He asked his mother “Why does my penis get longer sometimes?” I wasn’t there at the time, and she kind of deflected it till “later”. What is the best/proper response? He asked about his testicles a while ago and I think I handled that OK. But this is a little different and I’m not sure how to handle it.
That’s what I have to look forward to in a few years?? :eek:
I’d hoped to deflect this sort of thing till… oh 10.
When our son was 4 ( he’s six now) my husband had left for work at 4am.
Our son woke up shortly thereafter, announcing in a booming voice down the hall
" I have to go Potty!"
I staggered down the hall to be at the ready.
My job, as I stood there asleep on my feet, was to flush the toilet for him after he completed his duty.
As he finished tinkling, my son asked in an oh-so-awake-voice-at-4am, " Mama, how come my penis is sometimes up?"
I was not prepared for this in the wee hours of the morning. Questions about the penis are not my department, not at that time of day. I shoved him off to his bed, crawled back into mine and hit redail on the phone to get my husband who is driving into work and he laughed and said he would have a talk with him when we got home.
What he said was pure genius.
“Sometimes your penis wakes up before you do.”
I have three boys, and I can tell you that to try to give him a factual answer at this age would only confuse him. No way he could comprehend. I’d just say, and I have, “Oh, yeah, that happens some times, like when you have to go pee. It’s normal.” Enough of an answer that he feels it’s been adressed, and he knows that it happens to every boy.
trublmakr, that’s the direction I was thinking of, thanks for the validation. My kid is very curious and smart (aren’t all kids? 
), and I was looking for the best balance between answer and information, without overpowering him or lying about it. I like to be as straight with him as I can be and I think that’s that’s the route I’ll take should it come up again.
Personally, I’d add that “it will go back to its normal size again” just to prevent any worries that it might stick that way :eek: Four-year-olds are very very good at filling in gaps in their knowledge with frightening misinformation. No surprise that this is the age for monsters in the closet.
I’ve also told our boys that their penises will sometimes “stick up” (as they’ve both called it) if they touch it or if it rubs against something, “and sometimes for no special reason”. I’m hoping - now that the Puberty Fairy will soon be scheduling deliveries to Casaflodnak - that this will help to make the inevitable Why Do I Have A Stiffy When I’m Thinking About Long Division? incidents a little less disturbing. I’ll get back to you with the results of this experiment in, erm, five or six years.
Tell him it is evil and if it happens again you’ll cut it off.
Then smile and say “cake?”
Father of four small boys here…
I agree that, at four years old, it’s not necessary to go into too much detail. A reassuringly vague “Oh, it does that sometimes, it’ll go back down, don’t worry about it, every boys’ does it occasionally” is the way to play it.
I generally feel that giving full and frank answers is the best thing, but there are age limits to what knowledge they can and should deal with. One of my favourite memories so far is when my 7 year old (who is gifted but not very socially aware) decided that a packed swimming pool changing room was the best place to start quizzing me in a loud voice about sperm, where it comes from, WHY, what is it FOR…etc etc. Could I deflect him? Nope 
He already knew all the answers anyway as it turned out, and was just looking for confirmation. I must ask his teachers what they are teaching him…
I remember asking my mother how come “it felt weird down there whenever I think of Suzy.” (Suzy was the teenage daughter of my Mom’s best friend.)
Won’t get preachy, but yet another reason that boys DO need fathers. Yup, talking to you Rosie O’Donnell. As a male that grew up without a father, I can say I’m an expert in that department.
Now to the OP. I don’t have the cite, but it’s pretty well-known and I’m sure it can be found in a search.
The male will often be erect upon waking up when physiologically old enough, to prevent urination. “Morning-Wood” isn’t an indication of sexual interest, just a way to keep from pissing in bed. I’m sure QtM could verify this if he wanders in here.
Son, in essence, tell him (for now) that it’s just his body’s way of saying potty time.
Forget the daughter, it was always mom’s friend herself that did it for me. Definate MILF!
LOL
What did Adam say when he met Eve?
“Back up, I don’t know how big this thing will get!”
LMAO
Okay, now I want a son so I can say that to him.
“Sometimes your penis wakes up before you do.”
I like that.
Ahhh, been there, done that. My son wakes up with wood every morning and has since he was a young baby. Sometimes after waking in the morning he go to the bathroom and say, “Look mom. My penis is really big today!” The first time he ever asked why it “poked out like that” I just told him that it’s something that happens to all boys and that it’ll go away in a little bit. There’s no need to go into anymore detail then that until he’s a little older.
Unfortunately, this happened last week.
May I suggest this frank and funny book?
I’m already fielding questions about why boys have things girls do not from the daughter. She’s 3. The boy is only 7 months. Fun times ahead 
We had lots of fun when mommy was pumping breast milk for the boy. She’d steal my pump and try to pump herself! Then when I’d do it she’d cheer “yay mommy boobies” Nothing like your own personal cheerleader.
For reasons I won’t go into now, my four year old son calls his penis a “doober.” One day several months ago as I walked by his chair, I saw that he’d been playing with it and it was poking just over the top of his underwear. He told me, “My doober’s stickin’ up–I want it to go back down!” I told him he’d have to leave it alone and it would, and walked away biting my lip REALLY hard to keep from laughing out loud!
Don Imus reported that when his son asked him about having his morning wood, Imus told him not to worry about having one, worry years from now when he couldn’t get one.