PDA

View Full Version : What name do you use for your dd's private parts?


Aerynne
08-09-2005, 07:33 AM
I hope this isn't an inappropriate question, but I am wanting to get some opinions on this. I was brought up using a name that, while technically correct, was different from the term my friends used, and that was weird (okay, so I don't even remember why the topic came up with them in the first place). I don't care what word my dd uses (well, there are a few that I really don't like) but I want her to learn the same word that other kids are learning so in case it ever comes up, she won't feel weird like I did. Dd is learning her body parts now and she's asked me what it's called.

SingingPraise
08-09-2005, 07:37 AM
We use their names. Penis and Vagina.
If you want to get technical its actually Vulva for girls, but at a young age I think vagina is more then appropriate. My 5yo has shorted that to her "giney" cuz it rhymes with hiney - so she created her own nickname, but she knows it is a vagina and that her brother has a penis and scrotum.
I think its silly and wrong to give private parts nicknames, tho totally ok for a child to nickname their own privates kwim? My daughter knows that I nursed her and her brother with my breasts (tho sometimes she still says boobies) and that her sister has breasts and tho she only has nipples now she will have breasts someday too. She knows that her dad and brother have nipples but won't have breasts cuz men don't make milk to feed babies.

We call bottoms bottoms, hieney, tushie, butt or glutteous maximus if I'm trying to make a point.

I want my children to feel no shame in their bodies and I think part of that is using the correct terms for body parts.

kycanonist
08-09-2005, 08:14 AM
We also use penis and vagina. There's no shame in saying "finger" so there should be no shame in other body parts. :lol

Jacqui

RealLifeMama
08-09-2005, 08:28 AM
I feel wierd saying "vagina" because it is inside and I know that is not what we are referring to.
But I *feel* off saying "Vulva"
Plus it always reminds me of that seinfeld episode where he can't remember the woman's name. "Mul-va?? :shrug' :laughtears
I can't say it without laughing afterwards!

BeckaBlue
08-09-2005, 09:53 AM
mine know 'vagina' and 'penis' but on a regular day we call our vagina our 'yoni' and kenz thinks penis should be called 'weeny' lol! she also says 'girls have boobies, boys have nickles' but knows they're breasts and nipples

Cheyenne
08-09-2005, 10:14 AM
Well, I am glad this thread came up. I had the hardest time getting my husband to call it a p*nis. He kept wanting to call it a peter. I said, "My son does not have a peter, he has a p*nis." My son years later still says peter though. It bugs me. (I am still working on that) As for my girls, my oldest is only 5, and we hadn't really gotten to it. I usually just call it her private area, or something like that. I am not sure if I need to tell my daughter vagina when she doesn't use that area right now, and doesn't even really know about it yet. As for the area she uses to go potty, that isn't her vagina, so I just kind stuck with private area or where you go potty. Vulva does seem weird to me. Oh, my daughter says that my baby nurses from my "boops" it is too funny. She knows the correct term for it though.

Irene
08-09-2005, 10:21 AM
I dont like the word vuvla because of the sienfeld episode and it reminds me of a car :shrug but I dont like vagina, because its not "correct" either :shrug but we use vulva anyway.
and ds has a penis, which dd calls peanut butter :giggle and she knows no one is allowed to touch his peanut butter :lol (or her vulva, but pb is funnier)

JessicaTX
08-09-2005, 10:27 AM
My husband doesn't like the technical terms because my son embarassed him by talking about men and women in walmart by saying "he has a penis, she has a vagina"...and so on. So he calls them Teeters and Coochies. Breasts are called Ninny, but that's because that's what they asked for when they wanted to nurse.

Iarwain
08-09-2005, 11:22 AM
My dd is probably a bit older than most of yours but we just said privates. It is more all-inclusive and covers the bases as well as being accurate. There really isn't one good word for the complex anatomy women have down there. I think it is a mistake to assume that people who use nicknames do so out of shame. We use nicknames for all sorts of body parts (tummy, belly, tushie, belly button, etc...) rather than the technical (stomach, abdomen, buttocks, umbilicus, etc...) but we have to have special rules for genitalia? We don't have a problem with saying "toes" but we have been known to call them piggies! We do also teach them the proper terms but in conversation use "improper" terms more often.

Mother of Sons
08-09-2005, 12:15 PM
I think it is safer to use the proper terms. No eyebrows are going to be raised if a little girl says someone touched her pinky or her cookie and that's unfortunate because she's saying she's been molested.

He kept wanting to call it a peter.

Which is exactly how that name got ruled out for this baby!

Cherish
08-09-2005, 12:32 PM
My children know the proper terms, and know so much about stuff that they know taht when Im not pregnant I bleed every month, and taht babies are in the baby holder, come down the birth canal tunnel, open the cervix door, and come out my "girl parts". If you ask Grace what her girl parts are, she will say vagina, and she will say that Papa's boy parts are his penis.

But in general, they are girl parts and boy parts when we are just speaking about them.

Amber
08-09-2005, 12:54 PM
I think it is best to teach kids the proper names. When DH was little they called it "his little pee-pee man"...and he wants to teach that to our DS :doh. No thank you, we'll stick with the proper names.

boonpnutsmom
08-09-2005, 05:05 PM
Female Parts in Hawaiian are called Punani, so that is what we call it. And as far as P*nis, we call it Birdie. This is what just works for us.

ArmsOfLove
08-09-2005, 08:57 PM
I believe it's very important for a child the know the accurate names for body parts--especially private parts. We use penis, vulva, vagina, yoni, testicles and breasts. If a child is molested it's very important that they be able to tell you and the authorities what happened to them. Many children are dismissed because they can't say someone put their penis in their vulva and instead say something like, "He put his thingy in my hoohaw." :shifty

Now, we also have cute nicknames for everything and use that when we're talking, but they also know the technical names :)

Aerynne
08-11-2005, 02:06 PM
Wow, lots of interesting opinions. I asked dh what he thought and he said he had no idea (he likes for me to deal with "girl things" anyway). There really isn't a good name for female private parts. I have no problem with the word "penis" and will tell that to my sons. I know vulva is technically correct but I absolutely despise that word. It just sounds gross. We may go with vagina or privates. Hmmm . . . have to give this all some thought.

Punkie
08-11-2005, 05:11 PM
Female Parts in Hawaiian are called Punani, so that is what we call it.


My ex often used that word, but it was more in a sexual sense (ie "That guy is just going for the punani!")

We say penis and vagina. We say "nuts" though for testicles. I said it off-hand the first time that ds asked about them, and so it stuck... I was kind of caught off-guard when he said "What are these mommy? They're too wrinkly! Yucky!" :giggle My kids have kind of shortened vagina to 'gina, but I think that's just because its kind of a difficult word to pronounce.

2sunshines
08-11-2005, 05:32 PM
We use penis and vagina too. I've often wondered about vagina since I know that technically it's not the right word, but I grew up calling it a vagina and just can't get used to calling it a vulva or anything else. :shrug

ArmsOfLove
08-11-2005, 05:46 PM
We use p*nis and vagina too. I've often wondered about vagina since I know that technically it's not the right word, but I grew up calling it a vagina and just can't get used to calling it a vulva or anything else. :shrug
Technically "vagina" means "sheath" and refers to it being a place to put a penis (which it is, but it's so much more!) "Yoni" means, I believe, "opening".

Iarwain
08-12-2005, 10:34 AM
We use p*nis and vagina too. I've often wondered about vagina since I know that technically it's not the right word, but I grew up calling it a vagina and just can't get used to calling it a vulva or anything else. :shrug


That's one of the things that bugs me about referring to a girl's private parts as a vagina. Children are generally more concerned with having a name for what they can see and for where the pee comes out, neither of which is the vagina (since it is actually internal). I think the potential for confusion exists. Just my personal opinion.

Maggie
08-12-2005, 01:34 PM
We use penis and vulva, but more often labia, since that's what we're usually talking about.

AKCristyMJ
08-12-2005, 02:17 PM
pp and bottom

pee and poopers

nutmeggmama
08-12-2005, 08:02 PM
pee-parts

noah and selah both know about his penis, and selah calls her equipment her penis. we try to explain shes a girl...etc but she likes to call it her penis.
i think cause "pee" comes out.
:shrug

JavaMama
08-14-2005, 07:16 AM
So far we've used "private parts" as a casual term but I do try to use the proper terms, e.g. p*nis. In regards to dd's parts I've tended to use the term private parts more often because there's more parts. I think we'll stick to labia or vulva for now and expand the health lesson when she's older. :giggle

Just as an aside; but when a friend of mine was pregnant with her second baby and had a contraction while at a restaurant, her 3yo dd loudly yelled in the middle of the restaurant "Is T going to come out of your bagina now?!?!" I thought it was hilarious!

Boys and Angels
08-16-2005, 06:49 PM
TOTALLY laughing at CHEYENNE'S post. We would NEVER call a penis a peter simply for one reason . . . that's my son's NAME! LOLOLOL!!

Anyway, Hmmm. . . . We use penis and vagina, and breasts for naming the parts of the body, but playfully refer to them as peepee, peeshie, peeshcadell, tushie, butt, and of course, my family's favorite, a nursing baby is referred to as a Ninny Baby!

Also, we say "Our private parts are PRIVATE." to encourage modesty, and such. I guess, due to that, my younger son used to call his penis his "privacies." Actually he said it more like "private-cies," which was kinda cute.

4blessings
08-23-2005, 09:43 PM
We call them what they are. It grosses my mom out. :giggle She's the queen of euphamisms, though. LOL! She about died the first time she heard my son say "penis". :giggle

GodisGood
08-23-2005, 10:02 PM
Um, er, the woman's name on Seinfeld was "Doloris", rhymes with "cli-to-rois", wasn't it?

tui_song
08-23-2005, 10:15 PM
When my daughter goes to the toilet we talk about wiping the 'front bottom' and 'back bottom'. I don't have a problem with using the scientific words, just like to use a term that is more general. She knows her brother has a p*nis.

mackinsiesmom
08-24-2005, 12:54 PM
We are also using penis and vagina for the only reason that if someone touches dd I want her to be able to tell what has happened.

mamatogands
08-24-2005, 01:00 PM
When ds was born and the difference between boys and gilrs became obvious to dd, I told her that her bottom was called her vulva. She now calls it her "vole" Isn't that a little rodent?
:)
We also say "bottom".

joyfulmomsie
08-24-2005, 07:18 PM
:O Dh and I are both medical professionals, and we started out using correct terms. But somewhere along the way, they have disintegrated to tee-tee (girls) and ding-ding (boys).
(Hanging my head in shame.)

But to redeem myself...my oldest dd was showing her 4 yo sister a chart of the solar system. As she pointed out the planets "...this is Jupiter, and this is Saturn, and this is Uranus..." Moriah looked at her with the most puzzled expression and said "my anus???" :giggle

bostonsmama
08-24-2005, 07:51 PM
we believe its important to use proper names as well. ds is only 15 months now, but he knows he has a penis. he hasnt learned scrotum, etc. yet. however, i did teach my neice that she has a vagina, vulva, labia, urethra, etc. my nephew knows girls have a vagina and boys have a penis and a scrotum, but he will only call breasts boobilees. lol no idea why :shrug he would call breastfeeding breastfeeding, but then still calls breasts boobilees, his mother must have taught him that one. lol (my sister)


I dont like the word vuvla because of the sienfeld episode and it reminds me of a car :shrug but I dont like vagina, because its not "correct" either :shrug but we use vulva anyway.

are you thinking of a volvo? LOL, thats hillarious :lol


Um, er, the woman's name on Seinfeld was "Doloris", rhymes with "cli-to-rois", wasn't it?
yes, that WAS her name, but jerry couldnt remember it, he only knew it rhymed with a "girl part" and at the end, when she said "you dont know my name do you..." he said, while shrugging "mulva?"

traceyd
08-25-2005, 10:10 PM
When dd was younger we called it tootie which she shortened to toot. When I was pregnant w/ds she went to all of my prenatal checkups with me. She was 2 1/2 -- 3 years old when I was pregnant. Near the end of the pregnancy when my OB was checking my cervix dd was sitting in the corner of the room and said "what are you doing to mommy's toot?" I almost fell off the table laughing. :lol

After that I taught and encouraged proper anatomical names but it somehow evolved into front hiney and back hiney. She always notes that boys have a big front hiney and girls are little. She has a friend that calls her little brother's penis his "goose". I had never heard that one before.

AKCristyMJ
08-26-2005, 08:26 PM
I'm curious, uhm, what do you all get your dc to say when they pass gas??

My dh ofcource will loudly say, "Who farted??" And so my kids say fart.
:hissyfit
I can just so see poor Lidia getting in trouble at school for saying fart or "Who farted???"
But my dh makes it so humorous that the kids gravitate to his choice of terms instead of mine. *sigh*