What do you call yours?

[Pigwig]

Hi all, my 21 month old son knows the name of virtually all his body parts by now and everytime I bath him we go through all the parts of his body and say what they are called. He is now particulary interested in his penis and keeps pointing at it for me to tell him what it's called. The thing is do I call it by it's proper name or give it a nickname, my friend's little boy calls it his "little man"! I find it all quite amusing but should I be straight about it or keep it light hearted.

My ds calls it his willy as do many of his friends - theirs, not his - but knows the correct name too.

I personally would rather call thier private body parts in a nickname kind of way while their little. I know some say you should use their proper names which is fine to me also. Id rather not worry about now. When their a little a little older then I would explain the true names.

Sorry about my typing I just got up so Im a little tired.

I'd keep it light-hearted, really. I mean, most blokes know the correct terminology but don't use it.

Now, for girls it's far trickier to get it right!

Front bottom!!!!!

We do front bottom too! Used to Nanny for a little boy who used all the correct terminology, and I have to admitt it did sound odd when a 3y/o asked me if I kept my "t'gina" in my trousers!
Also have a friend whose dd calls it her "tuppence"! Can't get my head around that one!

Not to be outdone by her 6 year old brother, my 4 year old daughter insists she has a willy too, only hers is inside (!!??)

We have willy and minnie.

The girls call theirs a giggle (a mix up in words when oldest was 2!) and the boys call theirs a goo goo.

One of my friends recently got married to a chap called William. She once (only once) introduced him to someone as 'My Willie'

Willy & fanny in our house. But, at a recent swimming trip dd squealed 'Mummy I've got bubbles coming out of my fanny' which caused a certain amount of horror/amusement from the rest of the clientele...

We ended up with penie (pron. peenie) and 'gina (with apologies to Gina Ford it is pron. "jyna"! ) This was how our 2 interpreted the "proper" names to suit themselves (dd is now 5.5yrs and ds is 3). I do feel comfortable these, I think more so than I will with some of the other names I'm sure they will come up with later, which they will hear from friends at school!

Sorry to get on my moral high horse here, but I think it sort of empowers them to have the names of all parts of their bodies, rather than to feel some parts are "funny" or "embarrassing". It would be like telling them as babies that their nose is called a "snoz" or "snotbox", or that their ears are called "flappers" or something. We wouldn't do that, so why do we feel the need to use made-up names for vulvas/vaginas and penises? I think it is because our parents did it (mum always called it "down there" or "between his legs", which made it all very mysterious and forbidden!) and so we have inherited their hang-ups. So we have an important choice to make - whether or not we pass those hang-ups on to our kids too. Their bodies are amazing and special, and they should be proud of them! It's not easy to let go of those early years of conditioning to think of it all as "something you don't talk about" (I still wonder how I will handle my dd's first sex questions) but I think it's worth working at it!

PS Having said all that, I do think "minnie" is very cute!

My ds calls his a dinkle.

Twink, lol!

Twink, if you ever go to America remember that they use fanny for their rear ends...hence fanny packs (bumbags) and fanny shapers (knicks with lycra)

My daughter who is 9 knows the proper names but still likes to call hers a minnie (whereas mine is more of a maxi!). My son (5) calls his a willy but also knows the proper name but just prefers to call it by this nickname.

I do agree with Mollipops about making something out of an issue when there isn't really one but I suppose it just boils down to with what you are comfortable with at the end of the day.

Sorry to be a bit "crude" and slightly changing the subject, but last week my son came into the bathroom while I was in the shower. I had just been to the toilet and had flushed the chain but, since I was having a heavy period, there was a "clot in the bottom of the pan. My son said "oh, mummy, you forgot to flush the chain and you're having your period". They grow up so youns these days although he doesn't actually know what a period is.

I'm so glad I found this topic as we've been having exactly thins debate at home. I think the boy thing is easier as Willy is cute, but all the girls names sound a bit harsher. I like minnie tho. I don't think it's likely to cause hang-ups to not call it by its proper name, as long as you call it something. It's avoiding the issue altogether or calling it something evasive (like down there) which might cause a problem. After all we talk about belly buttons rather than navels. I'm wary of telling my dd that it's her vagina as she does tend to take bits of information like that and walk about pointing and saying "holly's vagina" in a loud voice, which could be a bit embarrasing in the supermarket.

I agree Sponge. The 'problem' with words like vulva and vagina is that they are such ugly words, they sound ugly. My daughter is certainly not shy about hers, quite the contrary

We call our DDs "pishka" which I believe is of Italian descent - don't know what it means though!!

Love 'minnie' although my kids have a video called 'Mickey and Minnie's Christmas Special' which could take a bit of explaining!

We've done this one b4! Ours are nunnies in our house! R

Nunnies??! Please explain! We're just have willies and fannies at our house...

My son has a "dinky" and ladies have "minnies". I just came out with that on the spur of the moment when he started pointing and laughing and saying I had "whiskers" - his name for a beard LOL! I will tell him the real names when it comes to the time of giving him the facts of life talk.

My friend (a true Cockney) refers to "nunnies" when speaking to her grandchildren, pronounced more like noonie really. And she did start to say "noo-noo" but had problems when the Teletubbies appeared on TV!

I've already done one version of the birds and the bees talk with my 3 1/2 yr old! He came into the loo when I had my period and started asking questions...so we had the chat. Anyone else done it this early?

I have told my son the 'proper' names, though as someone said, adults generally don't use them (i know i don't with my mates)and it sounds a bit odd 'from the mouths of babes...' So we have nicknames too...willy, don't know about girls bits, that hasn't really arisen yet as dd is too young.

Yes the birds and bees subject came up with us at about 3 years old too in the same situation. Just told it like it was and he hasn't asked about it since. Just goes to show, don't beat about the bush and they just accept it. Had difficulty with explaining death though guess because it's such an emotional subject. In our house it's willy and mini though I did think feminists would be appalled at mini! LOL!