MIL bought baby boy doll with willy for my DD

[AlwaysHopefull89]

I am pregnant and expecting a baby boy. MIL (very kindly) bought a baby doll with a very obvious willy… in preparation?

I don’t think my DD who is 3 needs to understand the anatomy of her little brother yet until I say so? She hasn’t been asking about private parts yet let alone little boys?!

When I saw her she then finally said ‘I hope it was ok to give it to her’… is it just me or is this odd?

DH said it was a good idea to ‘prepare her’ but I think the opposite? Am I being a bit OTT? 🤦🏻‍♀️

A friend gave her own older children’s boy baby doll to a dd when she was small - she’s now 45 so they’re hardly a new thing! I only had dds but dh never felt the need to cover up while e.g. in and out of the shower, so both dds had absorbed the fact of male difference from the word go.

TBH it would never have occurred to us to need to cover up - not until dds were of an age when it might possibly embarrass them.

But as teens, when we had their grandfather with dementia staying, they could easily accept it when he came downstairs after a bath dressed only in a towel and proceeded to dry himself off in the middle of the sitting room!

I doubt they’d have wanted any friends round at such a time, though….

Anatomically correct doll. No big deal. Not sure why all dolls aren't like this TBH.

Does she have an awareness of her own parts? When our DD started potty training at 2 we found we had to speak quite clearly about the different parts so she could understand the difference between wiping the front and back (something they do themselves at nursery). Once her brother came around the same time she asked during one of the first nappy changes why his looked different and we explained that he's a boy, and boys have willies/penises

I think those who are scandalised about seeing dolls with realistic anatomy perhaps got too used to growing up with Barbie and Ken!

And?
The "willy" is a normal part of a male - baby boy anatomy.
🙄

“Tinky winky”? It’s a penis, FFS.

I bought one for my daughter when she was 2 in 1979. I do remember the fuss in our town when the little toy shop entered the Christmas window competition using a naked boy doll as Jesus in the manger….

Give it a rest

When dd was a toddler we bought her a boy doll one Christmas and she took it to show her great grandad who was in a care home. She proudly showed it off and brought lots of giggles and smiles to everyone who she whispered ‘it’s a boy you know’ and showed them!

Boy dolls have been around for a long time - my ds 25 had one - and a girl doll. Not odd - completely normal

Great idea from your MIL

I had one of these as a child of 3 or so, which was in 1973. We were in a toy shop abroad and apparently I was fascinated by it. My parents bought it for me and used the opportunity to explain the difference between the sexes. I also remember having a set of small dolls, a brother and sister Carrie and Christopher that were anatomically correct. I can report that there this has had no ill effect on me as yet. Though I was apparantly fond of showing people the dolls penis and explaining to them he was a boy. But this didn't last past the age of 3.

Your baby literally comes out of your genitals. Why shouldn’t they see them? I mean not in their 20s obvs but when little?

In some countries all dolls have genitalia, and I think it's the most harmless way for children to learn what the opposite sex looks like. Teach them when they are not interested at all so that when they are interested, they realise it has been part of their background knowledge for a long time. It's the right way to package it all as completely normal and not worth making a fuss about.

How else will they both go to the toilet?! 😂

blimey. Some people are bonkers. It’s normal for kids to see their parents bodies and it’s healthy to learn and normalise body parts.

It scares me that there are people out there that make bodies a taboo and sexualised. This is much more dangerous.

It’s only a problem if you make it a problem.

That is such good logic and applies to so many areas of parenting. Nothing is a shock or requiring big conversations because it is what it has always been since day dot.

It’s just a willy.

think she’s muddled the teletubbies with a penis!

and this is the danger of not educating people about bodies.

There were loads of those about in the 1980s. I was never interested in baby dolls but my sister had about six of them, male and female, all anatomically accurate.

Don’t be ridiculous!! Ffs! 🤦‍♀️

The irony of people not liking dolls with willies (not having a go at you op) but happy to buy their daughters a Barbie with her impossible body!

I agree with you. Keep sex out of children’s minds, there’s enough pushing of it in many schools now.

"The willy element " sounds like a failed 80s experimental prog rock band

A Willy is not "sex"

Why would a 3 year olds mind turn to sex (???) when given a doll? That’s a very strange thought process you have going on there

And what schools are pushing sex?