In calling my dd Vagina a "Vagina"

[lilymolly]

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

we call it a floo or privates

when i explained to my eldest daughter (6) how the baby got out i didnt use the correct terms just said there was a special stretchy hole. havent told her the truth about how they get in there yet though she thinks daddy gives mammy a special seed when there cuddling - think ill leave that one for another year or so

Er, I would like to point out that many people DO teach children cute names for other parts of their bodies. Tummies, for a start. Bottoms. Toothy-pegs. Tootsies.
They tend to grow up knowing they have stomachs/abdominals, buttocks, teeth & toes.

Vagina is not a euphemism. Was totally baffled by that.
I agree, a world like willy would be very useful. Universally understood, easy, socially acceptable and sweet. The problem is that women's bodies are always regarded as more obscene and taboo than men's bodies. I am still stumbling over a word for dd's genital region. Vulva is a perfectly nice sounding word (could be a posh girls name) but it just feels rather technical to me. I think fanny is a reasonable contender but some people seem to consider this utterly obscene. Ds calls it dd's 'willy'.
And agree with those who think it a bit odd when most little girls are most interested in their labia and - even more so - where their wee comes out - to call it their vagina, which has nothing to do with labia or wee.

We also use wee and poo with children instead of urine and faeces. I don't think that is inherently wrong or bad either.

I'd never heard of Mary as a euphemism for vulva before recently. Apparently it's what my girlfriend's younger sister used to say, despite her parents not having taught it to her. I find it a bit odd, as Mary is one of my names!
I think personally that children should always be aware of what the correct terms for their genitalia are, but that cute nicknames are fine for day to day use :)

'Fan Fan'...'Fanny'..'Privates'...but they know the real names they choose to use the other names...boys private parts they call a 'willy' or 'bulls-eye'

qkate - why have you bumped a 4 year old thread?

Wow this is old.

Dammit. I was just about to wax lyrical about lady gardens too.

Blimey qkate, how did you come across this thread from 2007 !

I taught dd to call her vulva a Vulva.
Dh wouldn't call it anything (he was the same with ds tho)
DD called it a vulva right up until she started school, she then changed its name to a front bottom. I encouraged her to still call it a Vulva, but she wouldn't. There is nothing you can do when that happens.

oh dear, I hadn't seen that it was an old thread. eek.

I told my DD (6) the fluffy name of flower. When she was old enough to know the proper terms, I told her.

It's up to her what term she uses, and she prefers flower.

As long as she knows the correct names, I don't mind for now.

I'm glad this got bumped, as I was worrying wondering about this sort of thing for my own DD.

It is a twinkle in this house!

There is a certain positivity and star like quality to that

We've always had willy and mary :)

I remember hearing lots of terms from other people growing up though - all of which we had a giggle at as children. The funniest was when I learnt some called it a fanny and the lady next door to us was called fanny. I cracked up in a fit of giggles every time I saw her.

I don't think it matters what you call it to be honest - as long as they understand what you're referring to and you know what they mean when they say the particular word. I'm sure they'll all have a laugh about it on the playground when they're a bit older regardless of what you call it.

My DDs found put that their cousins great grandma was called 'Fanny Fox' (yes that's her real name)..imagine the hilarity ...and a new name for the female private parts was born!

Heard of one woman calling it a 'plum' - guess they didn't eat many plums in their house

As a child my mother told me mine was a moose - no idea where that came from.

I plan on using foof if I have a DD, it sounds quite non-abrasive and also doesn't mean anything else, iyswim?

Sorry, I hadn't even realized this thread was so old! I came across it when I searched 'lily' looking for baby name info and it came up because of the OP's name. I only just noticed now it was from months ago.. Oops.

Wish I had gone with Vagina. I chickened out and said 'foof'. It is embarrassingly twee and I loathe it. Penis is penis, so why are we calling it a foof? Gah.

I despise all this coy crap about foofies and minis and maries. It's a vagina, through which life bears forth. Honour it.

Ladies! It is 5:41am!

I will wake up the whole bloody house with this laughter!

BEEF CURTAINS!
HAIRY CLAM!

HAHAHAHAHAHAAH!

Oh, and for reference, I called it a "front-bottom", which (as someone mentioned) is quite nice and genteel!

Due to a misunderstanding, my dd calls hers a Volvo.

I wouldn't use an anatomical term for something else tbh.

So not Vagina when you mean Vulva and not Stomach when you mean Abdomen (Tummy is fine, or Belly)

I totally agree - if you're going to say vagina when you mean vulva you may as well say mouth when you mean face!