Children Privates

Children Privates

Therapists
:
Login
|
Sign Up

United States

Austin, TX
Brooklyn, NY
Chicago, IL
Denver, CO
Houston, TX
Los Angeles, CA
New York, NY
Portland, OR
San Diego, CA
San Francisco, CA
Seattle, WA
Washington, DC

Mental Health

Addiction

Anxiety

ADHD

Asperger's

Autism

Bipolar Disorder

Chronic Pain

Depression

Eating Disorders

Personality

Passive Aggression

Personality

Shyness

Personal Growth

Goal Setting

Happiness

Positive Psychology

Stopping Smoking

Relationships

Low Sexual Desire

Relationships

Sex

Family Life

Child Development

Parenting

Talk to Someone

Find a Therapist

Find a Treatment Center

Find a Psychiatrist

Find a Support Group

Find Teletherapy

Trending Topics

Coronavirus Disease 2019

Narcissism

Dementia

Bias

Affective Forecasting

Neuroscience

Source: Photographee.eu/Shutterstock

Are you a Therapist?
Get Listed Today

Get Help

Find a Therapist

Find a Treatment Center

Find a Psychiatrist

Find a Support Group

Find Teletherapy

Members
Login
Sign Up

United States

Austin, TX
Brooklyn, NY
Chicago, IL
Denver, CO
Houston, TX
Los Angeles, CA
New York, NY
Portland, OR
San Diego, CA
San Francisco, CA
Seattle, WA
Washington, DC

Mental Health

Addiction

Anxiety

ADHD

Asperger's

Autism

Bipolar Disorder

Chronic Pain

Depression

Eating Disorders

Personality

Passive Aggression

Personality

Shyness

Personal Growth

Goal Setting

Happiness

Positive Psychology

Stopping Smoking

Relationships

Low Sexual Desire

Relationships

Sex

Family Life

Child Development

Parenting

Talk to Someone

Find a Therapist

Find a Treatment Center

Find a Psychiatrist

Find a Support Group

Find Teletherapy

Trending Topics

Coronavirus Disease 2019

Narcissism

Dementia

Bias

Affective Forecasting

Neuroscience

The question is not whether you’ll change; you will. Research clearly shows that everyone’s personality traits shift over the years, often for the better. But who we end up becoming and how much we like that person are more in our control than we tend to think they are.

Posted March 6, 2017

|

Reviewed by Devon Frye

Question: My 3-year-old calls his penis his "wee-wee," but my sister says he should learn the correct term for it. I think "penis" sounds too clinical, and I also don’t want him going around talking about that. Who’s right?
Children should be taught the standard terms for all of their body parts, including the ones adults are nervous about naming. He probably doesn’t call his hand his "bang-bang" or his foot his "walkie," and it’s time to teach him that his penis is his penis.
When kids know and are comfortable using the standard terms for their private body parts—penis, scrotum, clitoris, vagina—they’ve got one more protection against sexual abuse .
When children feel awkward talking about certain body parts—if they giggle when someone mentions those parts, for example—they’re more likely to feel embarrassed about asking questions, and they’re less likely to tell you if someone is touching them inappropriately. Euphemisms usually reflect parents’ discomfort with talking openly about those body parts, and so kids learn there’s something naughty, wrong, or rude about talking about them.
Recent research shows that knowing the correct anatomical terms enhances kids’ body image , self-confidence , and openness . It also discourages their susceptibility to molesters. When children are abused, having the correct language helps both the child and adults deal with disclosure and—if necessary—the forensic interview process.
According to Laura Palumbo of the National Sexual Violence Resource Center , "We need all adults to be partners in teaching healthy childhood sexual development, and square one is body parts. Educators and parents should communicate accurately, without stigma or shame ."
Kids need to know that their penis, scrotum, clitoris, vagina, and vulva are body parts like their arms, feet, ears, and elbows. They’re different because they’re private—we usually keep them covered—but they’re healthy, good, and acceptable body parts nonetheless.
In my attempt to find evidence supporting these positions, I found several articles describing a need for more research on the sexual abuse of young children. In the absence of statistical validation, however, there is a general consensus among clinical experts that children who know the anatomically correct names for their genitals are better able to avoid abuse, or to talk about it if it happens. From the American Academy of Pediatrics: "In early childhood, parents can teach their children the name of the genitals, just as they teach their child names of other body parts. This teaches that the genitals, while private, are not so private that you can’t talk about them."
Dona Matthews, Ph.D. , is a developmental psychologist and the author of four books about children, adolescents and education.

Get the help you need from a therapist near you–a FREE service from Psychology Today.

Psychology Today © 2022 Sussex Publishers, LLC

The question is not whether you’ll change; you will. Research clearly shows that everyone’s personality traits shift over the years, often for the better. But who we end up becoming and how much we like that person are more in our control than we tend to think they are.

By
Manny Alvarez , | Fox News
NEW You can now listen to Fox News articles!

This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten,
or redistributed. ©2022 FOX News Network, LLC. All rights reserved.
Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. Market data provided by Factset . Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions . Legal Statement . Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by Refinitiv Lipper .

I don’t need to tell you that boys and girls develop differently. Parents should be aware of their child’s private parts from the very beginning and should make note of any changes they notice. Then as the child hits puberty, between eight and 13 years of age, the parent should educate the child to be aware of his or her private parts so that he or she, too, can be aware of any changes or problems.
Young girls may develop vaginal problems. Bacterial vaginitis is very common in girls between the ages of two and four. It occurs when bacteria from the skin gets inside the vagina and causes irritation and inflammation. But it’s nothing that proper hygiene can’t prevent. It is important for mothers to teach their little girls how to wash themselves properly.
Vaginal itching is extremely common in young girls. A child with vulvovaginitis, as it is formally known, will scratch her vaginal area or complain of burning or pain when she urinates. Before puberty, the skin around the vaginal area can be very sensitive and become red and inflamed by a number of common irritants. One of the most common is soap or shampoo.
A lot of young children take bubble baths, and parents tend to forget to rinse them properly after they sit and play in the soap suds. Another common reason is poor toilet hygiene. When toilet training young girls, parents must also teach them to wipe after urination, which sometimes they forget to do in all the excitement over their success in having them sit on the potty. On the other hand, excessive wiping after urination can also cause irritation and itching.
In rare cases, vaginal itching can be associated with pinworms, which look like small pieces of thread and are about a quarter of an inch long. Usually pinworms cause itching around the anal area, but they can also manifest in the lower vagina. Pinworms tend to cause symptoms at night when they migrate out of the anal area. If recognized, pinworms are diagnosed very easily with fecal cultures and are easily treatable. See your doctor for this.
As young girls approach the age of eight or nine, vaginal itches may be caused by vaginal yeast infections. Yeast is a natural flora of the vaginal mucosa, but when it overgrows, it can lead to an inflammation, causing burning, redness, and irritation, and it may produce a thick white discharge. There are many reasons for the overgrowth of vaginal yeast. The routine use of antibiotics, which may occur in children with frequent ear infections and throat infections, can lead to the overgrowth of yeast in the vaginal area. Poor hygiene, again, can be another reason.
Even a small piece of toilet paper left in the small vaginal orifice can cause an infection and vaginal itching. A diaper rash in infants and toddlers may appear not only in the buttocks and anal area, but also in the vaginal area, and that could also be attributed to an overgrowth of yeast. Most of these problems are easily treated either by a primary care physician or by a pediatrician.
Urinary tract infections are, of course, a recurring issue for women during their entire lives. The reason why women get more urinary tract infections is because the tube that connects their bladder to the outside, called the urethra, is very short. This means that bacteria can make their way into the bladder fairly easily. Males don’t have this problem as often because the penis provides them with a longer urethra.
Girls can also have something called bladder reflux, in which the urine flow from the bladder backs up into the tubes called ureters, instead of flowing normally down from the kidneys, through the ureters, to the bladder. This problem is commonly diagnosed in children who have had a urinary tract infection. The infection can cause a blockage in the urinary system, which then leads to a swelling of the ureter.
Males, on the other hand, may experience problems with their testicles. One is varicoceles, which is essentially a varicose vein within the testicle. It’s caused by a damaged valve in the vein, draining blood from the testicle. There is nothing that can be done to prevent it, and there is no treatment, although if the boy is uncomfortable, he may need to wear supportive underwear.
Then there is testicular torsion, which may occur beginning at the age of eight or nine. The problem causes an acute severe pain of the testicles, or sometimes just a dull pain. Testicular torsion is a twisting of the spermatic cord that holds each testicle suspended within the scrotum. When the cord becomes twisted, it can cut off the blood supply to a testicle. If it is not treated quickly (within hours), the boy could lose a testicle; an operation may be needed to untwist the cord. There is no known cause for testicular torsion, but it can sometimes result from physical activity.
A third problem are inguinal hernias, which are basically weaknesses or tears in the wall of the groin. Though not confined to boys, boys will experience inguinal hernias about ten times more frequently than girls. Symptoms include pain, nausea, blocked bowels, and a bulge in the groin area, which can extend to the scrotum in boys, that remains even when lying down. Surgery is usually necessary to repair the hernia.
Both girls and boys are subject to precocious puberty. This occurs when signs of puberty appear prematurely—with breast development and the onset of menstruation in girls before age seven or eight, or with the enlargement of the testis and penis and facial and pubic hair growth in boys before the age of nine.
When it occurs in girls, there is usually no underlying medical problem, though there may be one in boys, in whom the condition is less common but may be hereditary. Hormones in food, especially hormone-grown poultry and beef, may cause early development in girls, according to some reports.
Precocious puberty can be physically and emotionally difficult for children. It’s important that parents provide a supportive environment for the sexually precocious child, explaining that these changes are normal for older kids and teens, but that his or her body has started developing a little too early.
Click here to check out Dr. Manny's book The Check List (Harper Collins, 2007), from which this article was excerpted.
Dr. Manny Alvarez is the managing editor of health news at FOXNews.com, and is a regular medical contributor on the FOX News Channel. He is chairman of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Reproductive Science at Hackensack University Medical Center in New Jersey. Additionally, Alvarez is Adjunct Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at New York University School of Medicine in New York City.

This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. ©2022 FOX News Network, LLC. All rights reserved. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. Market data provided by Factset . Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions . Legal Statement . Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by Refinitiv Lipper .

Translation Menu

Español

Secondary Menu

Report Fraud

Sign Up for Consumer Alerts

Search the Legal Library

Sections

Cases and Proceedings

Premerger Notification Program

Merger Review

Anticompetitive Practices

Rulemaking

Statutes

Competition and Consumer Protection Guidance Documents

Warning Letters

Consumer Sentinel Network

Criminal Liaison Unit

Recent FTC Cases Resulting in Refunds

Notices of Penalty Offenses

Competition Matters Blog

the Premerger Notification Office Staff
Thursday, September 8, 2022 | 2:00PM
- 7:30PM

Sections

Mission

History

Commissioners and Staff

Bureaus and Offices

Budget and Strategy

Office of Inspector General

Careers at the FTC

Contact

Translation Menu

Español

Secondary M
Little Naked Forum
Florian Big Nasty
Salon International De La Lingerie

Children Privates

Report Page