INstructions to "partially retract" "gently retract" "retract to the point of resistance" "retract a little" are based on two misconceptions.
First, the belief that a boy "should" be retractable by age 3, so there is an expectation that by 15 months ( or 1 year or 2 years - I've heard variations on this) it should begin to be retractable. In fact, the average age at full retractability is about age 10. Many if not most 15 month old boys will not be anywhere near being retractable at all. So this is simply an incorrect time-table applied as cookie-cutter advice by a person who apparently does not know the evidence on the true age range of retactability.
MOre info on development of the intact penis:
http://www.cirp.org/library/normal/
Second, the belief that if a boy's foreskin is not cleaned under regularly, that he will get terrible infections or some other horrible thing going on under there. (This is a carry over from the demonization of the foreskin that started back in the Victorian era, where sexual parts were considered filthy.) This is not correct either. The foreskin of a young child is well-designed to keep itself clean and protected: It is fused to the head of the penis, it has a tight outlet, it has muscles that close the foreskin in a sphincter-like fashion, it flushes itself outward with sterile urine multiple times a day, and it has immunological active cells and substances.
Those practitioners who are most familiar with the intact penis (e.g. Doctors Opposing Circumcision) say to leave the foreskin alone, and just wash off the outside. Once the child discovers he is retractable on his own, he can be taught to rinse off underneath occasionally. One Canadian pediatric urologist (Peter Anderson) has been quoted as saying, "there's no evidence there's any need to clean underneath the foreskin before puberty). Your son playing with his penis in clean tub water is about all the cleaning he is going to need for a good while.
http://www.doctorsopposingcircumcision.org/DOC/faq.html
The short answer is, retraction by parents is unnecessary and potentially harmful. Any attempts to retract or clean under the foreskin can wait until the boy is old enough to do this on his own.
Retraction by anyone other than the boy can potentially be harmful if done too forcefully (only the boy will knwo how much force is too much), and by disturbing the naturally closed foreskin, can potentially introduce infection.
http://www.nocirc.org/publish/6pam.pdf
Gillian
But I digress.) Other than the link stickied, is there a good thread/link discussing why not to retract it even a little? It might help her more than just me saying "retraction is bad! don't do it!" 
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