For mothers of girls (probably a silly question)

Hello everyone!

I know this is a very silly question, but we call their "butts" their "bottoms".....but I am not sure what to call their private area. Do I just call it vagina? I just feel like they are so young right now and we don't call their "bottoms" their "buttocks"....

I feel like I need to decide soon, b/c they are 14 months old now and they understand lots of words now. And sometimes they don't like it when (especially after a very messy diaper) I have to wipe them in that area...so I feel like I would be able to explain it to them more if I had a "name" for that area....

Any suggestions??

Thanks.

 

I just call the whole thing the bottom. I've had similar protests.
'I have to wipe your bottom. I'm wiping it from front to back. I have to wipe where you go pee pee." The skin around the vagina and uretha I think is called the vulva. Sometimes I've said, "I need to clean your vulva so you don't get an owie down there. Open your legs. Now I need to wipe here where you go poop. " "It's time to wipe your front" and I hand them the baby wipe.

 

I just call it what it is....a pee-pee. I also have two other boys and that's what we call theirs......I hope I don't confuse her..lol.
Good Luck

 

When DD1 was a toddler, she came up with her own words: she had a "little butt" and a "big butt" :lol: Made sense, I thought!

Who wants their 14 mo old to bust out with the "V" word in the middle of Sam's club??

 

The whole thing is a butt. You have the front butt and the back butt. I am not big on the whole vagina word for little kids.

Tiffaney

 

My 3yr calls her private parts her peebug, not sure where so got that from, but it stuck with her. I think once she gets older I will go over everything, like I did with my oldest. I just feel she is to young to do so right now.

 

we say "tutu" b/c I used to call mine a toot-toot when I was little, so I just kinda shortened it to tutu or tootoo...on a similar note, my little sister used to call breasts cheeseburgers...don't know why?

 

I want to add that I have only used words like vulva or vagina once or twice. I usually say, "that's your private parts. We need to clean that so that you don't get an owie on your bottom."

 

We call the girls privates their Vajayjay. We like Grey's Anatomy and it was said by a character on there once and it stuck. We call their butts, tooshies.

 

Well, the vagina is on the inside of their body and the part you can actually see is called the labia fyi. Technically speaking if you cal the girl parts they can see a "vagina" you're not really using the right term.

We call all our pee-pee's crotches. It's correct enough without being shocking. Plus, it's unisex.

 

We say "waa-waa" for the girls and "wee-wee" for the boys! Waa-waa is what my niece called hers when she was little and it just stuck!

 

QUOTE
Well, the vagina is on the inside of their body and the part you can actually see is called the labia fyi. Technically speaking if you cal the girl parts they can see a "vagina" you're not really using the right term.


I agree! Our girls call it their "girlfriend" I heard someone call it that once and it stuck with us.

 

We taught Joy that it is her "private." The boys call their their pee-pee. Though they also know the word penis.

 

My girls know that girls have vagina's and boys have penis. Its a lot of fun when we are in grocery stores and a daughter yell's out..."That man has a penis and that woman has a vagina." ROFL ..while I am turning red faced.


LOL

I also say pee pee...and butt. They also now know that babies come out of pee pees...and are bloody and dirty when they come out. I didnt know they were behind me when I was watching A Baby Story one day...UGH.


Brandy

 

I guess I'm the only one who calls them vulva. The vulva is the entire exterior female genital including the labia. See wikipedia for details if necessary.

 

Crotch! That's brilliant! Honestly we haven't really been calling it anything. Not because we are embarrassed or anything; it honestly just hasn't been an issue. Mine rarely protest diaper changing and extensive cleaning of the area, so we don't have a great need to explain the steps, KWIM? If we say anything, it's just something like, "We have to put cream on your bottom," or "We have to wipe your heinie." But I like "crotch" and think we'll start using that.

 

I would be mortified if we were in the grocery store and they called out the actual words. We are nowhere near that yet, but I've been wondering the same things. I guess who-who is suitable until they are old enough to understand their parts and that it is a vagina (we can use that actual word now, wow). I don't know, I guess we'll cross that bridge when we get to it...

alexis

 

We use the terms "potty" and "bottom".

 

We call it peebug. I think that is what I called it when I was little.

 

peebug...thats a cute name for it

 

QUOTE(Her Royal Jennyness @ Sep 11 2007, 11:01 PM) [snapback]403695[/snapback]
Well, the vagina is on the inside of their body and the part you can actually see is called the labia fyi. Technically speaking if you cal the girl parts they can see a "vagina" you're not really using the right term.


Or "vulva" which encompasses the whole area -- the labia are really just the "lips". But like you...

QUOTE
We call all our pee-pee's crotches. It's correct enough without being shocking. Plus, it's unisex.


Yep, we use "crotch" here as well. We'll get into more specifics a little further down the road. I'll explain that a baby comes out of a vagina and that all girls and women have vaginas, and that it's a very private place...but not yet.

 

As I high school biology teacher I appluad those of you teaching correct names!!! Maybe your children won't be embarrassed by their vocab lists when they take general bio!

My 2 know boys have a pee-nis and girls have a 'gina

While wiping I simply say I have to wipe now. And no biggie! If I were to have to specify for wiping I would say vulva....

Most of the insecurity about body words comes from being taught non-scientific bizzarre made up words for normal everyday body parts, I don't call their noses their nay-nays.... Maybe that will stop the hysterical laughter when I say vagina in class.... or scrotum that is the worst!!!

 

We call a butt a butt & a vagina a "gina". I started calling it vagina but when my oldest could talk it came out "gina" & it stuck.

 

We just call them pee-pee and bum-bum. One day I'll explain the whole vagaina thing, but for now I feel all they are refering to is where their pee comes out of, when they talk about up front. So for now we'll leave it at that.

 

I've been saying "vagina." I know there is a chance of them someday yelling "vagina!" in the grocery store, but the opportunities for embarrassment are so huge with toddlers anyway, I'm trying not to worry about that.

I did think about the fact that usually what they're touching is not their vagina, it's their labia or their clitoris, but I decided "vagina" was specific enough to refer to the whole front part (and "bottom" refers to the butt, or the whole crotch/pelvic area in general).

ETA: If I'm just narrating my activities, I say "I need to wipe your bottom" even if I'm wiping the front. But if Amy is touching her labia and says "Whassat?", that's when I say "it's your vagina."

 

We use "butt" and "vagina"

 

We call it a V V (vee vee). Don't know where that came from but it's good enough for me and them. The butt we call tooshie.

 

DS is the only one who has been interested in his *enis up to this point. I am calling it a *enis.

When DD finally figures out that she's got some undiscovered territory down there, I'll be calling it a *agina.

I figure it's better they learn it now than to get the giggles in school. Of course, I guess that farts are pretty funny to kids (and adults unfortunately) and they don't have strange name.

 

Very funny you brought this up.

WE always call their parts by their correct anatomical parts. There is nothing to be ashamed of and by using false name it makes the child uncomfortable using correct terminology later.

On the TOday show yesterday, they had Psychologist Gail Satlzberg (sp?) on who just wrote a book for kida about 10 y/o talking about thei rbody parts etc.

She talked about some things that can be harmful to kids, especially girls like when all of their vagina, labia etc are referred to as butt or bottom. IT can actually cause them much confusion later on in life.

 

I refer to it as a "tootie" That's the name I used as a kid (It did get kinda wierd when I watched The Facts of Life when I was older). I have heard that it is important to call them by the actual name, you know how "they" say important things like that. But I will add that to the list of things, like don't microwave the bottles, that I didn't really listen to.

 

It's funny to see this post because today my DD was pointing to her crotch and saying "Melmo" because we showed her that Elmo was on her Pampers!

But anyways ... I am not sure what we'll call the private areas. Probably "tushie" and bottom because that is what I called it when I was a little kid. It seems weird to me to call it a vulva even though that is the proper name. I just never hear that term used. There's too much slang out there and never any talk about a vagina or a vulva in regular conversation so I have no good terms for it. If I have a boy I will call it a penis though because I hear that term all the time. WHY is that? :lol:

 

This really surpised me that many of you don't use the "real words", that bothered me. You teach your kids the right words because if something ever happens to them that they are molested and have to go in frront of the court they need to know the right names. I don't care how old the child is. The courts not going to know what a vajayjay is or any of the others names are. I think about my friend that was in college and had sex before she even knew what sex was.

Just my opinion and I have read in other articles.

Erin

 

We say "Hoo-hoo" because I just blurted it out one day and it stuck. Same with how I blurted out "fart" and it stuck, and I wished it hadn't!

 

QUOTE(motherof2sets @ Sep 13 2007, 01:33 AM) [snapback]405442[/snapback]
This really surpised me that many of you don't use the "real words", that bothered me. You teach your kids the right words because if something ever happens to them that they are molested and have to go in frront of the court they need to know the right names. I don't care how old the child is. The courts not going to know what a vajayjay is or any of the others names are. I think about my friend that was in college and had sex before she even knew what sex was.

Just my opinion and I have read in other articles.

Erin


I agree. I find it odd that some people would be embarrassed if their child said vulva or vagina in public. Personally, I would be proud because it would show that my child knew the correct terms for body parts. It's like knowing the correct term for a trumpet flower is brugmansia. There is absolutely nothing to be ashamed of when it comes to being educated. I for one would be mortified if my child said "hoo-hoo" or "vajaja" in public. To me it screams ignorance and shame. Nothing cute about it.

 

While I do agree that its important to use correct termiology, I always found the "what if they got molested" argument a bit strange. The police WILL know what a little girl or boy says when they say "pee-pee" I mean, I suppose if you called the vulva a "marshmallow" or something, that might cause confusion, but most detectives/psychriatrists interviewing young molestation victims will actually use dolls or diagrams and have the child point to the area, probably to avoid the confusion