The realm of child-rearing is riddled with perplexing questions and differing opinions, and the one area where I’m continually stumped is what to call the “private parts.”
I’ve read all the literature that says it’s best to give the proper names, i.e. vagina and penis, so your little ones don’t think it’s weird that the other body parts, like arm or leg, don’t sound cutesy like “wee-wee” might. I think that’s assuming a lot. It seems to me that words are words, especially to a toddler. Personally, hearing “vagina” all the time from my two-year-old would probably freak me out. I guess I’m immature like that. Then again, hearing “vagina” constantly in everyday conversation from anyone would probably freak me out. And let me tell you, there’s a lot of talk about the “vagina” when you’ve got a potty-training kid.
Even Oprah calls it a “vajayjay!”
What did you call me?
I’ve gone with the word “coochie.” I think it’s cute, simple and innocuous enough. Little D’s been using it since she could talk, for a year or so now. For the penis, I call it a “pee-pee.” In France, I think (though no one can seem to give me a clear answer) both boys and girls call it a “zizi?”
Anyway, I felt alright about little D and her “coochie” until I was spending some time last summer with a few good friends at their country house. They have a pool so little D would go swimming naked and spend most of the day naked. She came over to me one day in all her birthday suit glory and said something about her “coochie.” One of my gay friends, who was sitting with me, was shocked. “Maggie, that’s what she calls it? I don’t think that’s the best word for it.” “Really? But doesn’t it sound cute?” “No, I think it sounds kind of dirty.”
Oh. And uh-oh?
Well, I haven’t come up with a better alternative since then and it seemed it would be strange and confusing to start calling it something different altogether. I really toyed with “vajayjay” (hey, if Oprah endorses it), but thought that would sound even weirder. Can you imagine? “Mama, I peed. Now wipe the vajayjay.”
So “coochie” it is, but please let me know if there’s a better alternative, in your opinion. Does “pee-pee” work for boys since the next one is, yep, a boy! What have you taught your kids?
And an old MK song (not called “Coochie” but “Coo”) which you can download here, if you’re so inclined:
UPDATE: Following suggestions, I decided to introduce the grownup “vagina” today, telling her “coochie” was the baby word. Little D seemed to think it was alright, shortening it to “‘gina.” I can probably live with that.
Like this:
Tags: coochie, naming private parts, Oprah, pee-pee, potty training, vagina cupcakes, vajayjay
Congrats on the boy!!! They are fun (granted since I have two I am a little biased). For London, we always called his penis a peepee until about 2 and a half then we started introducing penis and have since dropped peepee. I am sure we’ll do the same for Parker as he gets older. Not sure what to suggest for D, but i kind of agree with your friend about it sounding a little off. What about transitioning to her asking you to wipe her body or to refer to it as her privates? Using the idea that she is a big girl and no longer needs the baby word for her vagina ( maybe also letting her know thats the proper word but you call it ______). Good luck! In the grand scheme of things I think whatever you and Dman pick is the best thing, who really cares what others think about your word choices with your small people
Congrats on your new boy–yay!! I want to see pix!! And hope you’re doing well. Is two just crazy?
I might start doing the transition soon, esp. since she’ll be starting school in the fall… might as well figure out what the French call it, too…
Thank you for the congrats!! Two is slightly ridiculous; however, London is a great helper and since he is almost 5 it is not as crazy as it could be. Thankfully Parker is a very mellow baby. I have some pictures up on facebook of the new little guy. I would love to see baby bump pictures if you have them!! When are you due exactly?
We used ‘choochie’ for vagina and ‘touley’ for penis but these are the words I used when I was little and it’s our family-Anglo-Indian thing. My two are older enough now to use the proper terms but at home, they still use the slang. They know the difference between the proper word and slang so it hasn’t done them any harm.
Congrats on the boy Maggie – I have one of each in the same order and it’s lovely to have both. Little D will be the ‘mama bear’ to her brother, you’ll see.
I like choochie, Renee! And little D is so excited for her baby brother but I keep thinking that once she realizes he’s sticking around for good, she might not be as thrilled
First, where did you find that cupcake image? I mean, did you already have it in your collection of photos or did you have to scour the web?
For now, we’re using peepee b/c we have a boy, but I don’t see a problem with using the proper names penis and vagina once he’s a just a little bit older (secretly, I thought the scene from Kindergarden Cop was hilarious of course).
Lol… actually, a friend had posted in on FB and it seemed the perfect illustration for the post
And I don’t know that scene from Kindergarden Cop??
In the Philippines, we call the vagina “kingking” (it sounds weird, but yeah, that’s what we call it). I think coochie works! We have many languages here and “kingking” is actually the cute, and socially-acceptable Tagalog word for it. Other Tagalog words for vagina, which are used more in the context of cursing, are “puki” and “pekpek.”
For my niece, we used kingking, of course. Better than my brother’s suggestion to call it “the thing.”
What’s funny is that I know some people who call it “pookie” so it’s funny that “puki” is kind of bad word. Kingking is awesome!!!
In Jamaica we call vagina ‘porkie’ or ‘vuggie’ we also call it ‘pums’, ‘pum pum’, ‘punny’ but those are kinda frowned on. Penis is mostly ’tillee’ or ‘pee pee’
Pums and pum pum are cute!! It looks like pee pee is pretty universal