Those of you who use anatomically correct words for genitals

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Forum -> Children's Health

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naturemom

Thu, Jul 25 2013, 11:09 am

Do you also teach your kids to use anatomically correct words for their abdomen?
One of the reasons given to encourage real names is to be able to identify which body part is irritated or in pain, right? In that case it seems to me that when your kids complain that their tummy hurts you need to encourage them to tell you if its their intestines, liver, gallbladdder, small bowel, or actual stomach that is hurting. And if its the general abdomen you need to teach them to say abdomen instead of tummy.
Biology lessons for all little kids are in order!

Hashem_Yaazor

Thu, Jul 25 2013, 11:15 am

Children are not doctors nor diagnosticians. I myself couldn't tell you if I had abdominal pain if it was intestinal discomfort, an ovarian cyst, appendicitis, kidney stones, etc CH"V. That's what doctors and tests are for Confused

imasinger

Thu, Jul 25 2013, 11:15 am

That's not a reasonable analogy. One can see or feel genitalia, but not what is inside the abdominal cavity. Could you differentiate whether an abdominal pain that you felt was associated with one organ or another?

Why should anyone have to be consistent, anyway? Many non frum kids will say things like, "Pee pee comes from my p@nis." Inconsistent, but so what?

chani8

Thu, Jul 25 2013, 12:48 pm

If it comes up, sure, why not teach kids a little biology. Certainly I teach my teens.

fromnj

Sun, Aug 18 2013, 12:43 pm

Just yesterday I taught my child where his solar plexus is (well, not exactly where it is, since I didn't cut him open, but where externally would correspond to its internal location. Do you have a problem with that?

mandr

Sun, Aug 18 2013, 2:13 pm

That is so not a comparison! Genitalia are visible and obvious, even to kids. What's inside your abdominal area is NOT visible, and not really point-out-able to adults, let alone kids. Many adults don't know where their kidneys are, or where their stomach actually is, forget about the ovaries, uterus, intestines (which are all over!) and all that.

As kids, we differentiated different kinds of stomach pain by how they felt, not by where they were. Like stabbing/shooting, or "the kind you need to go to the bathroom for", or a pulling feeling that goes away when you stop moving, things like that. If a 3-yr old would tell me her ovary hurts, I would be like, "????"

Peanut2

Sun, Aug 18 2013, 4:05 pm

When my tummy hurts, my tummy hurts. I can guess what it might be based on location, but I don't really know. You have to go the doctor for that, have tests (like an US) to find out.

My daughter knows she has a vulva. We haven't gone through every aspect of the female anatomy just yet, because she is two years old. It would kind of be lost on her.

We certainly learn accurate words for different parts of the body, but our focus at the age of two is on body parts she can see or feel. And words for private parts are very relevant at this age due to potty training.

bubbebia

Sun, Aug 18 2013, 8:19 pm

The problem with this is that abdominal pain can be diffuse and it can also hurt in one place but it's really another part of your anatomy that is ill. If you can get a kid to point to the spot that hurts most and maybe begin to describe the pain--is it achy like when you've exercised too much and your legs are sore, is it crampy--pain that comes and goes, is it stabbing like if someone was putting the tip of a knife into it--then you can get a lot more info than if you have a kid say his liver is hurting him. It might be his appendix. They are in the same region and the pain can radiate.

amother

Sun, Aug 18 2013, 9:15 pm

naturemom wrote:

Well, "tummy" is a generally known and accepted term. If you want to teach your child about his d***, s*****, or p*****, and about his balls, nuts or stones; or if you want to teach your daughter about her t***, s***** or ****, then I'm sure that s/he would be understood if s/he needed to report a problem. But when you give terms that are incomprehensible, like "front tush" or "private part," no one is going to understand.

In any case, if you are able to accurately report whether the pain you are experiencing emanates from your gall bladder or liver, more power to you. I've certainly never met anyone who could.

What power does the word aiver have over people? Its a word. Its a part of the body. Nothing more.

edited to remove coarse language not appropriate for Imamother

amother

Sun, Aug 18 2013, 9:17 pm

P3nis. P3NIS. P3nis. P3nis. Sheesh. Let's add another one to the list. Unless your doctor grew up in or works in the 'hood, s/he won't know what an aiver is, either.

bamamama

Sun, Aug 18 2013, 10:04 pm

I don't have enough eyes to roll at this thread.

Volunteer

Sun, Aug 18 2013, 10:29 pm

I'm a science teacher. It's my JOB to say words like "feces" "s-xual reproduction" and "private part" to a room full of 14 year-olds, with a straight face. I tell them like it is. Periods, urination, body odor, all of it. I tell them that words like that are not "bad words" they are scientific terms that are perfectly OK to use in a mature scientific/medical context. Students have, oftentimes, asked me important personal questions about puberty and stuff. When adults model maturity, even giggly young teens learn to handle these issues. I think this is just part of growing up.

Volunteer

Sun, Aug 18 2013, 10:31 pm

I see that the site automatically edited my reply to replace an anatomical term with "private part." This is just to clarify that I teach the real words for reproductive organs (as well as other organs, btw).

FranticFrummie

Sun, Aug 18 2013, 10:32 pm

bamamama wrote:

I don't have enough eyes to roll at this thread.

Oh my gosh, where did you get that icon? Genius, pure genius. Very Happy

That needs to be a permanent fixture on this board, right up in the main block!

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