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Behaviour/development

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Original poster

Sensitive - what do you call your ds' girlie bits?

227 replies

beegee · 19/09/2006 22:18

This is a tough one - I've a 3 yo ds and i've confidently called his private 'bits' his willie..he's happy with this and always uses the name when needed. No probs there. With girls its harder...i've got a 6 mo ds and, although it's early days, i feel i'm already searching for an equivalent for my daughters girlie 'bits' but struggling i'm afraid!

I'm not a prude. I don't find it difficult to talk about these issues. I just want to avoid the name my mum called mine - wee wee - eeeck! Now I call mine 'my vagina' but this doesn't seem right for a little girl and it always makes me feel a bit...errr...cringey IYKWIM.

When my ds and dd share a bath or when i'm changing my dss nappy, my ds is satisfied that she just 'hasn't got a willie'. But it's started to make me think - what does one name it?!!

I apologise if this offends anyone...not intended. I would love others opinions/experiences.

OP posts:

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Set a reminder

hunkermunker · 22/09/2006 18:41

It's just all so twee!!!!!!!!

In fact, I might call it a twee. Perfect mixture of irony and euphemism.

LittleSarah · 22/09/2006 18:54

Sheesh, I don't know. I don't like cutesy names and I always figured vagina, but now I realise that is incorrect... so vulva it is? Hmmm, not keen on that either. Don't mind fanny but it tis rather on the crude side... but still... ho hum, fanjo is funny, twinkle or flower are awful (sorry!), bottom, well if we are going for incorrect phrases I prefer vagina...

So, it appears I have absolutely no fecking idea.

Elibean · 22/09/2006 18:55

dd (2.9) shocked a friend's dh the other day when we saw a little boy peeing against a tree and she said 'with his penis' rather than 'willy'.
My friend didn't bat an eyelid, it was her dh that said ' she knows the word penis?'.
(she does, because she's seen her Dad having a wee and asked him what that thing was)

I heard Women's Hour this morning, clearly some things not soooo changed!

beckybrastraps · 22/09/2006 18:55

But vagina has a very specific meaning. If you use it incorrectly, you will WILL cause confusion later on.

hunkermunker · 22/09/2006 18:58

I'd say bottom has a quite specific meaning and you can probably cause some significant confusion with that too...

UrsulatheSeaWitch · 22/09/2006 18:58

Calling a vulva a vagina is like calling a penis a scrotum (close, but wrong)

Front bottom (with wee hole and baby hole) and back bottom (with poo hole). You know it makes sense.

beckybrastraps · 22/09/2006 19:00

Bottom is NOT a term they will come across in biology. Vagina is. And as I said, my mother did stress the subdivisions of the bottom, which we could then label correctly once our vocabualry had expanded.

FrannyandZooey · 22/09/2006 19:00

"I think bottom is in common parlance as a term for vulva"

I am sorry but you are terribly, laughably deluded here

Try going to the doctor and telling him you have an itchy bottom and see what he or she thinks you mean. I betcha a million pounds they don't say "Ok, which bottom exactly do you mean?"

hunkermunker · 22/09/2006 19:02

How about bum? Why not front bum if you're going to use bottom?

beckybrastraps · 22/09/2006 19:02

I was talking about very young children Franny. For adults not to use the correct term when speaking hto their doctor is ridiculous.

foxinsocks · 22/09/2006 19:03

lol at front bottom - it does sound terribly twee

we use vagina (or giner giner as dd has always called it). She's 6 now and unfortunately had a nasty bout of eczema down there and because she has now had the joy of showing her bits to the doctor, she now knows about vulvas aswell!!

I'd rather start with vagina than bottom.

hunkermunker · 22/09/2006 19:04

How about gina?

FrannyandZooey · 22/09/2006 19:04

Well, I think for adults not to use the correct term, or at least a universally understandable term, when speaking to their children is also ridiculous.

beckybrastraps · 22/09/2006 19:04

Why would you start with vagina? Do you actually mean vagina, or do you mean using the word vagina when you mean vulva?

UrsulatheSeaWitch · 22/09/2006 19:05

Yes, but you are then a grown woman and can say "vaginal itching" or "vulval itching" or "labial itching" or even "down there itching" - mind you when I took one of mine to the GP with a urinary problem he asked her if it hurt when she "spent a penny" so they're not above euphemisms (the look on her face was priceless!) - but we're talking about little girls' bits and they don't need to go to the doctor on their own and explain.

beckybrastraps · 22/09/2006 19:06

Then we will agree to disagree Franny. And when our daughters start school, I dare say they will be using the same words. My daughter is only 2.6.

beckybrastraps · 22/09/2006 19:07

I think these threads demonstrate that sadly, the correct anatomical terms are NOT universally understood. There is an overemphasis on the vagina I think!

FrannyandZooey · 22/09/2006 19:09

You are right there Becky, I do agree there is a lot of ignorance. I don't think the diversity of names used for these parts helps the situation, though...

but we both understand where we are coming from, I have done my bit for the vulva this evening

foxinsocks · 22/09/2006 19:09

says the woman using the term front bottom?

beckybrastraps · 22/09/2006 19:13

I NEVER say front bottom. I say bottom. Wee hole. Baby hole. Poo hole. I LOATHE front bottom.

FrannyandZooey · 22/09/2006 19:15

I'm sorry, I had intended to shut up for a bit but I really dislike the hole thing. Where's the dignity in that? My vagina is not a hole.

beckybrastraps · 22/09/2006 19:16

It IS a hole. And she is 2.6!

FrannyandZooey · 22/09/2006 19:21

My son was 2.5 when he started asking what my vulva was, and I told him. Ok, I had to have a 1000 post thread on here and a big heart to heart with Harpsi and Spidermama before I could bring myself to do it but I told him

beckybrastraps · 22/09/2006 19:22

Dd has a speech delay. Vulva is well beyond her!

beckybrastraps · 22/09/2006 19:23

Actiually, bottom is pretty much beyond her

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