How to Break My 3 and a Half Years Old Son This Type of Bad Behavior?

Don't worry about it, it is normal behaviour. Many boys do it and many girls take off their clothes. You need to explain to him that it is not appropriate behaviour. The day care should be telling him 'Don't do that" rather than making a fuss about it. There is no need for you to be embarrassed. People these days see deviants behind every bush.. He is a baby he is not a pervert. My Grandson went to school and kissed his friend, and was suspended for two days for sexual harassment. He was four years old and it was his third day at school. I despair for our children you cannot label a child at 3 1/2 or make him feel ashamed of his body. He is behaving quite normally. If he is dry most of the time put him in regular pants and teach him to tell the Day care person that he needs to go pee pee.

We always told my son that the area in the pants is private and is not something to be shown to anyone, no one should be looking and it should'nt be shared. We kinda tied it into the whole stranger danger issue and good manners(you know, it's just rude-like spitting or punching other kids). He's five now and we started early, your son should be right where he can understand. It is normal though, so don't worry. It is hard, but normal discussion/conversaton with him should help, so it become 'just the way things are' and they get past it. My son actually had a situation when another child whipped it out and my son actually said "no that's private' and then reported to us. Good luck, I hear ya on the energy- I am a 43 sahm of a 5 yr old. Our only child after 15yrs of infertility- gotta love surprises! Just when you think you got it going on in life- BAM-you find out you got a whole lot of things to learn after all! What a wonderful blessing.

Hi J.,
Perhaps changing him over to regular pants would help? Or explain that that's only allowed in the bathroom?
M.

Hi J.,
First of all please do not feel embarrassed. Although undesirable this sort of behavior is quite normal for a 3 year old and its something he will grow out of. The most important thing is that he hears a consistent message from home and daycare that its not acceptable. Simply a firm "no, we don't do that" will suffice. Speak with the daycare and agree a phrase you are all going to use when he does it again.
Another thing to bear in mind is that all the time he is getting attention from his behaviour (good or bad) he will continue to do it.
Good luck!
N. W.
Williamsburg Nanny Agency

I would change him from pull ups to underwear and see if that changes his behavior and ask the daycare to take him to the potty every other hour to see if he needs to go potty. Maybe he's exposing himself to say he needs to go. Hope things get better soon.

J. Z.
Independent Shaklee Distributor

J., your son is normal. No doubt, if the daycare center has been around 2+yr olds for any length of time, they have certainly seen this behavior many, many times. This is very normal behavior that takes some time and patience to redirect. Please let your son know that this is how God made his body. And that ALL of his parts are fine and okay. The last thing you want is an older son who thinks his private parts are bad parts.

I struggle with this exact thing myself with our 2 yr old son. In fact, we were at a homeschool used book sale recently, at a local church none the less, when our 7yr old son "drove" him up to us in the stroller. They had been off running around. He loves to push the baby in the stroller and they were having a blast. Our 12yr old son was walking around the room looking (probably at the pretty girls not really the books and things if I had to guess) when we all came together at this one table. I was reading the back of the book set I was thinking of purchasing when I hear the oldest saying,no yelling quitely (ha ha), "THE BABY!!!! LOOK AT THE BABY!!!" I kept reading until it dawned on me that Dad wasn't going to respond. So when I looked down and saw the baby, ALL of his private parts were sitting on top of the waste-band of his shorts. I jumped into action telling him no, that if he had a problem with his privates and needed to check on them that he needed to do so in the bathroom. And as I walked with him to the bathroom it came flooding into my head, "how long was he like that before we noticed it? How many people saw him in all of his glory?" That room seemed to get bigger and bigger as I walked across it with him that night.

Bottom line...you are not alone in this fun world that we call parenting!

Take Care,
N. =) SAHM homeschooling 3 boys 12, 7 & 2 yrs old and married to Mr. Wonderful for almost 15yrs!

I don't know if it would work with every kid, but I just potty trained my son and as soon as the diapers came off he started exploring his body. I told him it was OK while we were potty training, but that in a few weeks when he was bigger he'd have to play with something else. So far it's worked.

Well, I would say this is not a bad behavior he is curious about his body. Which is normal at this age. You will just have to show him that yes this is a part of your body however we don't want to show every one. I have found when you make a bid deal out of something that is normal to a child they will continue to embarass you! My son used to do the same thing and after enough people said to him that it's not appropriate he stopped. The daycare (certified professionals) should know that this part of his curiosity and also should encourage him that he should only pull it out when using the bathroom.