Anonymous wrote:Op are you the troll who has been starting the "my daughter shaved her pubes" "doctor touched my sons genitals" threads?

No, I am not a troll. Not everyone who starts a thread with a sensitive topic is a troll This really happened with my son and I was really asking for input as to how best to handle it. Geez.

Op are you the troll who has been starting the "my daughter shaved her pubes" "doctor touched my sons genitals" threads?

Anonymous wrote:I would tell the parent. They should know whats going on in with the child. Who knows what an older adult or sibbling is teaching them.

Actually, your point is exactly why OP should NOT have reached out directly to the parent. Sometimes (not always, but sometimes and it's common), this is happening because of some form of lack of supervision in the home. And in worse case scenarios, the parent themself is exposing the child to inappropriate influences or actually abusing them.

It's not the appropriately-concerned parent's job to contact the parent of the child who said the concerning things, especially because OP doesn't have a clue if it's just harmless older sibling stories, or something more serious. OP should do exactly what OP did, tell the teacher and Guidance Counselor. They're the experts, let them take the next steps.

Anonymous wrote:This is the OP- I emailed the teacher and GC last night, just to inform them about what was said. I left out specifics, but did tell them it was pretty graphic and specific for an 8 year old. The GC called me this morning for specific details and said she'd be talking to the kid and the parents. If I was the parent, I'd want to know. I feel sad for the kid. He's too young to know this kind of stuff.

Really glad you emailed OP. Just for the record, in the future it's always best to put the specific details in your communication. Let the other experts/adults/whoever decide what next steps they have to take, but it's best to not have a next step have to be them calling/writing you for more details. In this case it's appropriate to just give the specifics when you contact them.

Thank you for actually communicating with them. It's so important.

Anonymous wrote:As a former school counselor this is ABSOLUTELY information I would have wanted to know- that would be the best way to find out if the story actually was made up. I think this situation is worth a phone call rather than an email.

Ditto ditto ditto. I'd tell the teacher and the counselor, and yes an in person conversation or phone call is best, but email is better than nothing.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'd let the teacher/school deal with telling the parents.

OP, much better to let the teacher/school handle it. Hearing it from another parent might have created a more volatile dynamic. It is a sensitive topic.

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The GC spoke to both the child and the child's parents. it was her place to do so.

OP, I was actually agreeing with you. I was responding to the other poster's comment that you should have called the parents yourself. I think that's absolutely the wrong thing to do, because the other parents may feel more defensive when another parent contacts them. There's probably going to be some level of defensiveness anyway, but school authorities have a bit more legitimacy in contacting a parent regarding a concern. Parent to parent communications over a fraught topic can too often devolve into completely unproductive conversations.

Yep, I totally agree. I was glad to stay out of it. I didn't envy the GC having to make that call.