What to call body parts?

I certainly hope you're in the majority. There have never been nicknames for body parts in our house either. I don't understand why people do that. I guess some people are uncomfortable with their own bodies and pass that on to their children.

We use the correct names too. I read that it could be the first test for kids in trusting you. If you can't give them the true name for a body part, they may wonder if you can give them other true information?

Can you imagine the ribbing the son will get when he tells someone his "peaches" just got hit with the baseball... He's going to be embarrassed at some point, I fear.

Lovemy4 is a discussion leader for North Central Phoenix, tired mother of 4 great kids and wife to one great husband.

We used the correct names too. I can't recall a single time when they ever had the need to blurt out the name of any private part, in the company of anyone who would find it odd. Not an issue to worry about as far as I'm concerned.

We also taught our kids the correct terms for many other things that people often use kiddy names for. From a young age, they talked about lacerations & bruises, not owies...bacteria and viruses, not boo boo bugs, etc. Thanks to Disovery Kids magazine, that had a kid friendly illustration of the way the immune system works, my older son gave a presentation in preschool about how different leukocytes perform different functions. He explained how some are called memory B cells and they mark the bacteria with antibodies, while the macrophage cells attack and destroy the germs. I'm glad that I got that on video tape!

I think that children have the capacity to conceptualize much more than they are often given credit for. In a way, they are primed to conceptualize the unseen world, better, at a younger age. The hardest part of learning is trying to unlearn a misconception. A recent study showed that a high percentage of college students, had trouble verbalizing basic science concepts, such as the fact that the earth revolves around the sun and not the other way around. Howard Gardner of Harvard, talks about the evolution from intuitve learner to scholastic learner to disciplinary expert, in "The Unschooled Mind", "Multiple Intelligences, and "Frames of Mind". Since intuitve learning comes naturally to the child, it is what is most easily recalled, throughout a lifetime. All of the research points to the fact that we should try whenever possible to make abstract concepts part of the child's "intuitive" learning. For example, show young children that the world is round by moon watching for a month, and mention it again and again, everytime day turns to night, and the seasons change. Show them models and make it ingrained in their minds, so that when summer comes, they automatically connect the reasons. Making science a part of their every day existence, will make future learning easier for them. I think that it's just as important to teach toddlers the correct body names, as it is to provide a preschooler with a microscope.

We use the real names too but that too can come back and bite you.. My son was 5 and we had just moved here from tx and I didn't know my neighbors yet. We just moved in and our house was at the end of a culdesac. My son was riding his bike when he fell off. He started to cry and he was yelling at the other end of our street " I BROKE MY PENIS, I BROKE MY PENIS" The neighbors we didn't know came outside he was yelling so loud. we ran after him, my husband scooped up and he still kept yelling "I BROKE MY PENIS" so loud. My husband just covered his mouth so it wouldn't seem so loud and brought him inside... At that point I was wishing I had made a nickname up b/c I few wks later I met a mom at my sons new school and she said "oh, your the mom of the boy that broke his penis".... Nice!

Elizabeth is a discussion leader for arizonamoms she writes about everything from her needing mommy advice to crazy and silly stuff that happens. She lives in the West Valley with her husband and 3 children, Joshua 12, Brooke 2 and Mason 10 months

Ha ha ha ha! Divaballerina! That is a funny story:)

So, what if a child is in church or school, does the kid say these words when referring to their privates? I can't imagine my child saying these words if he was in church or class? I always use the word tee tee for little children and as they get older, it is your private area. I believe when a child is old enough to know when and how to use the words correctly, then my husband and I will tell him.
I wouldn't want my child knowing the word penis or vagina because as adults, we don't even use the words.
We feel very comfortable with our body parts too.We just don't go around referring that my penis, dick, or vagina is hurting.

One Happy Mom in Arizona.

Our kids will refer to them as a penis and a vagina. I don't want my kids growing up feeling ashamed of their bodies and thinking that they have to call them silly names.

I can't imagine a 12 year old boy (or older) talking to his doctor about whatever may be wrong that he doesn't feel comfortable talking to his dad or mom about (be it erections, wet dreams, etc) and saying, "Is there something wrong with my ding dong?".

And Katy I LOVE the story of the toddler...how funny!

It is better to be hated for what you are, than to be loved for what you are not.

What is the big deal???
When boys get older they call it all kinds of names from their johnson to their monkey.
And girls the same awe, maybe not so much with girls, but I'd rather hear my daughter say at the store that her poopoo hurts instead of her vagina....
Such a big deal over nothing..
What do you call your breast?? breast, boobs,
titts, that's so durogatory to me, reminds me a strippers who dance in titty bars.. OH , I forgot their called "exotic dancers".. i refer to them as titty bar dancers..

" just my Opinion"

When I had a baby boy, my under-2-year-old daughter did ask, "What's that?" when I was changing his diaper. There is no shame in our bodies or what they are called, but I really didn't want my 21-month-old talking about penises and vaginas either. So, I just told her that was part of his body. And left it at that. She also says that about her own privates - she calls it "her body". She is 3 now and quite honestly that discussion hasn't come up again. When the time is right we can get more detailed, but for now, her calling it her body/his body is fine with me.

Hobbymommy, 38, is a discussion leader from Mesa. She is a happy stay-at-home mommy to a 3-year-old daughter and a 1-year-old son.

One of the reasons I think it is important to use the correct body terms is if a child is trying to tell a preschool teacher or someone else in charge of them that someone touched them. I mean if you tell your daughter that her "cupcake" is her private part and she tells a teacher that someone is playing with her cupcake - it won't be taken serious.

My littlest one was taking a shower with her Daddy when she was 3 and informed him that girls have chinas and boys have peanuts. That was the last time he showered with her. I thought it was funny :)

KarilouMomof2 is a discussion leader for arizonamoms.com living in Tempe. Her daughters are 9 and 6.

Honestly, I can see both sides of this. I think for some people, it has nothing to gobe with being ashamed of the body or anything, but with the child's age. For a two year old, words like "testicles" or "vagina" can be a little daunting!

This topic actually just came up in our house last night. Our son is 3 1/2 and has high functioning autism; his speech is quite delayed. It's only been in the last couple of months that he's learned the word "penis", and last night, he grabbed underneath and wanted to know what THAT was. So I called my husband into the bathroom (our son was taking a bath), and asked him what we should tell our son. We didn't tell him "balls", primarily because we didn't want him to confuse it with balls for play, testicles was too hard, so we said scrotum. He can't say that, either, but hopefully with some practice, he'll get it. I feel at this stage of the game, there is absolutely no reason to discuss female anatomy with him!

I completely disagree that a word like "testicle" is "daunting to a 2 1/2 yr. old."
Daunting? As in, harder to pronounce than gallbladder, appendix or tibia?

My sense is that it is not daunting for the child, but rather, the parent finds it daunting to deal with what they "perceive" as questions of a sexual nature so early in a child's life. When in fact, the child is simply trying to build vocabulary and learn about the world around them...a major focus from age 2 to 5!

Can you imagine if your kid had a book that had a sketch of a fully clothed doll with the body parts labeled as the head, arm, leg, knee, chin, and hoo-hoo.?

Happy2BMommy, is a stay-at-home mom who just turned 40 (argh!) with a 6 yr. old daughter and a 4 yr. old son, and is a discussion leader for arizonamoms.com living in Scottsdale.

Peaches and flower are ridiculous. Why shouldn't children know the correct names, just like they learn the correct names for spoon, book, street, etc.

Susie is a discussion leader in the east valley for arizonamoms.com. She has two sons, ages 6 and 2.

I doubt that any child who refers to their private parts with a silly name will grow up not trusting what their parents tell them in the future! My 3 1/2 year old daughter refers to her vagina as her "penguin". Neither my husband nor I EVER suggested that to her, it was something she came up with on her own. In fact, the first time she said it was the first time any of us had ever referred to it. So that's what we call it now. When it's time for her to learn the proper terminology we'll teach her. It's not a big deal.

You know, I'm not sure when we started telling my daughter the real names of body parts. For the most part, we call the genital organs "privates" right now. It's not that my daughter doesn't know she & Mommy have vaginas & her Daddy and brothers have penises (we have had clarification over the years because she usually takes baths alongside her younger brother and has noticed he has something that she doesn't), but "private" is a little more indicative of what we keep these parts: PRIVATE. They are not to be shown to anyone but Mommy or Daddy or a doctor... and if someone other than those particular people ask or try to see or touch it - she better let Mommy & Daddy know!!!

We've taught our daughters the correct names as well.

We do have friends who taught their daughter that a penis is called a wookie. Needless to say, she was confused when she was watching Star Wars.

jesshod is an arizonamoms.com discussion leader living in Surprise.