For mothers of girls (probably a silly question)

I think whatever is easiest for the kids

 

QUOTE(Overachiever @ Sep 11 2007, 07:38 PM) [snapback]403656[/snapback]
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??

lol this is too funny that she made that up, cute! :lol:

 

We probably don't give children correct terms for their body parts because we don't use the correct terms in everyday speech. How often do you actually use the term vagina or vulva? Just speaking for myself, but probably never, especially not vulva. If I ever talk about that area with a close friend or my sister, in a tmi type of conversation, we would probably say "down there" or something similar. It's not that I am embarrassed about my girl parts. It's just because it's a private area - the most private area for women - and we don't talk about it openly. ardon:

IMO the "molestation" scenario isn't a reason to teach kids proper names. Of course I am not betting on that ever happening to my kids, but God forbid if it does happen I don't think kids will have to know proper terms to tell us what happened.

 

I was thinking about this this morning (in a humorous way) when Amy wandering into the bathroom just as I was getting out of shower. She stared in fascination and pointed in the general area of my crotch and said "Whassat?" She was across the room so it was hard to tell for sure what she was pointing at, but I said "Mommy's pubic hair" (figuring that's probably what caught her eye), and she said, very seriously, "Poopick aa."

On the more serious issue, I guess I feel strange about teaching my girls the anatomically correct terms because (as a PP said) I rarely use them myself. Vagina, occasionally (when I'm talking to my OB), but not vulva, labia, clitoris.... I don't mind if they call the whole thing "my privates." I also am not sure I accept the molestation argument. Also as a PP said, I think the professionals who deal with that are going to be able to figure it out, no matter what the child calls it.

We use a lot of euphemisms in our culture. What is "poop" but a euphemism (or a cutesy word) for "defecate"? But how many of us teach our kids to say "urinate" and "defecate" rather than "pee" and "poop"? Just because you don't use the anatomically correct term doesn't necessarily imply shame.

Now, I'm not comfortable with terms like "ta-tas" and "hoochie koochie" -- not because they're incorrect, but because to me they have a sexual connotation. I wouldn't want to teach my toddlers the same words that are used by adolescent males. (I also hate "boobies," personally, but DH has always said it -- even before we had kids -- and I guess I just got used to it.)

 

We say vagina and penis.

 

QUOTE(BounceTigger @ Sep 13 2007, 04:02 AM) [snapback]405612[/snapback]
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



Are the detective or psychriatrict going to read between the lines of a "hoho". No someone will be the one to turn it around on the child or the parents. Yay god forbid it happens to mine or your children.
Erin

 

QUOTE(motherof2sets @ Sep 13 2007, 07:37 PM) [snapback]406800[/snapback]
Are the detective or psychriatrict going to read between the lines of a "hoho". No someone will be the one to turn it around on the child or the parents. Yay god forbid it happens to mine or your children.
Erin

If the child has pointed to her own "hoho" and pointed it out on a doll, it's pretty obvious what she is talking about.

I don't get offended that much on here, but I do feel like I have to defend myself that just because I taught my girls a "cutesy" name for their pubic area and anus, that I am somehow ashamed or embarrassed and doing my kids some big disservice. They just turned two. They have only in the past couple months even started saying "hoo-hoo" and "bum bum". I haven't even gotten to what a boy has yet. I will tell them the correct names when they are a bit older. Like several PP's have said, how is it much different than saying "tummy" for stomach, or "pee and poop"?
I have no real reason for using the terms hoo-hoo and bum bum, it's just what I came up with.

 

hoo hoo and winky and you can say what you want about me - but at 16 months they don't understand penis and vagina - nor do they understand hoo hoo and winky but I have an 80 year old grandmother that helps my mother babysit my kids and would wither and die if the word vulva was used!

 

QUOTE(Monika2006Twins @ Sep 11 2007, 09:43 PM) [snapback]403821[/snapback]
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.


Nope we use it too. DH taught DD#1 very early on that girls and women have vulvas and men and boys have a penis. Both have bottoms. We felt that it was important that she have the vocab to talk about her genitals in case she was ever in a situation (heaven forbid!) that she needed to be able to tell us what happened.

 

We say bottom/hiney and private area. Although, while taking a bath, Lanie asked if she "had a button "???? :rotflmbo:

 

QUOTE(motherof2sets @ Sep 12 2007, 09:33 PM) [snapback]405442[/snapback]
This really surpised me that many of you don't use the "real words", that bothered me.


I guess I don't really see the difference between using "zee zee" (what we use for penis) and saying "belly button" (instead of navel). Around here we sometimes call our toes "piggies" and occasionally refer to hands and feet as "paws". A nose has occasionally been called a "schnozz". Both my general abdominal region and my stomach (the actual organ) are referred to as "tummy", and the buttocks and the anus are both known interchangeably as "butt" or "bum" (personally I hate this word, but DH uses it).

Yes, I am more comfortable saying "zee zee" than I am saying "penis". It's not a word I've used much in my life up until having a son. It's not a word I expect to use much once he gets a little older. Better to have a word we're comfortable using, rather than insisting that it is just something we don't speak about.

-Rachel