I’ve been answering people’s questions for decades and yet I still get some that surprise me, and yours is the one for today. How did a six-year-old child get to a store on her own, and have the money to purchase a back massager? I assume it is a vibrator and had to cost at least $25. Right there I see a problem. You should not allow your children at that age to go into stores unaccompanied and they should not have that kind of spending money. It may be OK for a six-year-old to purchase her own candy, but certainly not electronic equipment.

Now for a word on masturbation: Children touch themselves because it feels good, but I don’t think the word masturbation is completely appropriate. In my mind, masturbation leads to orgasm and six-year olds won’t have orgasms. One advantage of a vibrator is that the strong sensations can help a woman have an orgasm if she can’t by other means. But your six-year olds shouldn’t be having orgasms, nor should they be getting used to the strong sensations caused by vibrators. So in my opinion, what you should do is to take that back massager away from the twins and throw it in the trash. (Hiding it might not work as these two seem quite capable of searching the house and finding it.)

If afterwards they want to touch their vaginas in private to get those pleasant sensations, then that’s OK. However, I have three “buts”. The first but is if one or both are doing it too much. Then you’d have to step in. I would also keep an eye out in case they would start to touch each other. It’s not likely, but these two seemingly have had a lot of freedom so you never know. And lastly, and I say this cautiously, make sure that they are not being abused. I’m not saying that a child might not figure out to use a back massager as a vibrator on her own, but it could also be a thought that an adult passed onto her. And even if it wasn’t a live adult, it might have been something she’s seen on TV, especially if you have any X-rated videos around. So when I say to watch out for any abuse, understand that it could be from being allowed to see the wrong type of material as well as actual physical abuse.