Anatomical Terms

Yes, I've read about it too. So you would teach a 20-month-old to say "vulva"? Just to be clear

what do you mean by "it's just a word"?

Yeah. Teach vulva. My daughter hasn't narrowed in on this anatomy yet but I imagine a boy likely would have and I would've taught him that he has a penis at 18 or 20 or whatever number of months he focused there.

Curious about whether you can express what about saying vulva to a toddler makes you uncomfortable? Or is it her saying the word at a young age that makes you uncomfortable?

I may not have overheard many 18 month olds say vulva, but I've also never heard a satisfactory pseudonym.

that's the problem. My mom never taught me this word, I learned it in college in a sexual context, which is probably why it makes me uncomfortable. And while I do want to tell her the names of things, I guess I'm scared of her repeating it in public. But that's why I want input from others because I sure don't have it figured out

Does anyone use the general term “privates”, for general area, and then also the correct names for all parts? Just curious. I have 2 boys and about to have a girl, and this is what we do.

Personally, nicknames for genitals give me the heebie jeebies. We name the body parts when we do bath time

Right…like I said. Genitals, private parts, and anatomical names. We refer to them as private parts because they are to be kept “private”. But everyone is different. God bless.

We use penis, vagina, butt, breast, pectoral. Etc. I find it to be very important to know all of the parts of the body.

what about vulva specifically? I find this one the most difficult for some reason

I'd probably introduce detailed anatomy names when I thought them competent to understand them. For example large and small intestine, heart, liver, and vulva, clitoris. They are important to know their names, but just like we don't usually teach colors like cerulean, emerald, and ivory, or trees like oak, maple, poplar, till later. The generalized terms are what are important first

Well, the vulva is everything you can see so it's an even better word to start with. I just started with vagina because I taught what's inside the body 1st. We learned penis after her brother was born and have just been taking things as they come. My oldest is 6. My March baby is my son and he can point to his penis but doesn't say any of the words yet.

*besides "butt" 😆

what would you teach a girl to call her genitals if not teaching vulva? What generalized term do you mean?

Yeah vulva is the technical term for the exterior parts but I use vagina as a general term. Especially since it's the most commonly used anatomical word

@Maria I second this. I say "wash your vagina" when she's bathing although vulva is the correct term.

I just think if I'm going to teach her the correct terms...shouldn't they be accurate? The book pictured above cites statistics on how common it is for people to not even know the correct terms for their bodies...but maybe that can come later. I just don't want her to be confused