Active discussions

Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

Set a reminder

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Parenting

For free parenting resources please check out the Early Years Alliance's Family Corner.

Original poster

What do you call genitals?

38 replies

jellibob · 13/12/2008 22:10

DS1 is 2, and we're ok with boys, I think - winkle & testicles.

Have just had a girl, and have been winging it by saying that Mummy & DD have no winkle & testicles. What do we call lady bits that is appropriate for a child to say, and not ridiculous when they grow up?!

OP posts:
Are your children’s vaccines up to date?
Set a reminder
Herecomesthesciencebint · 13/12/2008 22:16

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

TurkeyLurkyWithAllTheTrimmings · 13/12/2008 22:19

No! grown women say that, do they, front bottom when talking to a GP? DO you laugh out loud?! I don't think I'd be able to resist

beanieb · 13/12/2008 22:19

penis
vagina

or

willie
winkle

Interested in this thread?

Then you might like threads about these subjects:

Families General parenting
beanieb · 13/12/2008 22:20

same as turkylurky. Ha ha. How odd.

I think we need a thread where GPs can tell us all the things they are not supposed to

BananaFruitBat · 13/12/2008 22:21

Do children who learn 'vagina' and 'penis' before they start school tell mummy that they wish to urinate instead of wee?

malfoy · 13/12/2008 22:24

and use the word feces instead of poo.

We use fanny by the way; if going to the doc I would use the word genitals rather than vulva/ vagina.

Herecomesthesciencebint · 13/12/2008 22:29

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Theresa · 13/12/2008 22:32

willy for boy and 'bits' for girl (aged 7 & 10) but they both know the proper words and they are used if we go to docs.
Went on a school trip as parent helper a couple of years ago and was sitting on coach with 5 yr old girl whose mum I know 'quite' well and she told me that her mum was suposed to be helping on trip but couldnt come as she had 'a sore naan'. So funny,I couldnt resist asking her how it was when I saw her in the yard later!! Her face was a picture!

PortAndStilton · 13/12/2008 22:49

Some old threads on this:

'lady-bits'
Is it ok to use 'fanny' to describe girls bits to my toddler?
Name for girl's bits????
Sensitive - what do you call your ds' girlie bits?
Child-friendly word for female genitalia anyone?
Terminology for private parts...
What do you call your dds'...
What do I tell her to call it ...Help?
what do you call girls' bits? (know this has been done before)
'front bottom'
Is it ok to use 'fanny' to describe girls bits to my toddler?0
Is it ok to use 'fanny' to describe girls bits to my toddler?1
Is it ok to use 'fanny' to describe girls bits to my toddler?2
Is it ok to use 'fanny' to describe girls bits to my toddler?3
Is it ok to use 'fanny' to describe girls bits to my toddler?4
Is it ok to use 'fanny' to describe girls bits to my toddler?5

You'll find that the standard pattern is

Poster A: We use the proper term and call it a vagina
Poster B: Actually, the proper term for what you're talking about is a vulva, not a vagina
[cue discussion on the difference between vulva and vagina. This sub-discussion alone can get heated, and the vulval and vaginal camps will end up coming to blows]
Poster C: We call it a [minnie/foo foo/zazette/etc.]
Poster D: NOOOOOOOOOOO! You can't call it a [minnie/foo foo/zazette] because that's my DD's name
Poster C: Oh, sorry
[The vulval and foo foo camps will now also come to blows over whether vulva is an ugly clinical word that they couldn't possibly use]
[Then a few revered posters of long standing will admit what they call it and you will never be able to look at them the same way again ]
[Eventually there will also be suggestions of 'front bottom', 'bits' and 'privates'. Generally these posters don't come to blows with anyone, but there's always hope if you ply them with wine]

TreeandMistleJoe · 13/12/2008 22:54

Willy and fangerine! lol. If I was goin to the doctors I'd have to use the scientific termenology ie. piss flaps.

beanieb · 13/12/2008 22:56

Listen. What I don't get about these threads is when exactly do you have to start referring to it as anything? I'm not about to start saying 'and this your arm, and this is your nose, and this is your penis' in any hurry if the by isn't even born yet.

Your new baby girl isn't going to ask what it is for a good few years and when she does it's just a case of telling her the name of it. It's not like it's something you're going to make an issue of when you're breastfeeding every two hours

shinyshoes · 13/12/2008 22:57

Mini and willy

PortAndStilton · 13/12/2008 22:59

Ah, but if you have a DS, he will helpfully point out that baby DD doesn't have a willy and, well, what's that all about then?

(actually, at that point I've just said that girls don't have willies because they have a special hole for wee to come out of. That's what he wants to know, after all)

TreeandMistleJoe · 13/12/2008 23:01

my ds grabbed his at 10 months and said 's dat?' meaning what's that? So I told him it was his willy, was going to say 'it's your prick' but I thought it a bit too difficult for him to say.

OP wants to know how to refer to it to her older ds' not the baby herself.

StayFrostyTheSnowMam · 13/12/2008 23:01

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

TreeandMistleJoe · 13/12/2008 23:02
Grin
Original poster
jellibob · 13/12/2008 23:12

Suspected this may have come up before - thank you PortAndStilton

Beanieb - DD is naturally incredibly advanced, but have to admit she's not quite up to learning about body parts yet . Immediate concern is DS1, who asked today where mummy's wee comes out if mummy has no winkle. Before any-one says anything, I know that wee doesn't come out of the vagina, but it prompted DH and I to think about what we were going to call everything.

(slinks off to google proper name for where wee comes from...)

OP posts:
Original poster
jellibob · 13/12/2008 23:14

...and DH suggested "lady pocket", which prompted OP!

OP posts:
singsong · 13/12/2008 23:38

My ds often asks how girls can wee as they don?t have a willie. I have tried to explain it to him but he still doesn?t get it. Maybe i need to draw him a picture

chloemegjess · 13/12/2008 23:43

I am a bit confused as to what to say to a girls bits too (I have a girl)

But OP - are you saying you call a Willy a Winkle? Surely a Winkle is what a girl has? That is always what I have thought anyway, although I have never called it that.

Tillyblue · 13/12/2008 23:48

Fangerine

that's brilliant!!!
Will be our new word in this house as of now.

Sazisi · 13/12/2008 23:51

Lady pocket?!! I love it

Sazisi · 13/12/2008 23:55

I have 3 DDs, and had DD1 saying vagina aged 2; problem was she would say it very precisely and loudly in the supermarket/post office/everywhere, eg "Has Daddy got a VAGINA?" etcetera
DD2 says min-min, and so will DD3

But don't worry science bint, they will know the proper word once they can be trusted not to shout about it

PlonkerTeatowelOnTheirHeads · 14/12/2008 00:10

You see, I know I should use the words vagina and vulva, but I can't bring myself to do it!

I fall firmly in the camp that PortandStilton referred to and really do wonder whether vulva is an ugly clinical word that I couldn't possibly use

We use privates here. Not too cringworthy although admittedly, not very specific either ...

thumbElf · 14/12/2008 00:11

at Port& Stilton' masterly exposition of the situation! and lol at TreeandMistleJoe as well.

So far DS's bits are referred to as his willy, sometimes winkle (chloemegjess are you getting confused because of Blackadder II? the bit where nursey says "Its a boy! but it hasn't got a winkle - Ooh a miracle, a boy without a winkle"? ) - don't have a DD (yet?) but would probably call it her fanny.