No Stupid Questions

My parents never taught me personal things like this or even "the talk". I just used the internet. However, if I were to have kids then I would probably be more open

It’s your job as a parent to teach your kiddos these sorts of things. It might feel uncomfortable, but it is part of the deal. It’s your job to teach him all of these personal hygiene issues. I taught both of my children (boy, girl) these things. For some general info I had to do a lot of research on boy things, as I don’t have those parts. But I did it and we’re fine. This doesn’t just apply to hygiene but all those life skills we aren’t just born with.

I just did it for the first time and I'm in my mid twenties. Dad didn't show me how to shave shit.

I wasn’t born in a hospital and never admitted, thus untrimmed. My Dad never had the talk with me. No one told me I had to pull my foreskin back and wash the smegma off. It wasn’t until someone dumped me because they kept getting infections after we fucked, I learned the hard way.

If the boy needs help, help. That said, get him one of those gold mustache trimmers that cost $15. No shave irritation.

It’s only weird if you make it weird.

While you’re at it, teach him how condoms work.

Fatherhood has no expiry date. If your son came to you asking for help, don't overthink. Do the right thing and help him out, regardless of what he wants to shave.

If you had any idea the kind of info that mothers and daughters have to talk about, you wouldn’t worry about helping your son trim the verge :D

It's not!

Anyone that feels like it crossed a boundary is themselves a victim of the exact same mentality you are trying (and achieving to) overcome.

Pragmatically you can't really teach your son how to shave his nethers until he's growing there, so any hesitation around age boundaries really don't make sense in this case.

On top of that the request was initially from your son, not initiated by you, even if you took it a step farther to offer a demo. He wanted help from a male role model in personal grooming, and you helped.

This kind of thing can be so hard for men. As a society we talk about barriers between fathers and sons and it should be celebrated when we can overcome them to help young men navigate adolescence in healthy ways while feeling like they have support.

Your mental misgivings about what people might think are echoes of your own upbringing. You don't have to tell people anyways, it's between you and your son, if you have concerns about what people might think. Honestly some would think it crossed a line, but it didn't, and you know better than anyone that it was healthy and innocent. So if you want to you can keep it to yourself, but personally I wouldn't hide it. Not saying to bring it up randomly unprompted, but imo it should be something that you shouldn't worry about discussing in the correct contexts BECAUSE we need more people to vocalize and hear that it's ok, to continue breaking down those barriers. Caveat that with all recognition of respect for your son's privacy, which again falls back on what I mentioned about context.

Bravo, sir.

You're a good dad. Not just because you helped your son, but even more so because he already had the confidence of knowing he can ask you a question like that.

Keep on doing what you're doing. You're a good dad.

Of course not. Who else is he supposed to ask and who else is supposed to show him?

I hope you warned him about how much worse razorburn/itchiness is for that area.

I mean, this is not something I would necessarily recount to my colleagues or some acquaintances, but I would say you did good. You can be proud of yourself that you were able to create an atmosphere at home where your son felt comfortable asking this question, as you said it yourself.

If it hasn't already happened, this might also be a good time to talk about safer sex to him.

This is a very european perspective, so depending on your location and other factors, your kilometrage may vary.

Americans are so prude. lol.

I'm just going to disregard the whole "is it weird" because other commenters have already answered that and say this:

Thank you for being supportive of your son like that, not making them feel ashamed or uncomfortable for asking, and actually showing them since you know how to do it.

My dad wouldn't even show me how to properly shave my face even when I asked, gave me a one sentence explanation, and just went back to whatever he was doing. I had to learn from YouTube and trial+error.

You need to tell them even if they dont adk

He wants to shave his pubes? You should teach him before someone else does. Also teach him how to don a condom and what can happen if he doesn't.

I don't see anything weird about this. Sounds like parenting.

When I was a younger I asked my dad this same question and I will never forget how frazzled he was by it. He told me some b.s. answer like, "Oh, I don't know. You don't really need to do that."

He made me feel humiliated for asking. At a certain point I could not ignore it anymore though, so when I experimented and tried to figure it out myself, I did cut myself and there was blood everywhere. I was terrified and thought I was going to bleed out. Luckily it wasn't really that bad and I managed it on my own, but I remember how scared I was.

After going through all that, I told myself that I would help my future son if he ever asked me a question like that. You are a better dad than mine was in this situation. It's your job to help them with whatever they need, and it would have meant a lot to me back then if my dad had helped me the way you did. I can guarantee your son appreciated it and will remember how you looked out for him.

People are fucking weird. There's also prudes and morons that assume any contact at all has to be some kind of horror.

But we're supposed to teach our kids how to clean and manage their bodies. That's the job; we do it for them when they're too young to do it themselves, or if something temporarily/permanently disables them from doing so.

It isn't weird to help with genital care under those circumstances either. You gotta teach kids how to wash their junk, and if they want/need to change their pubic hair, it's part of the job to discuss it, decide if it's the right choice at that point, and if the mutually agreed answer is yes, to teach them how not to screw up.

For real, who else is supposed to? You gonna hire a nurse or nurse's assistant to teach them? That's weird, and there aren't any specialists in aesthetics that are going to agree to it in most circumstances when the kid is under the local age of consent. Too much risk.

And even that assumes that the kid is going to be okay with a stranger helping them with their genitals. Not every kid would be. For me, there's no way I'm going to have a total stranger fiddling with my kid's junk for non medical reasons, even if the kid was alright with it.

You did the job, end of story.

On one hand, I’m proud that I created the open environment I always wanted growing up.

And congratulations on that!

On the other hand, I can’t help but wonder if people around me would think it crossed a boundary.

You'd have to ask the people around you. But does it really matter? Also, who would go around and tell other people things like that?

people are expected to teach their kids to wash under the foreskin, and some people apparently think it's just dandy to perform genital mutilation on their children, so no: teaching them to shave doesn't register on the weirdness scale.

Only if he also asks you to teach his friends

How would that even come up in conversation? Or how would the people around you know?

No, it's not.

No. Please teach your child to groom himself safely. Particularly if he WANTS TO LEARN - that is a miracle in itself.

Not weird but only if he asks you and not the other way around

You've shown your kid that he's in charge of his own body, and shown him that you can be trusted if he approaches you with sensitive or embarassing topics.

What other people think is irrelevant, because your relationship with your kid will be forever better because you've shown him you can be trusted.

No

I can't see how people would find out unless your son tells them.

If you're wondering if ANYONE out there would find this weird, then the answer is yes. There are lots of people who have strange ideas and odd thoughts about what is inappropriate. So if you told lots of people, I'm sure someone would find it weird.

But that doesnt actually make it weird or wrong. You were right to do what you did. Anyone who tried to judge you for it would be wrong.

Nah, you're good. You asked and he answered. If it's something that would happen at a doctor's office, you're good. If it's something that would happen at a brothel, then that's a problem. It's all technical and you got consent.

I do the same when it comes to bodies. I ask my kids if they are comfortable or give them options. Let them know they're in control of their bodies. Give them options. Example, we had a showering demonstration and I asked if they wanted to wear a swim suit or be naked.