You may remember James as the stay-at-home dad who wrote this hugely controversial post for Mamamia that sent many readers ballistic. He followed it up with this post and gave everyone whiplash. Today, he writes about something altogether different…..
by JAMES WILKINSON
I had better start from the beginning…
Our two year old daughter has always had baths and lately she wants to have showers, which stands to reason because that is what we all have around here.
She now loves the shower so much that she refuses to have a bath. Luckily Mum has been around to do the showering but lately we have had to change plans.
I mean, I can’t really say, “Sorry honey you can’t have a shower because of daddy’s penis” can I?
She has seen me in the shower at times but I usually leave my undies on when she is around and while she knows boys and girls, she has never seen a penis as far as I know.
She has seen mum naked and knows that she has the same bits. We call it her “corker” which is a direct translation from a European language for the female anatomy. She does not know about what dad has and we haven’t had to explain it yet. She is only two.
If I leave my underpants on in the shower and sit down while she stands up I can probably get away with it without any awkward questions.
As we are toilet training and thus have an open door policy in the bathroom, I usually sit down to pee so as to show her what to do. So far that has enabled us to avoid any explanations as to what’s between my legs and why it is different to her and mum’s.
I have recently been caught on a couple of occasions trying to sneak a quick stand up pee when her curious little head would peep around the corner saying ” What are you doing daddy?”
“Daddy’s doing a wee wee”.
I can see her little brain ticking over going ” Wow how can he do that standing up?” and she creeps closer to try and get a better look at this amazing technique.
Well if you have ever tried to stop a pee you will know that it can be quite a difficult thing to do, especially under pressure. So I have to manouvere myself to block her view while I attempt to abort the mission. I’ve been lucky so far.
When and how do you explain physical gender differences to kids? If I try to explain the whole boy and girl anatomy thing to her at this age she is bound to demand a full inspection and what do you do then?
Top Comments
It's not a Vagina, its called a Vulva and the Vagina is inside of the Vulva.
I never understood all of the fuss. Nudity was common in our house growing up, in my house and in our kids' houses too. Fortunately, we make it a point to maintain physical fitness, which in turn, promotes the same. Mom and Dad's genitals were never a mystery to us, we even knew how they functioned from an early age. Helps promote well adjusted children-adults early on, no doubt about it.