So, I have a question...
Dec. 24th, 2005 03:09 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
conuly
And a story or two to go along with it!
Ana yesterday fell onto a puzzle in such a way that it hurt her in, ah, a sensitive area. Yeah. Owie!
And she wanted her mom to kiss it, which wasn't happening for reasons that were difficult to explain without giving the wrong idea. Poor Ana kept going "Kiss the 'gina!"
Except, of course, it's not the vagina. That's inside. It's the vulva. So why is it that parents who work to use the correct terms with their kids (often self-righteously, but that's a common thread among all such decisions, I find) go "Well, we use the right term, it's a vagina."? It's not! Vagina! Inside! Vulva! Outside! DUH!
[Poll #639771]
Also yesterday, while we're sitting in her mom's room, Ana starts clutching her vulva and asking me what it was, so she could say "I touch 'gina!"* (I didn't want to confuse the issue by adding a new term, though I knew better). If this keeps up, we're going to have to find a way to explain about private parts without warping her for life.
*She does this all the time. No, not *that*, asking what something is so she can use the word. "I touch Microwave! I touch ceiling!" It's cute.
I'm not using the normal tag for issues with the kid, because I intend to friends-lock this anyway long before she gets savvy enough to look it up and KILL ME.
Ana yesterday fell onto a puzzle in such a way that it hurt her in, ah, a sensitive area. Yeah. Owie!
And she wanted her mom to kiss it, which wasn't happening for reasons that were difficult to explain without giving the wrong idea. Poor Ana kept going "Kiss the 'gina!"
Except, of course, it's not the vagina. That's inside. It's the vulva. So why is it that parents who work to use the correct terms with their kids (often self-righteously, but that's a common thread among all such decisions, I find) go "Well, we use the right term, it's a vagina."? It's not! Vagina! Inside! Vulva! Outside! DUH!
[Poll #639771]
Also yesterday, while we're sitting in her mom's room, Ana starts clutching her vulva and asking me what it was, so she could say "I touch 'gina!"* (I didn't want to confuse the issue by adding a new term, though I knew better). If this keeps up, we're going to have to find a way to explain about private parts without warping her for life.
*She does this all the time. No, not *that*, asking what something is so she can use the word. "I touch Microwave! I touch ceiling!" It's cute.
I'm not using the normal tag for issues with the kid, because I intend to friends-lock this anyway long before she gets savvy enough to look it up and KILL ME.
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no subject
Date: 2005-12-24 10:39 pm (UTC)i understand your issue with the misuse of the word vagina, but i don't think kids need to know all the specific landmarks down there, so it doesn't really bother me. i guess if all little girls referred to the whole area as "vulva" it would be more appropriate (though then the vagina would be left out), but i guess the thing is simply that people are not comfortable w the word vulva.
what was that last question? i clicked moose, but i had no idea what i was saying by doing so.
no subject
Date: 2005-12-24 10:56 pm (UTC)1. Last question's just a ticky box
2. Hee. Considering that a lot of adults get by without knowing what their own body is like, I agree - it just seems strange to say you're using the right term when you're not.
3. Fair 'nuff.