What word do your children use for female genitals?

[frannyf]

Apologies if this has been asked before, but this is becoming an urgent issue in our household. Ds is 2.5 and has just started asking "Where is your willy, Mummy?" I told him women and girls don't have willies...and then froze.

I don't want him to think that girls just have an empty area where a willy should be, I want him to realise we have our own special bits, but I cannot settle on a word I feel comfortable with.

"Vagina" is so medical. "Flower" and all those sort of words seem too cutesie. I feel "fanny" is the right equivalent to "willy", and did try it, but I just cringed saying it to ds and felt even worse when he repeated it. I obviously did not sound convincing anyway as he has reverted to calling it a bottom. Help! Sorry if I have rejected your family's choice of name by the way, I don't think any of them are wrong or anything, just don't feel right saying them myself. Am I hopelessly uptight?

Marthamoo....FANNY!

I think its because its normally just one word 'willy' and not lots of different names??

Anyway As I said befoe, Willy and Fanny

I suppose bones are more obvious or something (Have you seen there;s a new mag out- all about the huan body- each week comes with a part of a 1.6 m skeleton-so you get a huge skeleton at the end- sounds right up your ds' street)

Marthamoo, or pussy? That sound nice and cuddly.

lol... aloha

I am really beginning to love the word FANNY

Sophable says it's because we are all f*ed up about female sexuality.
I couldn't possibly comment

I had a friend once who called it a lettuce.

I find fanny a bit rude, myself. In fact, when I had a Bertholin's Cyst (Google why dontcha....?) I told my GP (somewhat sheepishly) "it's my...er...front bottom, for want of a better expression" and she laughed and said that's what she and her dd's called it too

Lonleymum, although pussy is a cat it is a bit too sexual for a child!! IMO

But what are they asking? My ds is only interested in the wee. He has no idea that his penis is multifunctional. If he asks about female "bits", it is only to ask where the wee comes out. And that is not the vagina! No idea about the other assorted names offered - what are you using them to refer to?!

There was a similar thread awhile back about this, and someone said they made up the word "lally". I like it and have been using it too. (Thanks!) It sounds a bit like "willy" and answers the question enough for a toddler.

Ooh, yes Jimjams - a magazine with a giant skeleton. Cool!
But is it a boy or girl skeleton

And in the States fanny = bum (doesn't Marilyn Monroe say it in a film?)

Well Moo if front bottom is good enough for a Dr and her DDs it's good enough for me.

LOL at your friend Tinygang.

Which is OK as long as you don't know anyone with the surname Lally (we're Irish so it's a possibility!)

I agree we need a universally acceptable slang term for womens 'bits' equivalent to willy but im not really sure about fanny, i dont know about the rest of the country but round here its bordering on a swear word. I think dd would prob be told off at school for saying fanny, id say its an equivalent to dick or prick, not too rude but not really acceptable. And pussy is even worse, an equivalent to cock i would think, a bit pornographic.

I dont really like mini very much but it is just the word her best friend used and she picked up and i didnt see the need to correct her. But when i have my 'birds and bees' talk with her i will teach her correct terms but not expect her to use them, same as we say bum bum for buttocks or gluteus maximus, not scientifically correct just a bit easier

That's exactly it, pesha - fanny is like prick or dick, borderline rude, and pussy is like cock - almost pornographic (I wonder if it's a geographical thing?)

I think it's natural to have 'friendly' names for things - I know the correct term is flatulence, for example, but chez moo we call them Bottom Burps.

My dd has never asked either, but she does like the occasional fiddle, and she does also suffer from cystitis every now and then. She's never been the one to point and ask, that's always been ds's strong point! Having read a few of these threads, I have decided to go with vulva. dd and ds usually share the bath, and occasionally enjoy a bit of show and tell themselves (generally when we are not in the room with them!) so I would expect that dd will go along with whatever ds uses (or object wildly if she doesn't like the sound of it!). I would prefer a willy equivalent, but having never had a word myself (my mother definitely was and is repressed), and not liking the sound of fanny much, I'd prefer to go with the real thing I guess. Btw I am sure I am not the only one to not even remember if we had a sex ed class - its been 20 years since I was at primary school ffs!

See i have trouble with that too, dd calls them farts which i think is rude but windy pops is just well i cant bring myself to say it, tried bottom burps but she wasnt having that, think she's been saying bottom pops lately so will def try and stick to that!

Could well be geographical, i live out in the country see we not like all these fancy townies with their loose ways Hence me starting a thread on here about talking to 4 yo about sex, think most my friends would be bit stunned (although the kids seem to know fairly young just not from their parents) they're not quite so liberal.

And dont shoot me down other country people im only talking about the few people round here that i know, noone else

I'm happy with farts really (but I am a loose townie !) dh decided he wasn't , so they are fluffs in our household. As dh "fluffs" a great deal (he's a bodybuilder, so lots of red meat etc) they are frequently on the agenda...

I'm a townie so it cant be that. I'm a Northern townie though - maybe it's a North/South divide thing?

Dh says prumps. I hate that.

Quite like fluffs, not such a mouthful. Xp is no body builder (not by a long shot ) but still fluffs alot, as does ds who finds it all hilarious and now the dog but we dont hear him do it just smell it, dd said earlier she cant wait til shes a grown up cos then she will get used to the smell of murphys bottom pops and it wont be so disgusting anymore! If only

rotfl! dh is very smelly and noisy too - no one could get used to it, believe me!

But how do you explain about how babies get out of the belly without mentioning the word vagina?