Undesirable Behaviors

I am so sick of this latest compulsion of our older son's. Honestly, if I see this kid with his hand in his pants once more, touching his penis before pulling them out to touch his eyeball, I think that I will explode. I was reared in a polite household. Such things were not discussed, let alone seen. I feel a burn on my retinas by the sight of my nine-year-old pulling down his pants in order to get easier access to his...tool. Yuck. YUCK! YUCKYUCKYUCKYCUK!!!!!!!!!

It isn't as though I can try to stop him, either. Usually, if you try to stop these things, they morph into other behaviors--often more undesirable behaviors.

This is the first compulsion that has truly grossed me out. We've had others that have bugged me, however. There was the time that anytime I touched him once, he needed to touch me back three times. That was back in the days when he wore diapers. A mommy is required to be in contact with her child an awful lot when he is not toilet trained. Someone told me to extinguish the behavior. Do NOT let him touch me in response to my initial touch, they said.

When the situation next presented itself, I walked away from him. He followed. I picked up speed to show him that I meant business. He responded in kind. Soon, we were involved om a high-speed full-house chase. The more I ran away, the more frantic he became, until I realized that this kid was being driven by a true compulsion. He didn't just WANT to act this was. He HAD to act this way. He had clinical OCD.

The time when he had to press his left cheek into my right cheek and bounce it five times and then five more times and so on until he got it "right"? That was a compulsion.

Insisting about a bazillion times a day that we join our left hand with his right hand and say the words, "Holding your hand." Compulsion.

When he had to touch his right ankle to the bottom corner of most of the doorframes through which he was passing--that was driven by compulsion as well.

Understanding his need to do these things, we try to live with it. If that means he has to stand up and sit down three times before he gets it "right"...so be it! If he has to touch me back three times per every one of my touches...deep breath...okay.

But, geez, this penis action is REALLY getting to me!! What's going to happen hen he realizes what his penis can do? Good gosh! How do I teach him where to take his penis for appropriate activity?? Heaven help me. This is just the start of it. I need to get over myself and step up my game.

Last night, our younger son called out to me, and when I looked his way, I immediately saw that he had assumed his older brother's hands-in-pants posture as a form of imitation, a joke. I was NOT laughing. I told him to stop, hoping that whatever reaction I gave him did not fuel this fire.

Honestly, even our dog is a male, and it seems as though he is grooming himself every time I turn around. Lick. Lick. Lick. Lick.

The walls of this house are closing in on me! I absolutely NEED the Mom Cave at this point, and today, there is no mention of Roberto. This place is for chicks only. I need to regroup!