I’m the dad of a 14-year-old boy. Growing up, my parents were very closed off and distant, so I never felt comfortable asking them personal questions, which honestly hurt me quite a bit. I promised myself that if I ever became a parent, I’d make sure my kid felt comfortable talking to me about anything. So recently, my son came to me and said he wanted to shave down there but was scared he might cut himself. He asked how to do it. I asked him if he wanted me to show him, and he said yes. So I showed him the process. He said, “Thanks, Dad,” and that was that. On one hand, I’m proud that I created the open environment I always wanted growing up. On the other hand, I can’t help but wonder if people around me would think it crossed a boundary.
People are fucking weird. There’s also prudes and morons that assume any contact at all has to be some kind of horror.
But we’re supposed to teach our kids how to clean and manage their bodies. That’s the job; we do it for them when they’re too young to do it themselves, or if something temporarily/permanently disables them from doing so.
It isn’t weird to help with genital care under those circumstances either. You gotta teach kids how to wash their junk, and if they want/need to change their pubic hair, it’s part of the job to discuss it, decide if it’s the right choice at that point, and if the mutually agreed answer is yes, to teach them how not to screw up.
For real, who else is supposed to? You gonna hire a nurse or nurse’s assistant to teach them? That’s weird, and there aren’t any specialists in aesthetics that are going to agree to it in most circumstances when the kid is under the local age of consent. Too much risk.
And even that assumes that the kid is going to be okay with a stranger helping them with their genitals. Not every kid would be. For me, there’s no way I’m going to have a total stranger fiddling with my kid’s junk for non medical reasons, even if the kid was alright with it.
You did the job, end of story.
Contrast this to my mom, who taught me how to shave my legs but who forbid me from “shaving above the knee.”
That ended when I went to school in shorts and the bullies saw my thigh hair glistening in the sun.
It ended two years later, when I met a cool girl who didn’t shave if she didn’t feel like it, rocking her hairy legs without a care.
I’m still not that bold, but I found a balance that works for me. Nobody else’s opinion matters.
Preach! We should be way past the silliness of body hair choices being open for other’s opinions. It took my sasquatch looking ass a while to get there for myself, but there’s still social pushback that just pisses me off. I’m glad you found your balance :)
My dad took me in the shower when I was young and taught me to bathe properly.