my six year old masterbates constantly

Please, please, take your daughter to a competent doctor. It is NOT normal for a child that age to do what you are describing. There is such a thing as normal curiosity, but that does not sound like what you are describing! A child that age should not be doing that "constantly".

There is the possibility that your child has been touched in an inappropriate way. She should be examined and have that possibility assessed by a professsional. There is also the possibility she has some kind of an annoying medical condition, or infection, that needs to be treated. (I hope it's that!)

You sound like a loving, caring parent. I encourage you to investigate this until you are positive you have the correct answer. In the meantime, I advise you to keep a close watch on her, and be vigilant about who is around her.
As an added possibility, if she has other developmental problems, this behavior can be an indication of developmental disorders that are present. Again, have her evaluated!

Just do not allow this to continue without a thorough investigation both medical and otherwise.
God bless her, and you.

kathleen10

My daughter is 7 and she has been doing this since she was 5 in Kindergarten. It started about half way through the school year. I picked her up from after care and she was in front of the TV, in front of all the kids, on her back, legs wide open, and with both hands on herself she was rubbing away. I was MORTIFIED! What's worse, NO ONE even noticed or said anything to her! I wondered how long it had been going on and if the adults were whispering that she was weird or abused....neither are the case. We must have talked to her for a year about it before she finally understood that "private" meant in her bedroom. It is normal, I am an educator and we learn about these kinds of things in school. We are already prepared to deal with other children doing this and the ways to handle it, I just never dreamed that my child would be putting on a show for the whole school! She is 7 now and never does it in public. When we put her to bed she does it, I only know because sometimes I check on her and she's doing it. As long as she is doing it in private then it's normal, even though I hate that she does it...but I know that to tell her to stop is telling her something is wrong with her body...and she is just soothing herself.

I hope this helps. I know for us, the parents of children who are doing this, we are more embarrassed than the kids and would rather have any problem but this...but it is natural and be sure to just stress that it is a private thing.

Guest wrote:

I cannot believe she's doing that already! That's horrible that she has learned it. No child should be shown so young. You are a terrible mother for whatever it is you did to cause her current behavior. I know many will disagree or even be rude with my assessment but I am a trained in childhood behavior. This is very rare and even I've only seen one other case in which the child was mentally challenge, even she wasn't so young.
Absolutely shocking!

You don't sound like a trained professional. :/
This woman does not sound like a terrible mother, she's just concerned. Children are very curious beings. Even at the age of one, they can start to explore their bodies. It isn't a bad thing, and its not like they know what they're doing. If it feels good, they are bound to go back to it.

Also to the person who said she will become more likely to get pregnant/raped, thats just stupid.

The best thing is to talk to her gently about the subject, and like many others said, to tell her its something to do in private. There is nothing wrong with masturbating, and girls especially should not be scared into thinking it is wrong because they will not be able to enjoy and explore their sexuality when they are older.

hi there some people are so rude. yes i believe it is a young age and a mother does have an influence over there daughters but somethings are just going to happen when they do. she has turned for help because she is concerned and doesnt need negative feed back. good on you for puting your problems out there and seeking help. this may not be common in all little girls but she is getting to the age of experimenting so its ok you just have to be there to understand and not judge her the inpact u have on the situation will be vital to any problems she needs u for when she gets older . like period and things. all i can say is be there let her no its ok if she wants to do it when she is in her room or in bed but its something u only do by yourself. u need to try and understand why she is doing it so mabey work on some questions u can ask her that may help. like what makes u want to do it. find out maybe its somethings she is watching on tv or her friends at school have had an influence towards these types of things. if maybe there are pictures that are triggaring her to do this . i guess if u have good communication with her try and understand her and im sure things will get better once u do understand were its coming from and can eliminate what it is or find a healthy solution after all she is your daughter u know her better then anyone and most likly the only one she might be comfortable opening up to. good luck all the best im sure things will work them seves out and as for rude comments there definetly not appreciated nor asked for people go on here for help not to be criticised.

I started to masturbate when i was around 5 -6 years old. I was caught at home and in school. My kindergarten teacher informed my mum about my inappropriate behavior in school. My mom only told me that I should not do this anymore. But she did not explain to me why i should not do this. I rubbed objects with sharp corners. And i am still doing it many many times in a day...around 20 times a day i think...Yes, it's a lot...I am not lying.
I knew it was bad to do this when i was a little kid, but it just felt so good. I still do not know why i started to masturbate at early ages. I don't know if scholars have done some research on this.

First time I done it I was 12 in the privacy of my Parents bedroom no one was home wow I always thought I would never tell anyone that let alone the whole internet community, what I'm trying to get at is lets not take this lady's concern out of context she just needs to tell somebody whether or not this Lady is a good Mother or not should be left to her own judgment not ours.

Children learn all the time what feels good and like any human if it feels good they do it. Simple as that. the people that want to get excited about children and sex always want to prosecute someone. Why can't as a sociality we get over the fact that humans are just that. If your over 18 then hey its great have as much sex as you want with whoever you want as long as they are 18 or over. Well the problem is now if a child has any kind of a sexual experience outside of hidden in their bed room alone it has to be some kind of crime. Even if an adult views them in this action they could be charged with encouraging a child in a sex act. Really this does happen with the over stimulated society we live in now. Children that learn that being touched by someone else and they do are either viewed as the victim of some sort of trauma or the offender depending on the age of the two. Children are being arrested and placed on the sex offender registry as young as eight years old and this is sometimes for life. What is natural has become such a over blown issue that as parents its frightening when our children become sexual in anyway. So what's the answer? Telling parents they are terrible and to start looking for someone to charge with abusing their child as someone must have shown them or done something to them as they are so damaged they know what feels good to them. Or come to the reality that just because your understanding of this is different as to what you have been taught in your life doesn't mean its the same across the board. There is no black and white when it comes to children and sex. They will at some point start masterbating. they will at some point engage in sexual touching with another person. They will at some point have intercourse. They also will be 18 at some point and then what? so its a slippery slope that as a nation we have gotten ourselves onto. We have created so much hype over sex abuse that everything looks like it. The abuse of a child is a terrible thing. The prosecuting of children and the trauma it causes both engaged in the act is also a terrible thing. They say a victim of child sexual abuse suffers for a life time. Hey wouldn't you if you were put through the stuff the system does to a child? Either they are told they are a victim and its re enforced over and over till they really are. Or they are the offender and that is also a life time of society shaming them. So what's the answer? Do we continue with registering kids for being kids? Or get the government out of the family and out of what children do as being human. Sorry if I went off topic but the one that said your a terrible mother really needed an update as she is the kind of person that has caused our government to look for abuse when ever they can. Yes sex abuse causes trauma at the hands of CSD and over zealous Sex Offender Registry. Take time to look into all the laws on sex and minors and I think you will not allow your children out of their bed rooms till they are 18 and you know they can't end up in a situation that will be a life sentence. Ok I'm done reality isn't for everyone and possibly mine is not what people want to hear. The ones that don't either don't have children or are miss informed as to what could happen. If either are not the case then I feel sorry for the ones that are left if they still want to continue prosecuting as many as they can to make the world a unsafe place to be a kid.

Just tell her not to di it and sit her down have a talk with her and tell her thats its not a proper thing to do in public. Shes only six for rying out loud but some children react and behave diffrently and thats normal :-D

Just curious...if you were molested at 2 years old and dont remember it then how did you realize it? If this child doesn't remember any sort of abuse then what good would asking her about it do? hmmm. I am sincerely curious since my own child, now 7, is also masterbating in public and although I have spoken to her about it many times, it continues. She's been at it since she was 1 year old and I've only really started to worry since she started it in public. I am now going to take the professional route and have her examined by her pediatrian and take her to a psychologist. But I must say it is good to read that so many "experienced" people are okay with it.

first off when a child masterbates, they have no concept of what it is, all they know is that it feel good. It feels good to scratch and itch or pick their nose, they are discoving what feels good in their body. It is as natural as going to the bathroom. that is the first thing. the second thing is to talk to her, this is a great opportunity to sit her down and say, that these are her private parts and only she should be touching them, and because they are her private parts she should be touching them in private. Teach her the proper name of her body parts. Do not tell her that it is bad or wrong or make her feel bad about hr touching herself, butbe firm about her going into her room and doing it. second is your daughter compulsive about anything, such as eating to much, or had other compulsive behaviors? Her touching herself at school at this age is not normal. she should already have the understanding that it is not ok socially to do that. The third thing that I would do is take her to the peditrician and make sure she has not been abused in any way.

It is not the touching of herself that is unusaul it is the fact that she is compulsivly doing it, which shows an underlining problem of something else, either an abuse situation, or possibly, ocd, adhd, anxiety, depression......just be proactive as a parent and rule all of f those things out.

for the lady that said the girls mother is a bad one needs her head looked bet she dosnt have kids its a natural thing and dosnt mean sexual so that comment was dreadfull sorry.

OMG come on I'm 14 years old and i started to masterbate when i was 7 what is the big problem she wants what she wants just say to her it have to be privet and never let her do anything with boys in my case when i was 12 i did show my penis to a girl and i end up having sex on a age that i had no idea what i was doing so is perfectly normal for her to do that

leenaMadison wrote:

I cannot believe she's doing that already! That's horrible that she has learned it. No child should be shown so young. You are a terrible mother for whatever it is you did to cause her current behavior. I know many will disagree or even be rude with my assessment but I am a trained in childhood behavior. This is very rare and even I've only seen one other case in which the child was mentally challenge, even she wasn't so young.
Absolutely shocking!

I HOPE U DONT HAVE KIDS CAUSE U SUCK!!!!!!!

WOW ur a very nice person huh just because the kid is masterbating doesnt not make her a BAD MOTHER, A bad mother: Rapes, beats,KILLS,neglects her kids god like really please shut up its people like you that want perfect children, i bet you would put a 4 on ritalin because there hyper when they are acting like a normal kids....But back to topic. I masterbated that young and i wasnt shown anything and i wasnt sexual abuse in any way. if anything its from all the c**p we ingest that makes kids grow quickly physically not mental. girls start there period at 8-13 now a days! its a common thing for children to masterbate. my friends two year old son wakes up with a woody! it happeneds. get over it....:)

IF YOU ARE REALLY WORRIED CALL UR DOCTOR AND TALK TO HIM OR HER!!!!
lISTEN TO THE PPL THAT ARE ON HERE THAT ARNT CALLING YOU A BAD MOTHER AND TELLING HER TO STOP. ITS BETTER THAT SHES DOING WHATEVER TO HER SELF THAN BEING TOUCHED BY OTHERS! THE ONLY ISSUE YOU HAVE IS THAT SHE IS DOING IT IN PUBLIC....TALK TO SOMEONE THAT HAS BEEN TRAINED IN THAT AREA :) HOPE THIS HELPED :)
YOUR SMART NEXT TIME USE YOUR OWN BRAIN! :P

Dude, that's not rare at all. I started at 5 without having a clue what the heck I was doing. All I knew was that it felt good. My family, friends, or anything else had nothing to do with that.

It's ridiculous to blame the mother for the girl's behavior.



Anyways, I think you should just sit your daughter down and explain to her that she should not do that in public. It's normal, it's all good :)

I really think you need to put the fear of God into her. I am 14 and discovered mastribating when I was 10 at a sleep over with my friends. When I told them it felt good they looked at me in disgust, so I found out that I should probably do it privatialy and not tell anyone. I went to a catholic school and I never found out this stuff until then. I have been mastribating ever sence then. At first I didn't know what I was doing but then I found out and it wasn't enough to stop me. She really need to find out how digusting it is to mastribate and that she should not do it any more at all. Also once your 18 month old gets a bit older I think you need to sit her down and talk to her also. I feel like a freak because I mastribate occansonally and hide it from my parents. Lying about this also makes it easier to lie about other things and it can become a horrible pattern. I really wish my parents would have handled it differentially.