To just call a fanny a fanny?

[teafortoads]

Apologies if this has been done before/to death but i am new to this Mumsnet Lark (posting not lurking, I have happily lurked for years). What on earth word do you give to your toddler to describe their girl parts? I have and always will, have a fanny, where as I am aware of friends who have foofs, fairies (could cause some confusion when you go to put the fairy on top of the Christmas tree) lady gardens vulvas and so on. I see no reason to pretty things up, and always arrive back at good old trusty fanny in the end having massively overthunk things. When DD2 is a little bit older I will furnish her with all the proper words, but are fanny and willie (not that she will encounter any of THOSE until she is at least 40 given that I am a single Mum and our house is happily a man free zone nowadays, and boyfriends will not be permitted until she is at least 40) acceptable? Is fanny a bit coarse?

Fanny does sound coarse to me. Associate more with drunken fannies idiots shouting "c'mon then ya fanny, I'll take ye" than anything else.

I use "girl bits" or "boy bits" for now. Not saying that is perfect, but seems clear enough.

My little girl calls it her "peepee" as she knows it's where the wee comes out. I think that's ok for now. If I took her to the doctor with a rash for example I'd say vulva.
Where I'm from (south east England) Fanny isn't considered particularly rude but a bit vulgar. It's not as bad as saying "pissflaps" or "beef curtains" though.
My mum said 'front bottom" which I think is a bit coy/twee.

Nunny or ninky here

I think fanny is too coarse for a child.Vulva sounds wrong when a young child says it, like you have been giving them formal lessons in sexual anatomy!

Why is the word fanny considered wrong when he word willy (IMO anyway) isn't?

Fanny is a rude word. It's like teaching them to say dick or cock.

We use willy and girly bits but they know the correct words too.

Vulva and penis in this house.

I find it utterly baffling that people feel the need to find alternative words. It's like calling your arm something different.

Call it a kebab and be done with it

What about bald man in a boat?

Front bottom here, but I quite like pudendum as a catch-all word for all of the external bits. Just very few people have ever heard of it...

(And yes, I know it means 'shameful' before anybody says that - I just don't think it really matters. How many of you knew you had a basin, vinegar cup or flute?)

It's not sexual anatomy! It's just anatomy.

Another Scottish person here. Fanny is very coarse. I'd cringe if I heard a child say that and I'd think you were a nutter for teaching your child that word. "Your bottom" should suffice.

Fanny is a disgusting word I would be actually horrified if my child said that word

You have a foof or a todge in my house, although DS(6) has recently started saying willy which is fine

at everyone calling it a Minnie, that's our dogs name! Poor Minnie!

I'm really surprised at all the posters saying that 'fanny' is really rude/coarse. Must be a cultural thing because it's really tame around here. I regularly hear people telling someone to 'stop fannying about'.

My nan called us fanny Anne too!

Girls bits and Willies in our house! My mum called mine a tinker !!!!!

"Rat ?"

Yeah. As in "Get yer rat out."

I'd put fanny on a par with that on the crude-o-meter.

My nan called it a tuppence.

Bits, foo, downstairs, wilfred and willies in our house

I've never heard anyone actually use fanny. It would confuse Americans! It used to be an insult around here, before bigger swears. Fanny was on the list that would get you after school detentions for a week.

Minge is horrible.

Do little girls need a word before they are old enough to use the proper ones? With little boys you're saying "put your willy away" all the time, but for girls you could just say "Pull your pants up!". Or use bits or front bottom or whatever until they are old enough to need to describe better.

Vulva sounds a bit uptight to me (and not accurate for all parts anyway). Prematurely aging.. What next, three years olds saying "Wahh, I fell on my bike and my mons pubis is sore"? "I have poo stuck to my anal sphincter."?