Guidance on brothers bathing together

[kindacrunchy]

My boys are 5 and 2. They bathe together. They are both all about their penises. I have told them that their penises and bottoms are their own and for no one else to touch, play with, etc except for at the dr. when mommy or daddy are there or if they need help from mommy or daddy or grandma, etc. I posted about this in GD but didn't get much response. Anyway, they don't play with each others penis but they have penis games, they are touching themselves, retracting their foreskins, showing each other their penis, etc. I'm a n only child and my husband is the youngest with two sisters. I don't want to make it an issue, but I honestly don't know where to draw the line.
Oh and they lick each other. NO genitals. But they will lick each others tongues and arms and stuff like that. I don't know how to explain why we don't do that except that it isn't clean and we aren't dogs. Only in the tub, though.
Thanks for constructive input

[CarrieMF]

The penis thing is probably a phase & will pass as the older one will start to not want to bath with his sibling & as he matures.

The licking thing, are they pretending to be dogs?

I'd leave both issues alone, especially the licking. The more you make a big deal out of it the longer it will continue

[AAK]

I would ignore it. They are simply exploring. Since they are both doing this of their own free will and they are quite young, I wouldn't give it another thought.

Amy

[amcal]

I agree - ignore it as hard as that is. My girls went through a phase where they would explore their vaginas in front of each other. They didn't touch each other but they spread things open and looked at each other and talked about it etc... It was hard for me not to put boundaries on it but at that point, it was harmless exploration so I just left it alone and it did pass.

The licking thing is gross and my kids did it too. I don't know why other than my youngest likes to play kitty so I'm guessing that's it? Either way, I just left it alone and it passed as well.

[Kleine Hexe]

"Penis shooting guns" was a favorite with my boys for awhile. A game they came up with...and we don't have any toy guns in the house. Apparently, it's hilarious to pretend one's penis is a laser gun and shoot each other. Earlier tonight the boys were pretending to poop in each other's ice cream bowls.

I just ignore it all and laugh later when they are in bed.

[alegna]

sounds amusingly normal to me.

-Angela

[lizabird]

Is this what I have to look forward to in a few more months? My 4.5 yr old and 1.5 yr old bathe together and the little one always does everything the big one does, including all the weird things he does with his own penis. Oh, my. I had no idea. They don't lick each other (yet) but it certainly wouldn't surprise me if one day they started doing that.
As others have said, I'd probably just ignore it as a passing phase unless someone was getting hurt or offended or otherwise dangerous in some way. Exploring and having fun together isn't a problem for me.

[boogalu33]

my siblings and i used to love to lick each other and our mom too! it was really funny and it would get everyone laughing.

boys and their penises. don't worry this phase will pass and they'll be on to a newer more embarassing one.