Teaching the proper words

[joujou]

When do you begin teaching the proper words for gentials. My son loves elephants and oneday while using the potty he asks , "Mommy, is this my elephant trunk? I could not do anything but laugh. I called his father and told him, and the rest of
of my family. Kids say crazy things. When do I stop him from referring to his penis as an elephant trunk?

[fuzzy]

I always believed that a child should know the correct term for their privates.If for any reason I have to refer to my son(14mo) penis,that's what I call it.Someday,(when he asks)I will tell him that it's his penis and it's private.
I think if my son refered to it as an elephant trunk I probably would of cracked up laughing to!lol
Melissa

[ktejmommy]

I am not going to say either way whether or not to use the proper words for body parts... but a trunk is a "nose"... nowhere near a penis or the same area of the body, and need I say.. doesn't serve the same purpose.
I would have died too if my son asked me that - it's hilarious. But however you choose to handle the proper words issue, at least let him know his nose would be his trunk lol

[curlycue]

My daughter is 16 months old and one day I came out of the shower, and she yelled "Naked mama!" and pointed to my, uh, nether regions and asked "Dat?"

For whatever reason, "vulva" come out of my mouth. So now it's "vah-vah". Ha! Maybe a little more anatomically correct than I was planning, but honestly all cutesy words for girlie parts just flew out of my head at the time.

But I figure, we don't really give cute names to other body parts, so why the genitals? Might as well treat them all equally, and like a previous poster said, explain that they are private when they are old enough to understand.

[cdato20]

If you don't want him calling it an elephant trunk, correct it now. Tell him what it is and how he should refer to it now. There is no "appropriate time" to teach this. He is going to call it whatever you tell him it is. Props for wanting him to use the right words. When I was growing up, it was something we didn't discuss. Maybe if my family would have discussed it a little more openly, I wouldn't have had my first child at 18. I'm 20 and I still can't bring myself to say the word "penis" out loud.

[MamaT]

joujou i think you should tellh im now that it's not a trunk.
my mom told me that she told us from the beginning what our body parts were, and when i was 3 i guess, i was at the table and i told my mom i had a problem and she whispered to me abou it and i loudly said what the problem was.. and my uncle just looked at my mom and said.. did she just say what i think she said? my mom was like.. yes.. she knows. mom said everyone cracked up cause my uncle was so shocked.
so in my honest opinion i say start young. let them know what each part of their body is, and as mentioned by curlycue, as they get older let them know its private.