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One quiet Sunday afternoon, Larry Kosinsky went outside to check on how the kids were doing. When he opened the playhouse door, he found a group of youngsters half - undressed, playing 'doctor.' Larry was shocked at first, and sent the children home. But later, he began to think of his own childhood and the 'doctor' games he played.
Looking back, I thought it was all just part of growing up," he recalls. "But then I began to wonder -- maybe there was something wrong with it; maybe there was something wrong with me?"
Dr. Marcellina Mian, paediatrician and director of the Suspected Child Abuse and Neglect Program (SCAN) at Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children, explains that many kinds of sexual activity are just part and parcel of the process of development.
Children are sexual beings right from birth. It depends on how one defines sexuality, but in the sense that children have all the building blocks for the expression of sexuality; they have all the physical feelings connected to their bodies that one would use in adulthood for the expression of sexuality."
The challenge for parents is to figure out what kind of behaviours are 'normal' or expected in their children, and which behaviours may be cause for concern.
Dr. Mian says parents like Larry need not worry. Playing 'doctor' is a typical way for children to satisfy their natural curiosity about the human body. "Almost all children are curious about how they're made and the differences between boys and girls. As long as playing doctor is non - invasive, mutually consenting and not long - lasting in its involvement, then it's normal play. It's normal for kids to say, 'I'll show you mine if you show me yours.'"
When you think about it, the whole concept of 'playing doctor' is very sophisticated. Doctors are the only people in our society allowed to look at and touch naked bodies. Playing doctor allows...