I expect this is a well discussed topic but what word do you use for...

[MadameCheese]

...a girl's privates? Sorry my DS is 2 and already refers to his "willy". I'm expecting a girl in a couple of weeks but can't think of a term. This sounds like I'm the biggest weirdo ever, I don't think I've put it very well...

Front bottom. DD is 26 months. We might get a bit more technical when she's older...

your bits

Vagina/vulva/fanny

Not a variation on 'bits' or 'bottom', that's too confusing I think. Maybe a pet name like mini? Vulva not vagina (when referring to the whole genitalia) if you want to be correct.

We did vulva from the beginning, because all the other options seemed too twee and open to misinterpretation.

We used willy because it's pretty universal & everyone knows what you mean, however he now knows penis too (ds is 5) and uses them both.

I personally loathe front bottom and would stop my dd from using that term if she picked it up from somewhere else.

But it's NOT a bottom, boys and girls both have bottoms, that's where poo comes from...

Tuppence in our house. Minnie not to bad as an equivalent to Willy. Vulva good option.

DS has a penis, but somehow DD ended up with a fanny, not a vulva. I wish we'd used the proper word now, even if it does sound a bit clinical.

"privates" works well-because it IS!

We have front bottom I'm afraid!

If I did have a girl I would use "vulva" not too keen on it, but I think it's the best of a bad bunch.

DD uses girly bits But, I am trying to move her onto something abit more grown up now is is starting school.

We use willy and fou-fou (I know, I know) but they both know the words penis and vulva.

My daughter was born in Italy, where you can just call it a "little flower" - fiorellino!

Beautiful. And so much cuter than vulva.

dd says girly bits.ds1 says willy,ds2 says penis-much to my mothers disgust which i find odd.she says'its willy!'

DD calls hers her 'bitty-bobs', which is sounding a bit too silly now that she's getting bigger. I think it started from when she was tiny and at bathtimes we'd ask her had she washed all her bits and bobs. Vulva sounds too clinical, we'll probably go for just 'bits'.

Maybe we should coin a new term, equivalent to willy, and start using it. Spread the word! I can imagine the O.E.D. entry in years to come - first usage recorded on Mumsnet!

Yes and let's petition for arms to be called reachy grabbers and I'd like to rename the sternum a bangy noo noo.

Just call it what it is. Fear of the name only increases fear of the thing itself. Or something.

DD has a vulva. She also knows that the inside bit where the baby comes down from the womb is a vagina.

Naming of Parts.

Hmmm.. possibly a good point ShowOfHands, but should we all start calling our collarbones clavicles, and our shoulder blades scapulas?

Willy is a very commonly used alternative name for penis, it just seems like there's not an alternative, everyday name for vulva. I've seen threads in the past to this effect too.

I'm off to bed to ponder some more, or better still sleep.

But you say shoulder, I know you mean shoulder.

You say minnie I think mouse. You say tuppence, I think money. You say bits, I think fgs unclench and say vulva. It won't hurt. Promise.

I think there's a long and sad history of the names for female genitalia being shunned, mocked and seized as insults. It's about time we reclaimed the ability to talk about our own anatomy without hiding behind the pseudo-palatable.

fanny

Quite like "privates", it's the first non-twee word that doesn't sound medical. Boys' parts have all these easy names that are OK for a 5 year old and a 20 year old to use (ish - not many 20 year olds use willy maybe, but they could do!!) but girls' bits have loads of horrible names.

Luckily (from the part-naming point of view) I have a ds so it's willies here, but he is already asking what girls have instead and what it's called.

On Fortune's cap we are not the very button.
Nor the soles of her shoe?
Neither, my lord.
Then you live about her waist, or in the middle of her favours?
Faith, her privates we.
In the secret parts of fortune? O, most true; she is a strumpet.

That's all privates makes me think of.

Can't we just all agree it's a vulva? I don't see that as any more clinical than a table being a table, it is what it is. What makes vulva fall short of your criteria 'OK for a 5 and 20 yr old to use' kitbit?

I do use 'wee' and 'poo' as opposed to urine and faeces because it is absolutely common usage with no real margin for error but cutsie names are just plain weird. If someone asked to see my tuppence I would agree, assuming you wanted a coin.

Hey Ho - showofhands I'm with you all the way!