When potty training time rolled around with my first, I decided we wouldn’t be using any euphemisms at our house. Body parts became their proper names, poop and pee were just that. A little boy came along after our girl, further simplifying the whole boy/girl parts conversation. I remember using the term “stinky” when I was little for number two and having my friends make fun of me for it. And I didn’t want my teenage daughter to sit in health class one day blushing because they were using the “v” word instead of vajajay or hoo hoo.
This has all been fine and good, but listening to my kids converse while getting dressed this morning reminded me of some of the funny moments this wealth of knowledge has created. Ironically, I’m afraid that using the real words here will inadvertently welcome Google searchers seeking these terms for something other than a funny mommy post, so I’m going to use abbreviations.
Overheard in the kid’s room this morning:
Ella: “Ezra, put your p away! Mommy! Ezra won’t put on his underwear. Ezra, put your p away!”
Later, after Ezra finished putting his clothes on.
Ezra: “I put my pants on, Mom. No one can see my p. It’s hiding.”
There were also the times when my daughter decided to share her new found knowledge with friends at the dinner table and regularly announced which member of our family possessed which part.
I also love the questions that randomly pop up in the grocery store line. There’s nothing like having your 3 year-old blurt out the “v” and “p” words while placing orange juice on the conveyor belt.
My all-time favorite has to be a phrase my daughter used to say and I swear my sweet niece said as a toddler. “I have a v on my bum!”
In truth, I’m not sure it matters whether we use euphemisms or not. What ultimately matters is that we started the conversation and it’s never closed. I want my kids to be comfortable in their own bodies, to ask my husband and I questions, to feel like this subject isn’t taboo or embarrassing. I don’t want to regret not talking to them in clear, age appropriate ways about what is private. That’s just what the mom in this story did and it inspired me to continue the dialogue with my kids and to make it clear that I’m always here to talk…even if it is in the grocery store line.
K is a blabber. Polly parrot. So we say ‘private parts’ and boy parts and girl parts. The real terms can come later. When she doesn’t repeat every single thing we say. 🙂
We called it what it was, as well. After all, all boys have what boys have and all girls have what girls have. We all poop and we all pee. We just didn’t see any reason to suggest that mine should be embarrassed by any of that. I suppose it does really matter what the parts are called, as long as the conversations are open and age appropriate – you are right about that.
Love it!! And you’re exactly right – so much easier when you don’t have to re-trace your steps and go back and THEN explain. We live on a mini farm which has provided a lot of anatomy lessons on its own 😛
Fabulous! We use proper terms 95% of the time. Sometimes we use doodoo for his p because that’s what he started calling it awhile ago. He loves to run around saying ‘mommy gyna mommy gyna!’