Last weekend, I was looking for one of my sweaters that was missing. Sometimes my clothes get accidentally hung up in my sister’s closet. So, the first place I looked for it after checking the laundry room was my sister’s closet.
But as soon as I opened the closet door, I was surprisingly shocked to find my seven year old sister inside. I opened up the door and nearly tripped over her legs.
And if that wasn’t surprising enough, I noticed that she was naked from her waist down with her hands very active between her legs.
I looked shocked and surprised at her in that moment, but just discovering a person sitting alone inside a dark closet after opening up its door is surprising and unexpected enough.
But it was awkward and I didn’t know what to do so I just kind of said, “Sorry, I didn’t realize you were in here,” while slowly backing up and walking away.
I believe she was masturbating behind her closed closet door because her bedroom door does not lock. She probably feels more privacy lying down in a corner of her dark closet than she would lying down on her bed.
But that afternoon, she did not come out of her bedroom for a long time after, and she was acting anxious and nervous the rest of the day.
Even up to today, she still seems off, and acting differently around me.
But putting myself in her shoes, if that was me, I imagine I would feel similar and take a real long time to get over it as well.
I am wondering if maybe this incident needs to be talked about somehow, just her and me. I want this dark cloud hanging over her head to be over. At the same time, what if bringing up this subject causes more stress to her and is exactly what she is trying to avoid right now?
And she is only seven, she probably doesn’t actually know what masturbation is and that it’s normal.