Family vacation leads to traumatic incident
Dear Amy: I was recently on a cross-country vacation with my wife and kids, including our 6-year-old son. We planned on being away for an entire month, staying with relatives along the way. Our trip lasted less than a week!
Almost immediately, our trip went from excitement to disaster. While staying with a relative, our son came to us crying. He told us that one of my close female relatives, who is a few years older than he, began to play "mommy and daddy" with him. She laid on top of him and kissed him. He told us the same story twice, but no longer wants to talk about it!
I told her parents about this and we left their home.
Amy, what do I do now? He is the same outgoing boy, but will this have a lasting consequence on his life? Will counseling help, or traumatize him by bringing it up again?
-- Very Concerned Vacationer
Dear Very Concerned: Your son did the right thing -- he came to you immediately about this very upsetting incident. You also did the right thing, to notify the parents and to remove your child from the scene.
I hope the other child's parents also do the right thing, which is to dive in and deal with their daughter's behavior. This is not an episode of two young children "playing doctor." This is an older child forcing herself upon a younger child. This is extremely worrying sexualized behavior (it could spring from an experience she has had or witnessed) and the girl's parents must deal with it.
The fact that you all handled this appropriately might have lessened the impact on your son. On the other hand, the drama of leaving, and your upset reactions might signal to him that he is not OK. (Could you perhaps have left this home, but continued on with your other vacation plans?)
This is tricky because you want to continue to talk about it -- if he wants to -- but you don't want him to ruminate on it. If he doesn't want to talk about it, I don't think you should force him to. He used his own power -- the power to report -- very well, and you should make sure he knows you are proud of him. The lesson to him is, "When scary things happen to me, my parents will help me to handle them."
It would be wise for you two parents to meet with a family counselor on your own to receive expert professional advice on how to handle this moving forward.
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