Why is my daughter behaving so strangely?

[kimvaux]

My 4 year old daughter has recently been acting differently. She seems to be going through a phase of stripping and showing herself to her 7 year old brother and step father. I have also noticed that she keeps touching herself. The other day I caught her doing it and watching herself in the tv, the she licked her finger. When she turned round and saw me, she smiled and said "I like the taste of my wee". I was very distressed by this as she seems very insecure at the moment and is very clinging with her step-father. Please could you give me some insight on this, as I was abused as a child and I'm terrified that this could be happening to her

[kimvaux]

Thanks for the advice. I tried asking her some questions last night as I keep finding bruises on her. She told me that a neighbours daughter has been hurting her and after questioning her a little more, she got upset and said she was only joking. She has been doing this alot lately, making up things and then saying she is joking. However I don't want to not believe her because in this day and age there's always the possibilty, but I'm worried about accusing someone who is completely innocent.

[margypops]

I do believe a Mom has to go with her gut feeling on this , as you have noticed this behavior it would be good to be more vigilant on who she is alone with, ask her pertinenet questions without upsetting her, It would be better not to let her strip herself before it starts ,I would say that she has learned some of this and some is natural behavior, but something has triggered it.