What will/do you call private parts?

elm005 · January 2014

Lo's new thing is grabbing himself when I change his diaper. This morning I said "stop grabbing your penis". But that felt weird to me. I am also not a fan of privates (even though I used it in the title).

DH calls it his "baby junk". Still not a fan. My sister's boys all call
it their "linky".

I just feel a little bit lost when trying to find a good name for it. Part of me says just call it his penis because that is what it is, but the other part of me thinks we need some sort of code name for it.

Opinions? Experience?

blonde151188 · January 2014

We say penis and vagina. I don't want any confusion with it.

Af1004 · January 2014

I think they need to know the real name for it but its still OK to have a code name. I have called hers, her Cootie Coo. Just kinda made it up though not sure if it will stick or what it will end up being. I'm sure a boy would be interesting since they grab and play with theirs a lot.

BabyNumberTwo2013 · January 2014

This question made me smile because when DD was potty training she out of the blue referred to it as her "vagina butt." For the record, we call it a vagina because that's what it is. My MIL is horrified whenever DD says it. I guess we could have taught her "snatch" instead...

ETA:

Whatever you call it, just make sure you are comfortable with them shouting it in public when they're older... because they will.

Skalbrecht · January 2014

Ugh. Don't even want to think about this yet!

HBirdie · January 2014

Adrd47 said:

We'll be using penis/vagina (we only have a boy right now). I think it's important for them to know the proper term. Plus, god forbid if anyone ever touched them inappropriately, I want DS to be able to tell me/DH/whatever adult is available that someone touched his penis, not his willy or weewee or any other term like that.

This exactly.

Zmommy2 · January 2014

Adrd47 said:
We'll be using penis/vagina (we only have a boy right now). I think it's important for them to know the proper term. Plus, god forbid if anyone ever touched them inappropriately, I want DS to be able to tell me/DH/whatever adult is available that someone touched his penis, not his willy or weewee or any other term like that.

This, exactly. I had to take a child abuse class for daycare they said the same thing. And if, heaven forbid, they ever have to testify for abuse, if they use other terms, especially really off the wall, made up, cutesy ones, they said that it's easier for the defense to fight it on the basis of "how can we be sure wizee-Lou means penis, they might mean something different by that term", and the abuser could go free.

Shanmarie1083 · January 2014

We call them what they are, penis and vagina.

Zmommy2 · January 2014

Oh and a funny story to lighten the mood.. When DD1 was younger we were at a baseball game and she thought it was hilarious that they were selling "penis". I guess peanuts and penis sound a lot alike, so for a while after that she started using peanuts when asking about boys. She was in a phase of asking if every boy/man we knew had a penis, so it turned into "does daddy have peanuts?" "Does Sammy have peanuts?" It was hilarious!

happybride 276 · January 2014

I plan on saying penis. I have hear a penis being called pee pee, but I will probably stick with penis. I a friend's daughter calls her vagina her butt. I guess it's somewhat common?

When my son's penis gets erect I call it a baby boner. Clearly I won't do that when he is old enough to talk, but I tell him to put his baby boner away when it happens now.

DaisyZH · January 2014

Penis and vagina. I feel a little weird saying it but I don't know why since growing up we never used any nicknames.

redfallon · January 2014

I say "pee pee" and DH says "girly parts".

Chilko33 · January 2014

We say penis. Keegan constantly grabs his whole package really aggressively and we just say "ouch, that hurts your penis".... But clearly he does not feel a "ouch" associated with his pinching.

hmlynch84 · January 2014

Adrd47 said:
We'll be using penis/vagina (we only have a boy right now). I think it's important for them to know the proper term. Plus, god forbid if anyone ever touched them inappropriately, I want DS to be able to tell me/DH/whatever adult is available that someone touched his penis, not his willy or weewee or any other term like that.

100% agree

AppleMuffins · January 2014

I'll start with the proper terms. If she later makes up her own nicknames for it, then that's fine.

As a kid, I used to call my nipples my hearts. My mom never corrected me. Not sure at what point I learned they weren't hearts lol My brother who was 14mos younger called them hearts too.

RagsdaleA · January 2014

We will teach vagina/penis. I also use the term "pikachu" thanks to Chelsea Handler!

princessvespa1 · January 2014

Son calls it his penis and he knows boys have them and he also knows that "parts are not for show and tell". That is as far as we have gone with it and we don't make a big deal out of it. When daughter starts communicating, we will talk about vaginas.

thedash · January 2014

I will teach them penis and vagina are the appropriate terms. I also sometimes uses peepee for a short version with DS right now.

PrettyInPearls23 · January 2014

We call it a penis. When my DS1 asked where mommy's penis was (he saw me sitting to pee), I explained the girls have a vagina, and not a penis. I'm sure he doesn't REALLY know what a vagina is, but he needed to know that boys and girls are different.

Like pp's said, it's important to use the correct terms for their parts, as it can come in helpful in preventing/reporting abuse. I read somewhere that abusers get uncomfortable if a little one refers to their parts as penis/vagina. Also, if my son's suddenly start calling their penis something else it'll raise a red flag for me and I can ask them who called it that.

renee6465 · January 2014

Another vote for vagina and penis. Like pp stated I want to be sure what it is he is talking about.

ejb23 · January 2014

We will teach proper names but likely have a nickname too if it sticks. My step daughter called hers a front booty til she was 4 or 5. She had never heard vagina until I told her what it was. Geesh!

OliveMom3 · January 2014

We will use penis and vagina but I've thrown around man bits and my dh said, look at his rotini! I died!

EOB584 · January 2014

With DD we call her vagina her "lady parts" or just her "bottom", in general. I'm not sure why we use that, just always have and she is almost 3. Maybe when she is a little older we will use vagina but for now I see no harm in the name we use. She has asked about DS's penis and I told her it was his penis, or she could call it his pee-pee.

beatingIF · January 2014

We say vagina & penis just like we say elbow, chin, & knee...

Nukke · January 2014

I'll probably teach her "pee-pee". That's what I called it when I was a kid and I turned out fine. I find it weird calling it her vagina because.... "it" is actually not her vagina. Her vagina is internal, and I don't know why she'd need to even refer to it. "It" would be her labia, and urethra... her external genitals. She shouldn't have a need refer to her vagina bit until she's ready to shove stuff up there like tampons. That's my opinion anyway. If anything, I'd call the whole lot her vulva, since we're talking external genital organs here. But I bet that would be pretty tough for her to say. So "pee-pee" it is, until she can say "vulva"

barnratash · January 2014

I have been calling it a Willy just bc that was what first came out of my mouth. When DS gets older though I will teach him the proper words.

Funny story, my SIL was getting out of the shower and her son asked her where her willy was and she said that girls don't have them. When he asked what they have the first thing that came out of her mouth (which to this day she regrets) she said coochie and he went running through house screaming I love coochie. Thanks SIL, lesson learned.

HisChamaoleGirl · January 2014

The words we use are technically atomically correct but they aren't English words. We use the terms bebe for girl parts and chili for boy parts. These are the words in my husbands language and bc lo will be bilingual I do not see the issue.

eyris · January 2014

I actually got in trouble for saying penis once in front of my parents as a kid. I think it might have traumatized me. I'll have to get over it, but for now we'll probably go with "pee-pee." DH seems to call it his "junk," referring to the whole package, lol.

bumpuser10024844 · January 2014

I will teach him the anatomically names, but probably refer to it as his pee-pee. That's what I always called it.

KaramelSutra · January 2014

I taught ds1 wiener. I'll teach ds2 te same. I don't like the word penis. I never have. I'm ok with wiener.

Ds1 thinks girls just have butts. And until he's old enough to need to know, that's all I will be teaching him.

tnt7409 · January 2014

We call DDs her potty. Which is getting kinda confusing with potty training, because she's going pee pee on the potty, but also isn't supposed to touch her potty and we ask her if she has to go potty. Maybe we should start using different terms, because she's old enough now to know the difference.

TKtravels · January 2014

We'll be using penis, vagina, vulva, etc.

Before reading an article about sexual abuse, I had already made up my mind.. but reading that article really solidified that choice. My google-fu fails me in finding that article, but the line of thought was that for young children, if you use medical terms, and then hear them using something else, it can alert you to the fact that something might be up.

That and I think it sounds ridiculous when families make up words. Growing up, my neighbors referred to female genitalia as a "sheesh" and that word/sound somehow came up out on context and confused the hell out of my brother and I when we used to play with the neighbor kids.