Our school facilitator tells the kids at school who have hygiene issues to
wash the "highs and the lows" which is a great term even for our kids.

Shirley

"TwinMom" wrote in message
...
Man, oh man, what an active topic. I had to pop in here. With 8yo frat
boys
and now an almost 4yo girl (raising my niece since 22 mos), we've crossed
this bridge, sort of. The boys always knew that they had penises and
testicles. (Suddenly remembering a bath time surprise "Mom!!! There's a
ball
in my scrotum!!!" when one found his testes! ROFLMAO at the time! He
thought
something he had eaten had gotten stuck!) Anyway, the general term for
that
area in our house is their "parts" as in private parts, and as in more
than
one thing down there. We figured that it leaves us lots of room to improve
as time goes on. It also shortens the conversations during bath time, as
in
"Did you wash your parts?" or "Is all the soap out of your parts?". It
gets
the message across and they can check around themselves and make sure
they're clean, etc. When it comes to specific terms for specific
situations,
we use them. One DS had a terrible, irritated fungal rash last year around
his anus from improper wiping and we used that term at the doctor's and
after when discussing that specific problem. (It was kinda gross having to
apply ointment, but it was all very matter of fact and we kept him
informed
of his recovery each time.) He is now much more careful BTW. When we talk
about using the slot in their underwear to go to the bathroom (a new
concept
to them) we use the term penis. With our "new" DD, so far, we've just used
the term parts, because that's all we've needed, however, at potty time,
she
does ask for help wiping her "bum". She knows that her bum is part of her
parts down there. As she gets older and more curious, we'll be there with
the factual answers as is age appropriate.
Oh, and one last thing, with a girl in the house, modesty has suddenly
become a big thing with the boys. Even around me. They get quite
embarrassed
being caught in "the buff". Makes for some funny times.
HTH Lorraine in Los Alamos