Female genitalia

[fractionated]

Hello! What are you all teaching your daughters to call their genitalia?

I have been using penis and willy interchangeably with my son, but am wondering what to use for my daughter. More because my son is starting to notice that she doesn't have a willy and I want to know what he should call hers.

I know vulva is really the best term, but I wish there was a "willy" equivalent... I don't want to be squeamish... I don't really want to use vagina as it's not really anatomically correct but at least it is a proper word and people are starting to use that more... more than they do vulva.

I don't want to say something stupid like "flower" or "lady bits". Ideas?

My ds calls mine a front bum. He's 5. It may not be correct but I don't give a shit, I didn't know the correct term at 5 and it did me no bloody harm.

We use vulva. We felt the same as you, but decided to go with what was right, rather than what everyone else was using (vagina). My husband felt a bit weird about it to start with (not a word he's really used much!), but he got over it pretty quickly!

Interesting perspectives. I don't mind front bum actually, but then why don't I call my son's a front bum too? I don't know. I am erring towards vulva, but I'm not sure.

If you use penis you should also use vulva.
When I was a child I was taught "willy" and "fanny" but I know "fanny" isn't particularly universal like "willy".
I can't stand the cutesy names though so definitely avoiding those.
I do think it is important to teach the correct names so although DS says "willy" atm (he's only 3) I will teach him penis and vulva as well.

Ps whatever you do don't teach her to call her vulva a vagina! That's a big pet hate of mine!

front bum in our house - 5 girls, 2 boys

Vulva, it is whet they will learn in P1 anyway.

I have tried to teach my DD’s vulva but they insist on using bum.

DDs 8 and 5 use Vulva and Vagina for both areas. They have never know any different. It was tuppence to me when growing up.

Vagina. I know it's not correct but it's widely understood.

Vulva I find problematic as a hell of a lot of men and women don't even know what it means.

"Vulva I find problematic as a hell of a lot of men and women don't even know what it means."

Yes and your children won't know either if you don't teach them.

We use vulva. But it's often described as 'your bum where you wee' for clarity purposes.

You can call a penis a penis, nobody seems to be 'coy' about that.

Good idea to teach 'vulva' and later explain about vagina.

People are going to call both by pet names, that's quite natural but everyone needs to know the correct terminology.

Vulva- if it’s always what you use it will be just as normal as using penis, just as it should be.

The more people who use the correct terminology the better. Half of the misinformation children get comes from their peers, so the more the words penis and vulva are used the better.

Front bum is awful! It's not dirty.

We use vulva, however DD (6) came back from school where her friend had hurt hers saying the teacher had called it a "flower".
I was unimpressed.

Twinkle/ foof / whistle / doo-dah
I think it's helpful to have a 'cutesy' name for your private parts. After all they are... private.
No different to 'poo-poo' for opening ones bowels. I'd LOL if I heard my 2 year old say she'd "made faeces"!

I've taught her both vulva and vagina but she never says vulva. I think because she's 3, "bagina" is easier to pronounce than vulva. So she uses vagina for the whole area. Which I'm fine with.

I know it’s not nice to hear about abuse, but it’s safer to call them by the real names.

If a child mentioned at school that her uncle but her ‘cookie’ etc then this is how things get missed.

That’s what they teach us in children’s safeguarding training. NHS.

• bit her cookie.

Predictive text.

Vulva, from day 1. Explained vagina when she was a bit older.

Please don’t call it a foo foo. I had a boy with special needs who still had a comfort blanket in Y5. It was called his Fufu. I had an irate parent come in a blast me from here to next week as her daughter had gone home talking about the Fufu and that was the name they used at home for vulva and now her daughter was scarred for life.

fanny

It annoys me that kids don't get taught the proper names of their own body parts. We teach them head, shoulders, knees and toes. We should also teach them vulva/penis. It matters. Being able to talk about their bodies accurately and without shame matters. Front bottom is all kinds of wrong. It makes the vulva sound dirty, and brings in an association with faeces.