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?

I had two c-sections, so I just pull up my top (if I'm wearing a top) and say this is where they cut me open...

Nooka - me too!

Nooka - me too!

They are delivered by the stork of course, caligula - do you know nothing?

Sorry kind of wandered off topic there just a little bit

And no im a southerner so not north/south. Class maybe? We're common as muck round here
Well not really but definately a working class area

Hi pehsa are you still there ???

Sweetbean sounds like one of the nicer euphemisms in the context of this thread!

Oops, taking much too long to post.

For my dd mini covers the whole area, she saw a bit of a programme with a woman giving birth so saw the baby come out the vagina but just says a baby comes out your mini, i suppose in the same way the word face covers eyes nose mouth etc

Oooh hello honey, how are you?

Good cheers babe you ? did you go to that farmers market thing that was on today in town?

ah well technically babies come down the birth canal.... any better than vagina?

well hun am going to have to go and find my bed but i will cat you tommorow xx

No i didnt know it was there, been having very stressy day at home with kids but after me and ds had a little nap (first time hes had afternoon nap for months) we went for nice walk and came home had nice tea and everything was lovely at bed time Apart from xp p*ssing me off but thats normal

Was it any good?

MrsSpoon - not really sure. He just really harps on about the importance of the correct words.

If you call it something else (ie flower) at what age do you decide to tell them that you fibbed (so to speak) and tell them what it is actually called??? And what reason do you give that you needed to make up a name for those areas but not their arms and legs??? (I guess this is where they realise it is something "dirty" and not talk about it to other people).

How come i've seen doctors, nurses, midwives, gynaecologists etc and the only words they've used have been along the lines of

how are we down there

any problems down below

your stitches are healing nicely

just gently part you

Let's have a little look to see what's going on in that region

technically speaking the only correct words I recall being used are cervix, uterus, perineum, bladder

As I said before I think this is the only place I've heard the word vulva used!

Interesting thread though

Zippi, great point! If even medically trained staff can't bear to use the real words - I mean any word at all, either medical or vernacular, how can we feel it's acceptable to talk about that part of our body? I was once nearly in tears (of laughter) when a doctor said "I understand you're having a little trouble in the ladies department." Made me sound like Debenhams!

I can't really believe this thread has developed such a life of it's own. Even if, as cod said, it's been done before, people obviously have a great need to discuss twinkles.

As for the fart thing, dp calls them "trumps" which comes out as "tumps" when ds says it. I hope that's quite sweet and inoffensive. I did also notice that while to some posters the word "fluff" means fanny, to others it means fart. I think this could cause traumas when one poster's son meets the other's daughter. "What's that smell?" "Oh sorry, it's just my fluff."

franny

on a tangent my parents used to refer to "doing something important" to mean a poo

or if you prefer defecating

So Mum would say "Do you want to do something important?"

etc

And I'm afraid I still associate the word important with that

So what should we think if Thomcat's friend's man says he is running off in the morning to do something important???

(I presume you have been following the other thread)

I would just like to apologise in the cold light of morning because I feel I got a bit irate last night and I hope I didn't upset anyone. I am perfectly comfortable with the way I am bringing my children up and do not think I have done anything wrong by them in thie regard. Becckybrastraps at 11:14 last night perfectly encapsulates my feelings on the subject - nice to see someone sees it the same way!

Lonelymum, I think everything you have said has just added to the interest of the thread. Saw your comment on the "do you ignore your children" thread and PMSL! It would be a very boring place if we all agreed with each other all the time.

Dh has just infromed me that apparently ds1 is about to start sex education at school (though he is only 9 so I don't expect it will be too graphic) but perhaps I will be glad I have this thread to fall back on if he comes home asking questions. Though to be perfectly honest, I won't be using the made up words as I don't really like them.

Lonelymum, It would be so very boring if we all agreed

Much more fun to have really different opinions and we are all correct in the way we bring up our own kids

Mymama i do plan to tell my dd fairly soon the correct terms but i wont tell her i fibbed just that we call it a mini but the proper word is vulva, same as we call our tummy tummy but the proper word is abdomen and belly button is navel and bum bum is buttocks, and i really dont think anyone thinks their abdomen is dirty and shouldnt be talked about just because we call it tummy or belly!

pesha - well put.