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Parenting

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Another vulva / front bottom / 'flower' type thread - what, if anything, do you call the clitoris?

65 replies

SpawnChorus · 30/01/2008 12:18

DD (3) calls her vulva her front bottom. We are also teaching her that the proper word is vulva.

She's recently been pointing at her clitoris and asking what is that. The sensible part of me wants to tell her, but I have a (paranoid) niggling voice that wonders if other people (teachers etc) will think that her language is 'inappropriate' if she ever mentions it in public.

I'm being ridiculous, aren't I??

OP posts:
hanaflower · 30/01/2008 12:31

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

SpawnChorus · 30/01/2008 12:34

lol...well I've just skirted around the issue so far. I wondered if everyone else maybe just said 'oh it's part of your vulva' or whatever.

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onebatmother · 30/01/2008 12:38

its crap isn't it - I've had this worry with a few aspects of Truthful Parenting (my new book, out this spring..)

had to bite my lip to avoid telling ds, 6, not to pass the info on, when I told him the detailed ins and outs of human reproduction..

But I think we are being paranoid.

My dd is 2.4 and hasn't asked, but I'm going to tell her when she does.

Did you ever ask your mum? I don't remeember doing so, come to think of it. Certainly didn't hear the word till I was about 11.

Anna8888 · 30/01/2008 12:40

My daughter has never asked, but we are are always totally factual when queries about her body, or our bodies, arise.

LittleB · 30/01/2008 13:36

dd calls hers her 'bits' but she gets 'bits' and 'bottom' muddled up, but she's only 2. i expect I'll teach her vulva etc when she'a older. A friend calls their daughters her peach, but it always strikes me as a bit odd.

suzywong · 30/01/2008 13:38

Little Man in a Boat

pirategirl · 30/01/2008 13:40

If you call the vulva the vulva, then for now, if it were me I would say, thats part of your vulva.

If you don't want her to get into specifics and words you'd rather her not have to be bothered with, then maybe you could say that?

onebatmother · 30/01/2008 13:43

Whoa, peach is a bit freaky - like an erotic japanese novel.

iheartdusty · 30/01/2008 13:44

dd announces that she has a 'little willy' and proudly points to it.
she also demands that DS shows his 'marble' (ie the end of his penis when the skin is pulled back).
this is despite my best efforts to teach her 'vulva', 'clitoris' and 'penis'.

I would not worry about the paranoid voice. Biology is biology, facts are facts.

Iklboo · 30/01/2008 13:45

'tis me nubbin

SpawnChorus · 30/01/2008 21:38

iheartdusty - yes, DD has so far insisted that it is her small willy. Next time she asks I am going to tell her the correct word. Thanks for your voices of reason

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Octothechildherder · 30/01/2008 21:41

I thought this was for adults when I read the post! My dh thinks it is called a clit and no concept it may be an abbreviation.

Luckily I have 3 boys and have no intention of sharing the word vulva or clitorus with them!

Slubberdegullion · 30/01/2008 21:54

clitoris. and 'oris' pronounced as in oar rather than orange. But I am moderately posh.

SpawnChorus · 30/01/2008 21:59

slubber - lol and are testicles test-EYE-cles?

Octo - you're right. I didn't make the thread title very clear, did I (I'm really not interested in other people's weirdy names for their clitoris...honestly! )

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Octothechildherder · 30/01/2008 22:01

no dicks in slubbers house!

Octothechildherder · 30/01/2008 22:01

err can you retract posts?

SnappyLaGore · 30/01/2008 22:06

id go with the facts too.

i dont like front bottom tho... ewwww. its not pooey. its not a place from whence shit comes. its clean and nice and not yukky. bottoms are yukky. or potentially at least, depending on wiping prowess

SnappyLaGore · 30/01/2008 22:06

lol octo

am loving 'moderately posh' slubber

onebatmother · 30/01/2008 22:07

i always thought clit-or-ris was a bit 'adolescent boy whose only ever seen the word written"

SnappyLaGore · 30/01/2008 22:11

i thought clit-oar-iss was an american thing. (and therefore stupid )

-no offense american mners! if you are mning you are clearly an exception to the rule. arf.)

Slubberdegullion · 30/01/2008 22:12

Spawn, I only have dds so the whole 'what do you call male gonads' conversation has yet to pitch up. I'm thinking of testiculata, which is a considerably prettier word than the actual genuine articles

No, on a serious note if my child says "Mummy whats that"? then I will say, "that my dear is your foot, your earlobe, your vulva, your clitoris" etc . As that is what it is.

BroccoliSpears · 30/01/2008 22:13

I don't think I even noticed I had a clitoris until I was a teenager. I didn't even know I had three holes until I learned about them in biology class. Was I unusual in not going investigating?

SpawnChorus · 30/01/2008 22:15

Snappy - our bottoms in the spawn household are not pooey and yucky thankyouverymuch ;) I'm not at all keen on any of the 'cute' names (flower, minnie, fluffpot, pinkydoodle...) and I just feel a bit too austere calling it a vulva all the time. Front bottom seems clear and unambiguous.

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Califrau · 30/01/2008 22:15

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Slubberdegullion · 30/01/2008 22:16

Octo...what do you maen my dear? There is a rather fabulous penis in my house that belongs to Dh. And it is called his penis, or occasionally his mighty love gladius if we are in a romantic/classical mood.