Teaching the proper anatomy terms?

Question

I have taught my 2 and a half year old and my 4 year old daughters the proper terms of anatomy. I have gotten mixed reactions to this. What do you think?

Answer 1

I think thats great that you are teaching them. Alot of people tend to say that 2 and 4 y/o is too early. But its never too early. They need to know the parts of their bodies as well as the labels for them. As well as telling them that no one has a right to touch their private areas and that they should tell mommy is anyone does. The world now is full of perves and its best they are being taught properly rather then learning things second hand.

Answer 2

When a child understands the correct words and terminology, they become mature in that particular form of subject matter. If you show that you are embarassed to call a penis what it is and you refer to it as a dingle dong of sorts, your child will take those same cues from you and he will giggle or react very expressively whenever he sees that part of the body. Also when a child wants to know where babies come from, don't tell them that the stork brings them ;)

My parents taught me a lot of things about sexual anatomy when I was a child and because of it, my peers had more issues about nudity than I did. I mean when I was 5, I didn't see what the big deal was about seeing a pair of breasts. I was like, "Breasts? Yeah? So what? All women have them."

Interestingly enough, a friend of mine goes so far as to teach his kids the proper terminology for bodily functions. Rather than saying "pee-pee" and "doo-doo" they say "urinate" and "deficate" respectively. It tends to shock some people when his 2½ year old kid says, "Daddy? Can you take me to the bathroom? I have to deficate."

Answer 3

Yep. Been there, done that. Wonder why folks are like that? I heard someone very upset that a friends little girl knew her daddy had a penis, was sure he was abusing her in some way. I think it's fine and reduces confusion and embarrassment later, but didn't teach younger kids proper names due to some teacher embarrassment. It's more a preference than anything. If my little boys talk about their "wee wee" rather than "penis" why is that more socially acceptable? I don't know the answer, but it does seem to be the case!

Answer 4

My son has always used the correct terms, he is 5 and my daughters are 2 and learning the correct terms. Our doctor told us that "cute" names for them are highly confusing for a child and that the proper terms should be used to educate them and so they dont think the correct terms are dirty words. Its funny if my son hears a "slang" word for anatomy he laughs and laughs.

Answer 5

I think it is great. They need to know the correct terms because god forbid if something was to happen they have to be able to tell where. there have been some cases where the predator has gotten away with it because the child did not know the correct term. My son has always known the correct term for what he has but waited till he new there was a difference between girls and boys and had asked ? before i told him the correct terms for girls.

Answer 6

I taught my daughter and son (ages 27 and 23 respectively) the proper names for their anatomy. However, this freaked my mother out when our daughter told her that her little brother was in mommy's uterus. "How could you?", she said. "Just tell her it's in your stomach". I didn't do it. To this day, we are all open with each other, to a point!

Answer 7

I think it's great that you taught them the proper terms. Children are extremely smart and are capable of understanding as well as using proper terms.

Answer 8

You are so right about teaching yoyr kids the right terms for thier priavte areas I read this storie of a child that wet and told her teacher she played with her uncle's bird and that techer said thats nice it turned out it she was getting aboused so i guess its all right to teach your kids the right terms for thier bodies dont you think

Answer 9

AT these young ages, you should let your kids take the lead by asking questions as they come up. When they do ask, answer in simple but proper terms.

Answer 10

i think you are a VERY good mother for teaching your girls the right words. i did the same with my 2 children, way back when. i wish more parents would teach their children the correct words. another thing i taught my 2 were the real words, EX- dog, not doggie. a small dog is a pup or puppy, not a doggie.