As mentioned previously, I am an advocate of teaching children the correct anatomical terms for body parts. It seems to shock people that my son says "penis" instead of "wee wee" or whatever other silly thing people say. He knows the words "vagina" and "breasts," the latter being much more appropriate from the mouth of a child than "boobies" or "tits" or...whatever other silly thing people say. (I read a FB comment posted by some person the other day about how she told her under-the-age-of-five daughter something about "our coochies." SERIOUSLY?!) The reason I taught him the correct terms was because I feel that, if they are going to be referred to or discussed by children, these words sound much more respectful.
I acknowledge the fact that it isn't exactly "orthodox" to have a 3-year-old boy who knows where a vagina is located, but it's better than him calling it...whatever other silly thing people say. We had a "surrogate cousin" born back in August, so that fueled several questions about the origins of babies. Little E and I have discussed this topic, and I have been very honest about it with him, but he is still missing particulars. He knows that he came from my "belly" and that the doctor "cut" me. I've not really decided how to say "I pushed you out through my vagina" without feeling awkward (and I am not the type to be shy or uncomfortable about these things, so I'm not sure what my problem is, exactly)...
After receiving many side-long glances from people who question my parenting because they would never in a million years be able to say those words aloud in normal conversation due to their own and pre-programmed uncomfortabilities with proper language (You can tell your son he has a d***, but you can't say penis?! COME ON!!!), I have decided that EFF IT. If I am going to raise a knowledgeable and respectful young man, my son will know the correct terminology for his body parts and the body parts of others.
Also, I was reading a post on child safety and talking to your children about strangers, not keeping secrets from parents, etc. As most of us know, the majority of the perpetrators of sexual abuse are people with whom the parent(s) trust their child(ren). Because abuse may not be immediately suspected in those type of situations, other red flags parents have to look for (especially in very young children) is how they refer to their body parts. I think the example was given that if your daughter knows she has a vagina, but all of a sudden starts calling it a "cupcake" or something (sorry, that kind of makes me want to throw up) then you can ask her where she has heard it called that. Although we all hope and pray that our children are never abused in such a way (or in any way), I feel that this is actually a rather excellent reason to use proper anatomical terminology.
The purpose for this post is two-fold, I suppose. I'm sharing my preference with you, but I would also like to know: What are your thoughts on teaching these words to young children? Which words would you prefer to hear coming from not only the mouths of your own children, but young children in general?
No comments:
Post a Comment