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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

In calling my dd Vagina a "Vagina"

217 replies

lilymolly · 13/05/2007 20:19

DD is 16 months and is noticing body parts and pointing to them and making a noise, at which I will say "arm" "leg" etc. Tonight, she touched her privates and I said "Vagina" dp was a little shocked , and before any one shouts, I KNOW its her Vulva, but dont think that word is acceptable with adults never mind children iyswim.

We where having relate counselling last year for sex issues on my behalf, in other words I dont like it, and we discussed this particular issue, and the counseller told us to call it by its name, which is what we woould do with any other body part, such as her arm ect as already mentioned.

As a rookie mum, will this come back to haunt me in later years?
In other words, when she can talk will she talk about her Vagina, will she say it in inappropriate situations.
i.e my friend dds are 7 and 10 and still call it "mary" and I am pretty sure they would not know what a vagina is, and also pretty sure their mother would be mortified if my little angel came out with it

What do other people call it? Advice please

OP posts:
Desiderata · 29/08/2007 21:20

Yeah, but I was probably too busy thinking about boys' bits at the time.

And also, it was a fecking long time ago

Judy1234 · 29/08/2007 21:28

My father's a doctor and we always used vagina and we use it with our children. Other families differ. Just use what you feel comfortable with.

Judy1234 · 29/08/2007 21:29

..and I should have added they of course know the difference between vagina and vulva too.

Desiderata · 29/08/2007 21:43

.... but of course

itwasntme · 29/08/2007 22:12

I honestly think that my mum never ever taught me a word for my fanjo. The whole region was my bum, and no distinction was made between front and back.

My mum was SO repressed, and it had such a knock on effect. I grew up to be so ashamed of my fanjo, and it took years to get over that embarrassment.

My dd (3.5) calls hers her noo-noo. No idea where that came from, but it stuck. But she knows the word vulva.. I have told her that's the proper word.

Cute names are fine, but I want her to know the proper words. It's just another body part.

Desiderata · 29/08/2007 22:21

I'm quite surprised, tbh. I guess it's no wonder kids grow up so fast these days

I would have thought that minny would do until at least adolescence.

chenin · 29/08/2007 22:22

Well... I have 2 DDs, aged 18 and 15... and they would fall around laughing at a suggestion of calling their 'bits' a vagina! Soooo clinical... like a biology lesson!
They still call them front bottom and back bottom and they are in their teens!

Desiderata · 29/08/2007 22:22
WendyWeber · 29/08/2007 22:55

Can't be bothered reading every post but I hope someone has pointed out that the visible bit isn't the vagina, so it isn't even anatomically correct to call it that, let alone necessary or sensible.

It's rather like calling the penis the urethra, because there is one inside...

WendyWeber · 29/08/2007 22:56

(Front bottoms in our house too hellie )

Desiderata · 29/08/2007 22:58

Yes, that's been established, wendy, but vulva has just never caught on, has it?

WendyWeber · 29/08/2007 22:59

Who needs a vulva when they have a front bottom?

Desiderata · 29/08/2007 23:02

Precisely, wendy!

Vagina and vulva are on the top of my list of gross words.

Doodledootoo · 29/08/2007 23:05

Message withdrawn

Doodledootoo · 29/08/2007 23:14

Message withdrawn

KerryMumbledore · 29/08/2007 23:17

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Pan · 29/08/2007 23:35

Doodle! You DIDN'T tell your dd that, did you?? < as true as it may be..>

RosaLuxembourg · 29/08/2007 23:42

I have always been as anatomically correct as possible when naming body parts for the DDs.
So last weekend we were in a public loo and DD3 (age 5) shouts out very loudly: Mummy my wee is coming out of my babyhole.
To which I replied - you mean your vagina darling.
Got some funny looks for that one.

madamez · 29/08/2007 23:45

It's one of those little things that just make me despair- the fact that female genitals are still so 'unmentionable' when male ones or not. I have a DS and no DD and his genitalia are 'willy' - we've got no further than that.I'd use 'minny' for a little girl's genitalia and will do when DS asks about it, simply because it's a term that's semantically equivalent to 'willy'.

Mind you, how many of you with DSs or toddlers in general, go further than that - do you have pet names for the nads as well? Or does 'willy' cover penis, testicles, scrotum and all?

TellusMater · 29/08/2007 23:46

Eh? Shouldn't you have been correcting her anatomy rather than her vocab?

TellusMater · 29/08/2007 23:47

Do not let your dd think she wees out of her vagina...

RosaLuxembourg · 29/08/2007 23:47

Yes, well, I did tell her it couldn't possibly be, but she insisted it was.

mears · 29/08/2007 23:47

What's wrong with just calling it her 'bottom' for now?

RosaLuxembourg · 29/08/2007 23:48

She is, I hardly need to add, a very unusual child.

TellusMater · 29/08/2007 23:48

She is if she wees out of her vagina

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