The younger boys never really seemed more embarrassed about being washed "down there" than about the situation as a whole, and in any event they quickly got used to me. You're right, I usually encourage the older boys to do their genital area (if I am doing other parts) themselves (especially if they tend to get erect during the bath - I figure that if they get erect in general or specifically in response to me touching them somewhere, this would only be compounded if I washed their bottom or penis myself).
There are times, however, when I wash the "older" boys' bottoms/penises. For example, I used to babysit this one boy who sometimes would just slosh around in the tub and simply never get around to actually washing, no matter how much I prodded, so around the time he started to prune I would decide enough was enough. There is one boy I babysit now who I had to teach to clean under his foreskin (why his parents never taught him that is beyond me). Sometimes a boy washes poorly and in the interest in time I give him a second wash. And there have also been times when the boy has not been feeling well or has been injured and I have to do the job. One boy just a couple months ago had broken fingers on one hand and had hurt the other, so I had to do everything for him. So it really is a case by case answer.
(Other than the last example, I'd say the "older" boys who sometimes need washing even in their genital area are usually ones who show little to no signs of entering puberty, i.e. late bloomers. The boy in the last example has started to show pubic hair and a little growth. I had actually stopped helping him for the most part, just peeking my head in when he took a shower. But when he was hurt I had to get involved again.)
I may have been nervous the first few times I had to bathe a boy, but I was never embarrassed about it. After a while you just get used to it I guess.
Tracy D. wrote:I´m the guest who was describing my experience helping my brother bath.
I´m curious how you deal with washing the boys that you babysit more intimate parts. As I´ve already said me or my mother used to wash my brother until he was nine. After that, until he was 12, we just checked that he was washing himself carefully, helping him sometimes wash his back if he had dificulty doing so. So after nine he washed his more intimate parts himself.
When the boy is very young it wil not be awkward for either him or the babysitter for her to wash his penis and inside his buttocks. But if the boy is older it may become awkward for the babysitter to do that. The boy may not be embarrassed to be bathed by the babysitter but he may be embarrassed to have his penis, his buttocks or his Anal region washed by her. It may be embarrassing for her to do that to an older boy, too.
Do you tell boys older than 8 or 9 to wash those areas themselves and only wash their less intimate areas or do you wash those areas yourself?
Although a 9 or 10 year old may not be careful washing himself and need asistance bathing he may be capable of washing his private parts if told to do so.