Name for girly bits!!

[Honey2]

So here’s a bit of a random question…… (hope this is ok to post!)
After previously having 3 boys I’m now preg with a girl (due any day!) and we have been thinking about the more casual name you use for a girls bits! I know the ‘official’ line is to call it the proper name (vagina) but of course for the boys we normally refer to their ‘Willy’ as it’s pretty much universal…. For girls however seems to be more regionally decided. We no longer live where I grew up so I’m not sure the word I used as I child is appropriate (and I hate it). What does everyone call it with their little girls?!!!

thanks

Or if you’re super prude you can also call it her private parts.

I know everyone can do what they want ... but I hate the use of euphemisms for female body parts (also make body parts!)

We use vagina / vulva; penis / testicles here.

But as younger DC, in addition, we said 'bottom' generally, and might have specified, 'front' or whatever. But if there was an issue & I needed to be specific, I said the proper name.

I can't understand the issue; it's just words. 'Mary'; 'flower'; 'winky' - why?

Who are all these people who turn up on these threads to say “the correct name is vulva and call it that”? Do they also always call their bum their “buttocks” or if “gluteus maximus” depending on what part someone’s itching? What a strange quest to have

OP, ignore that and call it whatever you want. Vagina, fanny, parts, flimby flomby foo, whatever. You will know what your daughter means and other people will be able to understand if they really have to.

It’s not in the least bit shameful to use made up names for nether regions. Ours had a Willy and. Fairy and have grown up fine and open minded. Eldest DD has a physical disability & the lovely consultant paediatrician we saw for many years, always called DDs bum “her little bot bot” which had me and DH in stitches. As adults my DDs refer to their lady gardens and DS to refers to his as his light sabre. It’s all good fun. 😉

@EarringsandLipstick

Do you apply that logic to all body parts? Do you always refer to “your buttocks” your “cranium” etc?

We're a penis and vulva family.

No shame about our bodies or body parts.

They also know the NSPCC pants rule and that their bum and penis/vulva are private and belong only to them.

As a child I remember being really unsure of what to call my vulva. I knew boys had willies but no idea what girls had ... how sad is that?! I knew how to describe a male body before being able to describe my own female body.

@Tamzo85 yes. We use bum as well. But mostly we use bottom. We talk about buttocks when talking about how to wipe bottoms after poos.

As a toddler my son would say my daughter was having mummy milk but only because he couldn't say breast very well.

Now we talk about breasts and breast feeding if it comes up.

I use mini

I agree with using proper terms, but if you want a colloquialism, on the basis that boys have a Willy, girls have a Wilma.

I used to use "foof" as that's just what I've always called it but after hearing that some sexual abuse evidence is thrown out because a child has used a different name for their body parts, I taught dd the proper names for her vagina / vulva etc. There's no shame in it and calling female genetalia a pet name only cements the idea that womens anatomy is shameful and should be hidden.

In my opinion ofc.

Front bum is ridiculous. It's not a bum.

We use vulva. It's fine. No misconceptions.

Mary?!
4yo girl: “Teacher, grandad tickled my Mary”
Teacher: assuming Mary is a person, maybe a cousin “Oh did he, that’s nice dear”

4yo girl: “Teacher, grandad tickled my vagina”
Teacher: begins safeguarding procedures

Mary is a well used term around here, I don't think any teacher would not twig on to that.

We have a ridiculous name that DTs made up and it stuck, but they also know the anatomical names.

My kids know the proper names but DS calls his a Willy and Dd calls hers a front bum, I don't feel upset by that because again to reiterate they know the proper names and also because I've never said 'oh no, have you banged your cranium' 'oh dear you've banged your phalanges' 'let's go wipe your anus'.

Privates. So wipe your privates and for when they did a poo wipe your bottom/bum. Taught them the details of what their privates are called. But in everyday language "privates"

My children said vagina and penis.

A vulva doesn't birth a baby as mentioned up thread....

DS became rather fixated age 2 on "private parts" he was in the bathroom at home with me and asked "why no willy? I said girls don't have Willie's we have a vagina, he looked horrified 😂 and went "what no willy!!!" And for the next year he had a "willy" and I had "no willy"

He's 7 now and just says "vagina". I have enough on my plate without the semantics of vulva not vagina. Willy or penis. 🤷🏻‍♀️

For his baby cousins though who are girls, they (the parents) just say "vagina" .

Just to lighten the thread but remember the poor mner poolside who's dh shouted 'minge'-the thread was hilarious and nobody shamed her or her dh for not shouting 'vulva'...

I agree with this. There was also the case (no idea if real) where the girl said someone touched or licked her cookie and people didn't realize what she meant right away.

I’ve never heard ‘Mary’ in my life! What area is this common in?

I’ve also never heard of ‘Front bum/bottom,’ that sounds so bizzare to me

I remember years ago on Mumsnet, on a similar thread of what to call girls' private parts, one poster said their daughter called it a "bum-china". I think it was a shortening of bum-vagina. But I always laugh at "bum-china"!

For my two-year olds, they know it's penis and vagina (I don't bother with vulva). But when changing their nappy, I use willie, and still haven't fixed on a colloquial name for vagina. Probably front-bum, privates, bits.

I think there is no issue with also using a colloquial name. We don't say patella, scapula, clavicle when chatting informally about knees/shoulder bone/ collar bone.

Well, what word you use for their elbows?