A Cautionary Tale

So one of the things I hung my hat on parenting-wise was that our children would learn the anatomically correct words for their private parts. I felt calling it something ridiculous like a wienie or a hoo-ha or a pee-pee was, well, ridiculous.  There was nothing shameful or wrong about calling it what it was. Or so I believed.
Fast forward almost 8 years into my parenting journey.  I still feel that I made the right choice in teaching them the right words.  However, I made one tiny little omission.  Along with teaching them the right words, I should have also taught them when we use, and more importantly, not use those right words. Like the grocery store.  Not the place to talk about our vagina.  The bathtub. Totally acceptable.
My mom relayed this story to me this week.  The kids are still down in Florida enjoying a little quality time with the grandparents.  My parent's neighbors are also hosting their grandchildren and the two sets of grandkids have hit it off splendidly and have been playing together a lot.  The other day they were playing "Simon says" out by the pool.  Harper was "Simon."  Mom said she was doing all the usual "Simon" things–"Simon says touch your knee, Simon says touch your nose."  And then she drops the bomb (I'm sure you can see where this is going), "Simon says touch your vaginas or your penises."  I was mostly proud that she was aware of the fact that her audience included both males and females and included everyone.
So I'm pretty sure she feels no shame about her private parts.  So chalk up a win in that column.  But add another mark in the "embarrassed mom" category.  There are a lot of marks in that category, in case you were wondering.