Normal behavior for 8 year old boy?

[nmo2]

Recently my 8 year old son has started telling fart jokes and now thinks gross/gory topics are really funny. He's burping in people's faces (and thinks this is funny!), blurting out crude things, repeating stuff he's heard from other kids, and making up his own tactless jokes which he will tell to anyone, even people in the line at the grocery store. Where did his manners go?? Most recently he flashed his privates at some girls (daughters of a family friend), they yelled "gross!" and ran away -- he thought this was hilarious. Of course, I'm not at all amused! I've had a very firm talk with him that it's not appropriate to show his genitals to other people (only doctors, etc., but it's okay to look at or touch his own body in the privacy of his room). He made an ewww! face when I said it, like "why would I want to do THAT?" He's a sweet kid and very smart academically, but he can be pretty intense has always struggled with low impulse control -- an idea pops into his head and he just does it without thinking. He's also had a harder time grasping safety rules and social etiquette than his peers -- trying to help him understand these things is an ongoing challenge. It seems this latest behavior is getting a reaction he finds funny. My husband remembers he & his friends doing similar things and thinks this stuff is par for the course with boys about to enter puberty (although he agrees the showing of his privates crossed the line). I didn't have brothers growing up and I've never found gross/gory/crude things funny, so I'm trying not to overreact. I'm curious if this is a typical developmental phase -- is a humorous fascination with gross jokes, farts, burping loudly, and genitals normal for boys of his age?

[margypops]

I used to take 3 little boys of around 6 year old to little league,   this was in Beverly Hills, their most favorite thing was when we were driving they always talked about penis's and shrieked with laughter, all they said was the word , and then exploded .we just let them get on with it then we turned the music on and sang 'Take me out to the ball game' or' Hit the road jack' all the way there , so distraction helps .

[AnnieBrooke]

My son is three and a half, and thanks to a helpful buddy at preschool, now calls me a poopoo head, lucky me.  When he was home alone with me, I could impact that kind of stuff (he never even knew there was a whole gross world out there) but it's part of being out in public and male, I think.  I am with your husband; flashing is not OK but the rest of it really does seem par for the course.  Even mooning is considered hilarious at the college-male level.