Playing doctor is considered by mostchild psychologists to be a normal step in childhood development between the ages of approximately three and six years, so long as all parties are willing participants and relatively close in age.[5] A study by AmericansexologistAlfred Kinsey published in the bookSexual Behavior in the Human Male (1948) found that 38.6% of all 10-year-old children practice heterosexual and homosexual doctor play.[6] However, it can be a source of discomfort to parents to discover their children are engaging in such an activity.[7] Parenting professionals often advise parents to view such a discovery as an opportunity to calmly teach their children about differentsex characteristics,personal privacy,private parts, and respecting the privacy of other children.[3]
Playing doctor is distinguished fromchild-on-child sexual abuse, because the latter is an overt and deliberate action directed atsexual stimulation, includingorgasm, coercively or in a situation of difference of knowledge, as compared to non-coerciveanatomical curiosity.[8]
^Sexual Development and Behavior in Children: Information for Parents and Caregivers (Report). American Psychological Association. 2009.doi:10.1037/e736972011-001.
^Kinsey, Alfred Charles; Pomeroy, Wardell Baxter; Martin, Clyde Eugene (1998).Sexual Behavior in the Human Male. Indiana University Press.ISBN978-0-253-33412-1.
