what do you call DD's private parts?

[Bigglewinkle]

We call DS's privates 'willy' but I don't know what to call DD's!! Vagina just seems a bit clinical.
Suggestions for nicer terms gratefully received! I can't think of any.

We're a fanny house.

I just think "front bottom" sounds ridiculously clunky and awkward. But I don't know what we will go for instead. DS calls his penis his penis, so it doesn't make sense to teach DD a euphemistic name for hers.

I agree vulva sounds a bit sciencey but I'm also inclined to think that is partly because we're just not used to it, which in turn is because of an irritating cultural tendency to not be able to cope with words for women's anatomy despite everyone being pretty comfortable with "penis".

Then again I'm not sure I want DD to be the only one at primary school referring to vulvas just so we can do our bit to normalize the terminology; it would be a shame if she felt awkward about it. Then again again, maybe it won't be a problem, as she is unlikely to be discussing them a lot; and in any case it sounds like hardly any two families use the same words.

Oh well. The only words she can say so far are "bye-bye", "uh-oh" and "Mama" so I can probably defer the decision for a while.

Everyone saying it's vagina ... it isn't. The vagina is only the inside, surely.

I'm not being pedantic for the sake of it, but if the point is to avoid euphemism and just use the damn word, maybe it's worth ensuring it's the right word?

bits!

Daddy has a willy and me, her and her sister have bits.

Minny & willy in our household.

I think it is fine to use slang names when dc's are very little. I would rather my daughter said 'my minny is itchy' when walking round morrison's! Than 'my vulva is itchy!!

In the fullness of time they will learn the proper words & the nature of privacy.

at tethersend.

im laughing too tethersend. i hate that word, but the way you've been so honest, owning your choice of words. brilliant.

Bottom. With wee hole, baby hole and poo hole. When people say "she calls it her vagina", I do wonder what 'it' they are talking about. And suspect that's why I teach quite a few 11/12yos who think they wee from their vagina.

it's not a vagina. vulva is the whole, vagina is the hole

we say vulva. I was a bit at first but now it seems like a perfectly normal word.

DS was reading his carseat. EVOLVA....that's a bit like vulva, isn't it mummy yes it is :)

When i was growing up we called it 'fanny' , i don't like the word now but when we were growing up we didn't see a problem with it.

of for goodness sake basingstoke, the 'it' we're talking about is the whole 'front bottom' part. we're talking about 3 yr olds here.
we'll get into the various parts and sections of the vulva/vagina/anus etc in good time. nearer puberty, not pre school.

front bottom or wee bottom

willy and balls SOOO much easier than some stupid word we have to use so as not to say 'vulva' or 'vagina' (both ugly and very clinical)

Mine is my fandangle :o (but it isn't sparkly)

Mine call theirs a foofoo,but we also use vulva a lot and they know the difference between a vulva and a vagina. Ditto with male genitalia,they call it a willy,but they know it is a penis.

Then why on earth use s term that is specific to one part of that. If you are uncomfortable with the word vulva, then use a made up word that covers it all. But using an anatomical term incorrectly is daft. IMO.

And if you are picking one part as a catch all term, why pick vagina?

She knows it's vulva but usually calls it 'bits'.

because vagina is the word that most people in the world, from my generation (32), refer to it as, when speaking in very general terms.

Lady bottom when no specific area needs to be discussed.

Otherwise- vulva, labia, clitoris, urethra, fossa, vagina, perineum, anus or rectum, as appropriate.

Vulva and penis here (although interchangable with willy which I guess they picked up at school. Mine are 8, 6 and 3

DD calls it her "wee wee". I don't really care what we call it (although "lady bits" is very weird in the context of a young child - sorry!) She's 3 years old. We'll just go with whatever the popular slang is. I'm sure she'll lead on that one!

I'm with those who point out that it isn't a vagina. Pedantic? Oh yes!

Not really? I'm 40 and do not refer to anything other than a vagina as a vagina. It's both incorrect and confusing. I would have thought bottom or front bottom was more common.

And most people in the WORLD is really unlikely...

Your DD must be doing some very thorough bathing for you to have to use all of those terms, Mummystootight!

my little girl is 22 months and I have always called it her vagina. she is fascinated by it, loves to have a good look and a rummage when her nappy is off. I call it vagina because that is what I have always thought of it as, never even thought of calling in vulva. hope she isn't scarred in later life.