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?

at the amazing variety of nicknames! Flaps is hideous! Dp suggests only "beef curtains" could be worse. [nauseated emoticon] And still not a one that I really feel comfortable with...

Ds was hanging round in the bathroom this morning as usual, I think he was in fact stalking me until he got a straight answer. He started pointing again and saying "What's that Mummy, what's that funny bottom?" so I asked him to point to exactly which bit he wanted to know the name of, then took a deep breath and said "vulva". Waheyyyyy I did it! My first successful vulva identification and I'm only 33!

Ds then came downstairs and asked dp "Daddy where is your willy vulva?"

With a bit of luck now he has got an answer this will be the end of it. But ds certainly seems to have a new and consuming interest in bodies in the last couple of weeks. At the weekend there was a parade in town, including some very scantily dressed dancers in headdresses and thongs, whom he followed around saying "I want to see those bottom ladies."

I am not tempted to ask ds to identify my bits

does that make me abda mother

frannyf - >>>>>big round of applause

I still like Tuppence!

Frannyf WELL DONE

I couldn't say Vulva to to my kids without having some weird expesion on my face which would make them think it wasn't such a nice word

Me neither, I'm afraid

actually I did want to say something else on this thread before it finally dies (?)
One of the reasons I feel quite strongly about this is because I did some work a few years ago in the area of child sex abuse. I remember one small girl who reported it to her teacher by saying that her "uncle" has been touching her "weeble" - the teacher had absolutely no idea what she was talking about, so the child went unhelped for quite a bit longer.

god forbid that this should ever be an issue for anyone here, but IME it is important to be an "askable" parent from an early age and not to pass on any sense of shame, as this could make a child more vulnerable.

sorry this is not exactly an uplifting post...

Best to pick a word that others actually know what it is, then. That does scare me.

Thank you all! I just hope he never asks again as I really don't want it to have to become part of my regular vocabulary.

Zippi - I did not want him to identify it either - he has just been pestering me for about a week to know what it is called and I had to say something...

thought i mntioned somewhere ds is 17

ROFL Zippi! Can't you discuss vulvas in a mature adult to adult way then?

I don't think I could even say the word Vulva to my dh

No

I am definitely repressed

I did notice that the screen saver on his phone featured a hairless vulva on a rather lovely lady

But I just said That doesn't seem very appropriate

Dd2 said OMG it's a minge

How old is your dd2??

glad we use the word minne - dd1 ran in the tell me ds1 was playing with my mini things. Turns out he is unwrapping all my tampons in the bathroom. ...by the way full name in latin is..........Minnie crack

When I was growing up, mine was always called a fairy, but I prefer to teach my dd fanny. Everyone understands that and I felt that when she was very young she would be able to tell her teacher or whoever that it hurt if it did.

lyra, exactly why i use fanny. I really believe its important that girls (and boys) are able to use names that are recognised for obvious reasons.

We just call it pee-pee and when our dd (2.2) says it, it sounds cute and innocent (and it does the job as she knows exactly what we mean)

Ghost you just reminded me, when dd was 2 she not only unwrapped and played with all my 'mini things' but she decided to drop them all out her bedroom window in our rather posh flat in a big old converted church. I raced down to try and pick them all up before anyone came but half way through a very smart looking man came past to go in the flats (she'd dropped them right by the front door!)
It was then i realised that in my haste to get out there id pulled on a pair of trousers that no longer fitted me as i was 4 months pg so not only was i bent down picking up tampons but i was flashing a good 2 inches of bum crack aswell
Not my most dignified moment!

LOL Pesha! Ds also likes to play with mine and I had no problem telling him the real name when he asked what they were, however he couldn't remember it and they are now called (by me and dp as well) "trampolaters".

Trampolaters!! LOL
Dont you love it when they get words wrong! DD discovered balamory and pepperami at the same time so for a long time balamory was ballyarmi

DP samw harpsicord carrier's post:

By ickleharpsichordcarrier on Friday, 9 September, 2005 7:45:15 PM

vulva. fringe benefit - seeing MIL's face when dd says "grandma, I've got a lovely vulva!"

And thought that "fringe benefit" was the best phrase to describe female genitalia that he had ever seen!

Dilly - works really well. DS has his willy & dd has her dilly!

PMSL Fisil