Welcome to Week 39 of Friendly Debates With The Danielles!

Each Sunday Danielle from “We Don’t Have It All Together, But Together We Have It All” and I will host this awesome meme and we would love for you to link up and join us. There will be a question each week that will require you to think about how you feel about a certain topic and to decide where you stand regarding that topic, then of course share those thoughts!

We do have a few rules… or rather guidelines… that we would appreciate being followed:

1.) Please follow the hosts via FaceBook: Danielle B. & Danielle H.
2.) If you link up please leave a comment so we can visit you.
3.) This is a meme, so you MUST answer the question in a blog post.
4.) Link directly to the blog post in which you answer the question.
5.) Grab the button and place either in your post or on your blog.
(You can find the html code in my right side bar).
6.) At the end of your post leave a suggestion for the following weeks topic.

If we choose your suggestion you will be mentioned and linked to in the following weeks post.

AND THE MOST IMPORTANT RULE
Please respect each others opinions. This means no bashing of other bloggers in comments on their posts. Kind words and genuine questions are encouraged. If you strongly disagree with someone else the place to address your view point is in a post on your own blog. If we find that you have blatantly disregarded this you will be removed from the linky.

TOPIC
Using Anatomically Correct Terms with Children:
Yay or Nay? What do YOU say?

I say Yay.

When our little ones are learning their body parts such as their knees we tell them what they are – KNEES.  I have never heard someone make up a cutesy terms like a “bendy boo” or some other crazy words.  So why when it comes to talking about male and female genitalia why do we feel the need to cover it up with silly names?  In my opinion it is not benefiting our children at all.  For example – though it makes me sick to think about it – if my child was sexually abused they would need to tell the police officer / case worker exactly what happened to them and they would not be able to do that if they were not taught the proper terminology.  Another example would be if they were having a medical issue related to their genitalia – by knowing the proper terms they would be able to say exactly what was hurting/itching/etc.

Now I will tell you that I think this is easier when it comes to boys.  Why?  Because externally they have basically two parts.  A penis and a scrotum.  It is very easy to know what part they are referring to if they ask and I have used these terms with my children.  For the longest time Alleigh didn’t quite understand that if she jumped on her daddy’s lap with force that it would indeed cause him some pain and so we had to explain that daddy had a different body part between his legs than she, her sister, and I have.  That this body part was called a penis and that if she stomped on it or hit it that it hurts and is not nice.  Since I only have daughters and Alleigh hadn’t seen many little boys naked during diaper changes when I had babysat the question didn’t come up sooner.  Now girls have lots of parts….

And this is where I would like suggestions from my readers.  I am struggling with how to teach my girls the different parts of their genitalia aside from just showing them an image like the one I posted above.  I wish their was an anatomically correct word that encompassed the entire area, but unfortunately there is not.  {Update:  A lovely reader reminded me of the word vulva and after reading the definition this would be an ideal word to use because it does encompass all of the female external reproductive organs according to the definition I read.  It still does not include the urethra which leaves me in the difficult position of what word to use when potty training, unless I just go with vulva and urethra.}  It is very easy to see what a boy is talking about if he grabs his penis or his scrotum, but with a girl it is a bit more difficult.  I have been thinking it would be quite easy since I am pregnant to show them a simple image like above and explain that our pee comes out the urethra and that their new baby sister will come out of the vagina.  Or maybe I am crazy and am the only one who is having this problem?

All I know is I want to continue to use anatomically correct terms with my children because in certain situations it is imperative they know the real words.  And in the mean time I really don’t care if I have a few embarrassing moments where they yell out in public places that boys have a penis and girls have a vagina – because why should we be embarrassed of the truth?

And so I guess what I am saying is put a little thought into it before immediately using cutesy names for your little ones genitalia.  Sure you may find yourself in a couple embarrassing situations, but if there comes a time where it is important your child knows the real terms you will be very thankful.  Not to mention our body parts are nothing to be ashamed of – just like my girls should be proud of their arms, legs, nose, eyes, hair – they should also be proud of the fact that they have a vagina.

So what do you think?  Any tips for dealing with all those female parts?  What do you call male and female genitalia in your house and why?  Leave me a comment or link up and let me know!