The following came up:
Flower
Fluffy… (?)
Willy
Winky
Daisy
Fanny
Butterfly
Cooks
Cookie pot
Peenie
Cookie Monster
I did a quick search on Google, and saw that most of the search returned top for the use of appropriate names. We taught the teen appropriate names when she was small, 15 years back. “Vagina” and “Penis” were the only names she knew, and she had no hang-ups about it. She came to tell me a few times about children that use strange names, and it had everybody guessing for a while at the crèche. Names also like “paddatjie” (froggie), if I remember correctly.
I believe that it is much easier to make no issue about it, and to name any part of the body as correctly as possible. Badparenting believes it is a bad parenting technique, because toddlers can embarrass you when you expect it the least. Funny! (I’ve found it helps to keep a straight face…)
A family member teaches her sons about “verkeerde plekkies” (wrong places). When the Survivor series was on, the survivors were eating “verkeerde plekkies” of animals, according to them.
What do the funny names teach our children? That a normal part of their anatomy is not normal, and somehow “wrong”!
No! We are teaching the toddler the appropriate names. There’s enough for her to cope with already, and not to struggle with figuring out why there is strange names for some body parts. Hopefully not to end up with sexual hang-ups…
It is technically incorrect to teach a girl that her external genitalia is a vagina as that is an internal part of her genitalia. I teach my child that she has a vulva and the general area is referred to when I bath her as her genitals.
ReplyDeleteMy sister who is a nurse and really should know better has taught her daughter to say vagina and even then they end up saying Jie-na when she baths her. Silly really, but I feel if you are going to do something properly you should really make sure you use the correct terms.
Hey Karen! Been a while since I've read any blogs! I totally agree with you. In the beginning we referred to the peepee only because it was easier to pronounce when he was just learning to speak, but I always told him that his peepee is called a penis. And i find now that he is older we hardly use peepee anymore. He also knows Sumayah has a vagina. Sumayah can't say vagina yet so we talk about jayjay for now, but as soon as she can say the proper word thats what we'll refer to.
ReplyDeleteOops, Eve!
ReplyDeleteWe have always used the "vagina" term. I do not feel comfortable with the "vulva" term.
What do other people think?
Vagina vs Vulva?