To Teach or Not To Teach.....

As a parent, I chose to teach my children the proper names of their body parts.  Namely their privates.  I didn't want them to be uncomfortable when talking about their body or if they had questions.  I felt calling things by their proper names would help with this.  For some reason this choice has seemed to backfire a bit.  Both my Tate and Addie are almost too comfortable talking about their private parts.

Obviously I have mentioned time and time again that even though we know the correct names, that doesn't mean you go saying it everywhere you go.  Sometimes out of respect for those around you, you can just say private parts.  My kids have no such filter. 

When they both first started using the proper names,  Addie kept getting confused and would call her private a P**** (Not that it's a bad word, but out of respect for those who don't want to read it).  I remember one day in particular when she informed me her penis was hurting.  I corrected her, but reminded her that she could just say "private" instead.  Tate was just as open.   While playing soccer in the backyard with friends, I would often hear him announce when his privates (but using the correct name) got kicked or bumped.  I started worrying what other parents were going to start thinking and hoped that eventually they would realize when or when these proper names were appropriate to use.

A couple years later, they still don't get it.  Recently we went on a family trip and took our kids to eat at a restaurant.  The tables were on sand and overlooked the ocean.  It was a beautiful setting, but my kids quickly found how to best annoy each other.  The started kicking sand under the table.  Next thing you know tate is yelling loudly at Addie, "You kicked my P****"!!!! Addie laughed and this made Tate mad.  He then kicked her and she screamed, "Tate kicked me in the V******"!!!  Matt and I tried to calm them both down but before they stopped, each child had to loudly tell us several more time where the other kicked them.  Finally things calmed down and our food came.  

As we continued eating the subject changes.... Well sort of.  The kids wanted us to know that they knew just what to do if a burglar broke into our house.  Not thinking much of it, we asked them how?  Proud and loud one of them said, "I would kick them in the P**** or V******"!  At this point I'm sure the tables next to us were wondering what kind of parents we were.  I was just a little embarrassed (understatement).   Obviously we looked at this as another teaching opportunity and told them that there would probably be smarter things to do first then to go and attack the burglar.  If you can get out of the house and run.... do that! If not, and you have a  phone near by or could get to one without being seen, you should call 911.  Of course Addie claims she has a better "Ideal" (Addie says ideal instead of idea no matter how many times we have corrected her).  We asked her what that idea was and she said, "I would first call a neighbor and then tell them to call 911 for me".  Although this wasn't as embarrassing as the kids using proper names out loud for all to hear, it did cause me to wonder.  Addie is so funny.

You never know what conversations are kids will bring up or what they are going to say.  They defiantly keep us on the edge of our chairs.  I still think it's good they know the proper name but with my kids it always seems they can turn a good idea to a questionable one.  lol