Names please for the lady-bits

[BlueCloud1973]

OK I have a 4 year old boy and have recently had a girl. My boy is asking questions about her lady-bits and I'm not sure what to refer to them as....
'Fanny' seems a bit crass, 'vaj' a bit cheap, etc etc you get my drift. Any suggestions on names for this body part gratefully recieved!

My girls say "Front bottom"...suits me until they ask more questions.Don't believe in giving them more information than they are actually asking for....I understand where the "problem" is if they say this....don;t need any "grown-up" just yet...IMO

"grown-up" words

When I was a child it was my "Mary". My DD is 3 and she says "lady-bits". Boy bits are "Winkies".

To all those who insist on using the formal anatomical terms for the sex organs do you also insist that your children refer to their patella, mandible and phalanges?

If not, why not? Why do the sex organs merit Latin and Greek when you are happy to use the vulgar English names for other parts of the body?

onimolap snap willy and bits! Others I know use 'mary' and 'minnie'.........

X-post with parsnips :)

It's Willy and Wilma of course!

I think its important for everyone, including children, to know, and feel comfortable using, the proper anatomical names. So I say Vulva and Penis/Testicles to my children.

If they then end up using a different name for it at some times, then that isn't a huge issue to me though. DS1 (age 6) is going through a winky stage at the moment.

(TMI) I call mine a cha cha from my childhood which I don't actually like but can't stop doing. Wrigler's we call "girly bits" although I will call them the proper names as well. I can't remember not knowing "willy" and "penis", and "cha cha" and "vulva/vagina" and that you use one set in certain circs and one set in another. Just like you say "urine" to some people and "wee wee" to others (although I don't think I knew "faeces" until I was bit older.

Interestingly "cha cha" wasn't the original name, my parents referred to my and my sister's "crack" when I was little and "cha cha" came from a CM who didn't like "crack" so much that she changed it! And I agree with her, although I don't like "cha cha" much either.

I don't think you necessarily have to use the anatomical names no but we all share language. My point was that you don't generally make up names for other parts of your bodies that are peculiar to your family.

I can see that willy for example is fine as we all know what willy means. But fairies and moos and minnies and flowers and noonoos and God knows what else is all just silly and twee and said with such embarrassment that I wonder what we're coming to.

Vulva/vagina/penis/testicles

I also agree with ShowofHands latest post.

Dd knows and usually uses the terms above, but will occasionally say "willy".

It was a fairy or a Mary when I was little. A friend of mine who's a teacher in west Yorkshire told me they call it a tuppence there. Other ones are lady bits or lady garden. Have a ds and another ds in the way so not had to have that conversation yet. Think i just called them mummys bits when asked by my ds when he was little.

Doo da ( blame my dh!). Have heard foo a lot too.

latin (penis/vulva) seems a bit academic, and english (cock/cunt) a bit vulgar, so we go with cutesy winky/....don't have a daughter.

We say Peepee for girls bits
HTH

Penis and vulva here. They don't sound over medicalised/clinical to me - it's just what they are. I was striving for clarity so that, for example, if my dc ever had to talk to a Dr. they could use language which would be understood without room for confusion.

wee and poo is fine for me, as there is no margin for error - everyone understands.

I've just had a daughter and have a 3 yr old boy so this one will crop up for us pretty soon i reckon :)
I think using the standard slang that adults use is fine as long as its not swearing. My girlfriend refers to her own as fanny so we will prb use that.

Mine was an in betweeny when I was little and is for my dd as well. And check this out despite my parents not calling my genitals by their correct anatomical name when I was small I managed to grow up and function as an adult. I've even got married and had a baby! I resent the implication that by giving it a cutesy name you're somehow dumbing down and making genitals "unspeakable." Admittedly I am reading and typing this at 2.10 am after a change and feed that has gone on about an hour so could be reading it all wrong and the pompous tone could just be in my head ha ha!

Oh FGS, use the correct terminology. There is nothing so rude, dirty or embarrasing about our bodies that we need to use twee, made up words.

We say hoo-hoo - not because we're being twee or making genitalia unspeakable but because our DD is still a baby (3 months) and DP still gets incredibly embarrassed, bless him, when we talk about that area. He was fab during the birth and changes nappies all the time, but draws the line at rubbing cream into her vagina and bottom area. I'm sure he'll learn but I think it's hilarious.

I agree with showofhands.
Tell children the real names - but perhaps allow pet names too providing they do know its what 'your family' call them.

Children won't thing the correct names are strange..why would they ? perhaps its Mum and Dad who have a problem with them !

Fandango!

Just say PRIVATES. Can be used for boys or girls, and has good conotations that it is a private area that no-one else can look at or touch.

The only reason you're saying 'I can't imagine using real words with little ones' is because no one used them with you, so now they're big, wierd, scary words. Do you not want your children to grow up with more sensible attitudes?

Vulva and penis here.