Consulting pyschologist, David Carey, talks to Sean during the weekly parenting slot on Moncrieff, taking questions from listeners.

Q: My partner has a six-year-old girl who occasionally requests her younger brother (5) stick his fingers up her "bum." He said it was wet and slimy. We can only assume he was talking about her vagina. Is this child experimentation or something else we should be concerned about?

A: Six-year-old children do not typically "experiment" in this way. It is a reason to be concerned.

The child may have been exposed to sexually explicit material or may have been interfered with in some way. You should be concerned.

You need to talk to your partner and impress upon her the seriousness of this behaviour. She, and perhaps you, may wish to speak to the child and ask her where she learned to play that game. This is a low arousal method of eliciting information from the child without causing undue distress.

Although we do not have good research data about the "normal" sexual exploration of children, I am confident this falls outside of expected parameters for a six-year-old girl.

You must also speak to her brother and explain to him that no one touches a part of a person's body that is covered by a bathing suit except doctors and sometimes mommies and daddies if you are sick or need changing and cleaning.

The brother needs to be educated about what is appropriate touch.

I think that you need to act soon and swiftly without raising alram bells at this stage. Should the child indicate that someone "taught" her this "game" then you need to contact your GP (so she can be examined) and TUSLA. 

If you have a question for Moncrieff's Parenting Expert, David Carey, email it to afternoon@newstalk.ie and tune in every Wednesday at 3pm. You can also listen back to the podcasts here.

David J. Carey is a psychologist in practice in Stillorgan, Dublin. He is the author of the book, The Essential Guide to Special Education in Ireland.