Aussie Childcare Network Forum

Recently at my centre I've witnessed a few types of sexual behaviours in the children, generally 4-5 year olds. I've done a little research on appropriate sexual behaviours in children and I'm not sure whether to class some of the behaviours as normal. Many of the boys aged 3-5 will touch and explore their genitals while in the bathroom, and most of the children will look at each other's bodies while in the bathroom, which seems quite normal to me. But recently I witnessed a 5 year old girl masturbating during rest time - and it was rather full on, putting her fingers inside herself and grinding against her pillow/sheets. The regular room staff said it happens often and didn't say anything to the child.

Then this week I witnessed a 4 year old boy, pants pulled down, grinding up against a girl the same age. It happened quickly from when I noticed to when the qualified staff stepped in, so I'm not sure whether the girl had participated at all or whether the boy had instigated it himself. She didn't seem distressed at all afterwards. This boy in particular also exhibits a lot of anger and defiance so this incident makes me wonder if it was a learnt behaviour from abuse...

I guess in these situations, what do you do? What do you say to a child showing sexual behaviours past their age, or do when you catch them in the act? It's a rather sensitive and difficult subject and as I'm new to my centre the staff and director don't like to involve me too much in these more confidential issues. Though since I've recently seen more sexual incidents I might ask my director to explain to me privately how I should handle these issues in the moment (since more senior staff take care of the discipline/reporting of these behaviours).

That was an interesting response. I agree with the strategy of diverting the girl's attention to something else because of how uncomfortable it is for the other people around.