I have just started working with children who have been physically and/or sexually abused. We have been learning a lot about sexual abuse in training, and I began to worry about my own sexual experiences.
When I was a child, I was very precocious. My parents were good parents, and I was never sexually abused, but I was always curious about sex. I touched myself and explored as a child, and somewhere between the ages of 6-9 I began to become curious about boys. My cousin (who was 1 year younger than I) and I touched each other's genitals (even licked them one time out of sheer curiousity) and exposed ourselves to one another, but it was never forced. We played doctor and tried touching each other different ways, and after a little while we got bored and stopped doing it.
Now, as an adult, I suddenly feel very ashamed and guilty about this. I don't know how to feel about this or how to interpret it.