I have found pictures of my 7 year old girl's private parts on our family iPad. In the photos she is sitting on the lounge with her legs and spread and is holding open her labia. They look like selfies. She is also poking her tongue out - hard to tell if the tongue is a sexual pose or if she is concentrating as she does do this sometimes (not often). There were 65 pictures. I asked her about them and she said she was using the iPad to look at herself using the camera because she had found a hole and wanted to see it. Is this a red flag? Should I be worried?
5 Replies
This is why we supervise technology use in our house. It's very very normal for kids to be curious about body parts especially ones they can't see well. In my day we had to resort to mirrors. We have no iPads/phones in bedrooms etc and stay in the room when they'd are using technology (up to a certain age of course).
It's time to have a chat about her body, and appropriate use of technology and fears regarding strangers seeing the photos etc but kids are flighty and nothing will replace supervision while on devices. But no I don't believe it's a red flag
I think it's more a curiosity thing.
Just monitor her usage, and tell her if she wants to explore her body, to use a mirror.
As taking pictures of yourself could lead to trouble.
First of all don't totally panic yet. Take a breath. It is probably time to have a few talks with her though. Not necessarily the sex talk but a talk about body privacy and if we are curious about our body ghats okay but we shouldn't take photos. Also maybe consider talking to her about tachnology and the risks and incase someoe ever does ask her for a photo like that she will know to come to you
NO..... have her talk to someone professionally...and make sure it's HER holding that IPAD.
Sounds like a healthy thing to do. Body exploration, natural curiosity utilising modern technology. Ingenious I say!
We have to get used to technology, ensuring that a 7 yo is not able to access social media, SMS, emails, etc. omg imagine grandma receiving THAT text!?!?!
Look into any age appropriate resources for you to read through together. Also have you seen the movie Embrace?