What will you call your child’s genitals as they grow up?

I would agree with you definitely.

I think your MIL is ridiculous. I will be using the correct words with my daughter straight away. I want her to be comfortable using the word vagina

I think it’s a generation thing, a lot of mums of young children that I know refer to the genitalia as penis/vagina and I intend to do the same when my little boy is older. Grandparents all find it very strange to refer to them so bluntly but I think it just makes sense 🤷🏻‍♀️

You are 100% right! This is what the experts advise these days. My mum's a teacher so she has to keep up to date and she actually said willy and corrected herself and said penis to my son. Obviously in her day when I was little we'd use those names but things have changed since then, most people these days teach their kids the proper names because that's what you're supposed to do so I don't think they'll get bullied for it!

Honestly, I would've thought foof would get more mean comments... I plan on teaching my little girl the correct terms. At most we might have nicknames of she can't say vagina at first. Lol.

My experience as a science teacher in secondary school they still laugh at vagina. I get them to shout vagina and penis really loudy when I teach reproduction to year 7 just so I can get through the lesson without them laughing the whole time. I haven’t decided for my own baby yet but probably won’t shy away from correct terminology. Most of my 11 year old students view saying penis and vagina for some reason as a taboo which is a shame and need encouraging to say it over private parts or willy in scientific context. I think as long as you they understand what you are talking about and have the correct education as to what is healthy and consent etc it’s an individual decision as to what they refer to it as. They will be exposed to lots of different slang words for it as they go through school too but nothing wrong at all in using the correct name for it!

I think your daughter would be more likely to be laughed at if she called it something ridiculous like a 'foof!' Teaching your children anatomically correct terminology can be the difference between them being able to accurately disclose sexual abuse, it is empowering and very important!

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10000% agree with this!

Ill be teaching my son both terms, penis and vagina! There is no reason we should use the made up silly names for them. They aren’t bad words! MIL is definitely wrong here! It definitely is generational like said above but they need to understand already that things change, often for the better! And that we will be raising our kids differently

Honestly, I think your daughter would be more likely to be bullied for calling it a foof…. I’ve never heard that one and wouldn’t have a clue what she was talking about if you hadn’t given the exact context. Right now, we’re just calling everything down there her bottom (as opposed to the back side being her bum). I do want her to use anatomical words eventually, but my husband isn’t super comfortable with proper terminology, so I also want to respect that.

This is an Irish recommendation but on Spotify Sile Seoige did a great podcast with a sexologist Emily Power. There's a part one and two and they discuss this exact topic and how important it is to have the correct names. I'm sure Beyond The Bump podcast (Aussie mums) had something similar recently too!

Exactly what they are. Vagina or penis

Nope I feel Children need to know the Real name. It’s safer. No one wants to think about possible SA but by knowing the real name it’s easier to report

I’ve 2 girls and we call front bum & back bum. And we don’t have any boys so we haven’t got to the male genitalia yet 😂

Our LO is almost 11 months old and we’ve been calling them her lady parts.

For boys I would say penis. Easy. For girls I’m not as sure. I don’t want them to say “vagina” when they really mean “vulva” (drives me crazy that even some adults don’t know the difference. The whole package is not a vagina, just the inner part!!!). If we’re worried about them using anatomically correct names calling it a vagina doesn’t do that. I might just call them “private parts” until they’re old enough to explain the different parts But I definitely won’t be doing the peepee/teetee/foof/flower nonsense names

So far with my son being 18 months old, we’re calling his genitals “peepee” but as he gets old enough to understand I will reach him that boys have a penis and girls have a vagina. I think it’s important they know in the event they need to tell an adult if something is going on. I do recall reading a story where a female student kept telling her teacher that her uncle was touching her cookie and she didn’t like it and she didn’t think much of it until she told the teacher her uncle ate her cookie (or licked it I can’t remember) and he told her not to tell her parents. She had been telling her teacher for months and she didn’t piece it together until that last one. So sad.

Penis. Vulva/yoni. If you’re uncomfortable and make it a thing, they then learn to be uncomfortable and perpetuate the shame of being human with reproductive organs.

I will be using penis, vagina and vulva. Let's not forget the vulva is the "outer"/whole female genital, whereas vagina is only the inside. To me it is a safety question. If something were to happen I want my child to use the right term so there is no doubt about anything. Also, there's nothing dirty or silly or embarrassing about using right terms for our genitals, like we do for the rest of our body. It drives me slightly insane when I see women on this app referring to their "down there" and other terms when we ALL have vaginas and vulvas and clitoris and ALL have had sex at some point and will birth at some point.

I’m teaching my son (28 weeks prego) “penis and vagina”. I would think “foof” is a little silly. Not to tease, but it literally made me giggle.

The school curriculum has recently changed to include SRE (Sex and Relationships Education). All children are taught about different relationships and their bodies etc. You will find that children will be taught to use the scientific names for body parts early on.

Penis/Vagina/Vulva. Because God forbid if something ever happened to my child, and they told the teacher “So and so touched the cookie” No one would know what they’re talking about, and probably wouldn’t think much of it. I’ve heard of MANY stories like this before. Therefore, I will teach my child proper vocabulary only.

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I totally agree with this, when I’m with my sister and with her kids we say vagina and penis. The reason being just in case something bad happens and they can say penis or vagina.

Very important! As a daycare teacher a child told me and other staff about her father assaulting her and we didn’t peice it together until it got so bad she acted paralyzed and had anxiety attacks when we tried to change her

I have a little boy and it does make me uncomfortable to say penis, but that's what I say. He'll learn everything: anatomically correct and cutesie names.

FOOF😂😂 I’ve never heard it called that wtf. My baby is a year and we will be using penis/vagina. My in laws are uncomfortable with it too. I told them that I dont want my son to make fun of other peoples bodies and that starts in the home. I just said that by us learning how to be comfortable with the correct words, Carter will learn to respect his own and other bodies. That perspective seemed to click with them because they often use words like dick and pussy to describe people🤦🏻‍♀️

I use penis/vagina with my kids. They’re not bad words it’s a body part. Also you’d be amazed how using little nicknames opens up possibilities for kids being taken advantage of by family/friends/teacher and you’ll never know because of the wording. Honestly it’s not a big deal at all

I will be teaching my son the correct terminology and the oants rule as he grows up xx

I'm teaching her the correct way, my mom was very honest with me so I plan to be honest with my daughter

Your MIL is from a different generation. Most kids now are being taught correct anatomical terms as a means of safety and bodily autonomy.

Penis and vagina. They aren’t bad words I can’t see any reason to call it anything different.

All my boys have "ding dongs" 🤷‍♀️ but they know it's really called a penis

You call it what it is, they need the right terminology (especially, God forbid, if something happens)

My husband and I say either vulva or penis but the kids tend to say their girl or boy bits

I feel like we should be using the correct terminology. whether others think it's inappropriate or not kids should know what the correct term is. I work in childcare and we use the correct terms for it.

Please use the anatomically correct terms for all body parts. There are many reason's to do this, including protection against grooming and sexual assault. https://www.pacey.org.uk/news-and-views/pacey-blog/2019/october-2019/teaching-children-about-their-private-parts/?feed=blogs#:~:text=Teaching%20children%20the%20anatomically%20correct,are%20attached%20to%20any%20part. https://www.amightygirl.com/blog?p=24095 https://www.psychologytoday.com/au/blog/going-beyond-intelligence/201703/call-children-s-private-body-parts-what-they-are Teaching correct terms should also come with age appropriate discussions around consent, and who is allowed to touch what areas, and for what reasons. For example; "this is your vulva, only Mummy and Daddy will clean you here when changing your nappy."

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This was super informative - thank you so much!!!

We’ll use vagina/vulva but I do enjoy hearing people’s weird names for their parts. Haven’t heard foof before!

My 2 year old has taken a big interest in his private parts like the last month or so lol. He calls both his butt & penis his “booty” but I do correct him and tell him when he’s touching himself in the front it’s his penis. I’ve also heard it’s good to use the correct terminology on the off chance (not wishing this on anyone or my son) that a child has to testify in court about their body parts and something happening to them or else the courts can’t use what they say as evidence

I would suggest teaching your child to use the correct anatomy terms vagina/vulva and penis/testicles etc. For a few reasons; one being children should have the rights to learn real language, it's less confusing for children as they learn about body parts when they're older as they would know a vagina is a vagina and if anything happens made up names such as "foof" or "willy" will not stand in court. Hope you find this helpful? But you do you girl x

I’ll be teaching my son the correct name for his all of his body parts :)

It's an old fashioned idea to not call it by its actual name. We don't need a cutesy name to make everyone else feel more comfortable. It's smarter, in my opinion, to call it a 'penis' or 'vagina'... Helps avoid misinformation and confusion in the future

100% teaching correct anatomical terms!!! My almost 2 year old knows what her vulva and anus are and can name them as such. I’m so proud of her! And I know that when she is a bit older we will continue having lots of conversations about genitalia and how/where/when it’s ok to discuss them so I’m not worried about it at all

I think it's a good idea to teach kids the proper names. That's not something to get bullied over. It's s part of our bodies. Plus if a kid is being sexually assaulted they can tell someone the correct name if someone touches their private parts. Instead of a nickname and there will be no confusion.

Vulva, Penis...but sometimes we call it a CooCoo for no reason other than I’ve always called it that when joking LOL

Proper names is also one of the first steps in sexual abuse prevention. It sounds like your MIL is uncomfortable with correct body parts which is her own issue. I would never call anything a silly nickname because it really puts kids at risk

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I was going to say the exact thing. 💯

As a former preschool teacher I always tell parents to use the correct terms. I was a mandated reporter for over 10 years and we were told that only the anatomically correct terms will hold up in court no matter the age of the victim unfortunately. I’ve had to report suspected sexual abuse many times. My daughter is 4 yo and we only use the correct terms for all of our body parts.

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I work in child welfare, I would only ever use correct names too. It’s scary people make up nicknames when you’ve seen the consequences of that 😔

I find it hilarious that your mil is worried about calling it a vagina but her alternative is “foof”. I vote vagina.

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Vulva is the correct name for the external genitalia and vagina is the internal structure. I’m guessing she uses foof for vulva

We use the correct terms with our boys. They and daddy have penises. Mommy has a vulva. We don’t make a big deal about it. My 4yo has started asking more specific questions about his anatomy (typically during bath time) and we answer matter-of-factly: head, shaft, scrotum. 🤷🏼‍♀️ We also tell him we don’t talk about our private parts in front of people other than mommy, daddy, and our doctor. He’d started running into our living room butt naked to show everyone a freckle on his scrotum. 🤦🏼‍♀️ We don’t want him doing that when he starts school next year. 😂😂😂

Whatever you decide to call the genitalia everyone else should respect. 🙂💕 Regardless of it being anatomically correct or not. X

I’m a primary school teacher and we teach the correct anatomical names from primary 1 and I imagine it’s the same in England it’s also a safeguarding issue so please let your MIL know she’s more likely to get bullied if she uses words like foof 😂

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Confirmed the same in England as part of the new RSE curriculum which is compulsory

I will be calling it what it is

As a teacher, in school we teach the proper names from FS/Year 1 so she won’t be laughed at - it’ll be normal I intend to use proper body parts. Names for things aren’t inappropriate

Anatomically correct names over here 🙋‍♀️ penis and vulva.