens Health), but he will see that at a pool in the summer-do I need to keep him away from that?
Oh, and I am a first time mom, and never had any brothers, so myself as well as my mother-this is our first little boy to raise.
Thanks!

[Kevin Kennedy, Ph.D.]

It is a serious issue now, since you have set a limit and he continues to violate it. Let him know that he will be disciplined by a time out and loss of privilege (e.g., use of television) if there is any repeat. Also, be sure to supervise more closely. He should not be out of sight of an adult.

[Flauberto]

Our five year old son has on several occassions been caught with his male friends, behind closed doors, with their pants off. We have scolded him, as it creates issues with other parents, yet he has continues this behaviour. Apparently he is the one who directs other boys towards this ..
We're concerned to exactly how to react. I know that there is some measure of normal kids curiodsity to this, but the fact that he does not seem to respond to our scolding him, and threatening to spank him, is concerning.
Please give us some idea as to how to interpret this situation.
At what point does it become a serious issue, compared to a natural event ?

[curiousmike]

Hi,

Right around that young age, I, too, was already experiencing erections of the same nature and was definitely aroused by this kind of material. Although too young to understand what the "mechanics" of it all were for, I somehow did know what excited me. Granted, I, too, came to wonder what was "normal" or not, but I do think the "wiring" in we humans can trigger these early responses. Small boys can indeed react; it certainly surprises adults sometimes, yet nature seems to do its thing.

[Kevin Kennedy, Ph.D.]

Young boys can, obviously, experience erections, but you are right not to attribute the response to the same erotic response that might occur in an adult male (or even a male in late pre-adolescence or adolescence). Don't be alarmed by it - it is a normal event.

[MammaBear99]

I need to add soemthing to my post-Sorry, the way i wrote it, it sounds bad!
When in a bookstore, we were standing in line, and they had a rack of calanders by the registers, my son started to look at what they had there. Well, they had a swimsuit one, and before I knew what he was doing, he said he "felt funny" and I realized what he was looking at......okay, thanks.