Silly question

Hi all,

My husband and I were talking and he asked what I would call the girls private part. Since english is my husbands only language we speak it at home to our kids. But, I don't know how to refer to my girls private area. For our boy pee pee but for my girl ... no clue!

So, what names do you recomend? :blush:

Tahnks!

 

My girls are 2.5 and I haven't felt the need (yet) for a word that specifically means their vaginas. We call the whole area their "bottom" (and I think the daycare teachers say "butt" -- I hear Amy saying it occasionally, though it doesn't thrill me ). I'm not opposed to teaching them the word "vagina" when the time comes, but I don't feel the need to introduce it before there's a need -- ideally I'd like to wait until they can understand when it's appropriate to use and when it's not.

 

We just say penis and vagina. Everything I've read/heard says to use the appropriate terminology with them from a young age.

 

We use penis and vagina and have since they started talking. I see no difference in them using the appropriate terms for their private parts like we do for arms, legs, fingers, etc. My DD will be 4 in September and has told me that her vagina tickles (itches) when we're out in public. I don't have a problem with that and don't see it being any different than if she had said her pee-pee tickled. It's the same area and anyone that would have heard her knew what she was referring to. She just doesn't sound like a baby using baby words for a body part. Sometimes I think we put our own issues out there when we come up with nic names for the private parts. But, that's just my opinion. I don't think it's bad to use nic names, just see no reason for it when we don't for any other body part.

 

QUOTE(melissao @ Jun 5 2008, 11:39 AM) [snapback]812255[/snapback]
We just say penis and vagina. Everything I've read/heard says to use the appropriate terminology with them from a young age.

This is what we do though it really had not come up much yet.

 

bottom

 

PeePee for the front part & PooPoo for the back part.

 

thanks all!

For now I've been calling it PeePee & PooPoo. Later when they understand more I'll teach them the actual names.

 

Okay, please do not think we are crazy. I too have heard to use the actual correct names for anatomy but for some reason by husband's family has always called a boy's part his "tallywacker" or "tally" for short (I know - it sounds horrible but my family actually did this too and our families are from two different states) and for the girl's part it was called a "tookalesy (too-ca-lee-see"". I have no idea where that came from - I had never heard it before. So now for the our DD it is her "tookie" and for the boys it is their "tally".

My kids human A & P teacher is one day going to kill us!

 

we go with penis vagina, but the kids most the time call theirs their "front bum" and "back bum" I wonder about vagina as that's not the whole (literally) area do u get into vulva etc.. not sure as vagina is not really correct. HOpe I'm making sense

 

We just call it the pee pee for boy or girl.....I didn't teach them "butt", they picked it up somewhere & now it's stuck!

 

oh I hate the v-word! I hardly use it myself!!! I've always said "down there" in regards to myself, but for my boys- I'll either say boy parts or willie! :blush:

 

We use proper names. It is just a part of the body.

 

We just do personals for the boys and for our girl.

 

I haven't had to deal with it yet but I plan to use proper names. Actually when i'm diapering the girls (14 mos) I tell them that we have to make sure that their labia (not vagina) are clean.

I think that language is generative, not descriptive - that is, the language we use engenders what we do and how we FEEL, so if we use euphemisms for parts of the body it promotes, unconsciously perhaps, the notion that that part is somehow shameful.

Obviously we don't want our kids running around talking about it to the entire world, but- heck, they may anyway.

Favourite story of mine: a friend's boy was about 3 and she was in a sporting supply store with him. When they were in the tennis section got enthusiastic and exclaimed in his 'outside' (loud) voice: "Mommy, I need a new penis racket!"

 

QUOTE(Jordari @ Jun 6 2008, 11:38 PM) [snapback]814801[/snapback]
I think that language is generative, not descriptive - that is, the language we use engenders what we do and how we FEEL, so if we use euphemisms for parts of the body it promotes, unconsciously perhaps, the notion that that part is somehow shameful.


I've heard many people say this....and, I dunno. There is nothing shameful about any of our body parts, of course. But, there is also decorum, and there is a reason we go out clothed in public. As adults, we know not to randomly talk about our vaginas or vulvas or labias or what have you.

Toddlers and preschoolers don't know this, and I just don't see the big deal about using euphemisms while kids are small. After all, nobody thinks that using the word "potty" instead of "restroom" for a 2-year-old is going to someday make the act of elimination shameful....

I have also said "belly" instead of stomach, and "little piggies" instead of toes, and all sorts of things...

Anyhow. I've taught Nadia the Marathi (an Indian dialect similar to Hindi) word for vagina, because that's what my mom used with me. And, if she yells it out in public, no one knows what she's talking about, LOL. She does also know the correct terms in English, but for every day use, we just refer to them as "parts" -- as in, come here so I can wash your parts!

 

QUOTE(j&jtwins @ Jun 7 2008, 06:26 AM) [snapback]814055[/snapback]
we go with penis vagina, but the kids most the time call theirs their "front bum" and "back bum" I wonder about vagina as that's not the whole (literally) area do u get into vulva etc.. not sure as vagina is not really correct. HOpe I'm making sense



I feel the same way - I don't have a problem with penis but I do with vagina. It's just not technically correct - would be easier if there was a term for the whole area.

 

winky and hoohoo -

 

Right now I am going with girl parts and boy parts. I will teach them the correct names later. I just prefer hearing "Mommy, I have a problem with my girly parts" from a 3 yr. old vs. "Mommy, my vagina/labia/clitoris has a itch" or something - (she sometimes gets a little toilet paper stuck, so she has little itches and stuff from time to time - so, it's a true discussion)

 

When they wree little, we called it the "nuni"...DH heard it referred to as that on some SNL skit years ago and we thought it was funny! Well, we got rid of that term before they could catch on...lol! So, now we refer to their areas as the front bottom and back bottom.

 

QUOTE(AmynTony @ Jun 8 2008, 11:28 AM) [snapback]816244[/snapback]
winky and hoohoo -



I wasn't going to post mine because I know we should use the technical terms but I do not my DH is a bit of a prude abpout such things.
But since you posted yours ha,

I say Hoo Hoo too!

 

Penis and scrotum and vulva, since no one has seen my girls' vaginas, and no one but their md/midwife or a lover will! We also use labia, as in "Mommy, I have a tick on my outer labia." But I'm not above saying tush when I mean the whole part you sit on.

My understanding is that people who know and use correct body part terminology are at a lower risk of being sexually abused since they can talk about it more easily and eveyone can understand what they are saying, kwim?

When my son was about 5 he had a friend who always talked about his "weiner" and asked me why he likes hot dogs so much! :lol:

 

We use winky and hoohoo as well... I hate the word vagina to be honest and one day they will know what they are themselves. I dont think calling them by names is going to damage their way of thinking with the parts.

 

QUOTE(Jocasta @ Jun 7 2008, 05:40 AM) [snapback]814875[/snapback]
I feel the same way - I don't have a problem with penis but I do with vagina. It's just not technically correct - would be easier if there was a term for the whole area.


Vulva is the term for the whole area.

I've used vulva with my girls, but the mostly call it similiar to "front bum" and "back bum" (pompita and pompa)