Why a young boy with an erection would be slapping his penis?

[Swanee1]

I just wish to raise (no pun intended) something that i witnessed some years ago.

I had been swimming at the local indoor swimming pool, and went to the change room to get showered and dressed. As i was coming out of the shower and drying, I saw a young boy also in the change room. He was probably around 5 or 6 years of age, and to my mind too young to be in the change room without a parent or carer, but no real concern. He and I were the only ones in the change room. Anyway, while preparing to get dressed i looked over and noticed this young boy had an erection, which i accept is quite natural. Males (and I am one) have erections in the strangest of places sometimes, but to my consternation he started slapping his erect penis. I don't mean slapping in way of masturbation, but more like slapping someones face. I tried to tell him it was ok, that he shouldn't slap it, but at the same time stayed my distance in case someone walked in and thought the worst. I didnt know if his father or guardian might walk in at any moment, but I wanted to tell them what happened and try to tell them that it was wrong to slap it.

My main concern with this is that I realised this is probably what he had been taught at home, whether his own mother or father responded like this to him. I never saw anyone else as I left and thought that its probably not my business, but it has always concerned me that some adults would do that to a child. What a terrible way to respond to a little boy having an erection.

I'm interested to know others thoughts, and if you think I could have done more.

[HappyHuman]

If you couldn't quickly find his parent, I would have found a person who works there to let them know a little boy is alone in the dressing room, naked and slapping his penis. There are many possibilities for what he's doing (anything from slapping it in an attempt to make it go away to it feels interesting or good or in fact causes the erection - Im a teacher, believe me, kids experiment like this! - or even is he autistic, etc) but my immediate concern is for his personal safety. What if the next man (or teen or child!) to come upon him wasn't as compassionate as you? Think pedophile or child sex slavery or "just" someone who admonishes or teases him.
I'd want to know (you can either leave this to the employees or as I would do, stick around to make sure the right things are done for him) Where are his parents / caretaker?  Why is he alone? Maybe an older sibling was supposed to be with him but abandoned him. In any case his caretaker needs to be found pronto and his parents notified of what happened so that A.) he isn't left in such a situation again and B.) its ascertained that he does indeed have a responsible adult caretaker and that he or she is the one who should be taking care of him.
If I had spoken to the boy myself I'd have asked him where is your mommy or daddy?  
I want to be clear I do commend you for telling him its fine and he doesn't need to slap it (being concerned that he has negative feelings about it). My mind honestly didn't go there first off - that his parents might have given him the idea that erections are bad. Certainly something to consider. Kids can be funny. When my son was little and got an erection he wailed unhappily to me that his penis was crooked!"

[SillyOlBilly]

Maybe it was just his own thinking and curiosity. Maybe he thought slapping it would go away. It was probably for the best that you did not get involved if you were in there alone and were not a relative of his.

[Sandman2]

You were very smart not to have gotten involved.