Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Okay...so here's a question for you guys. Growing up, I always called my parents "Mom" (well, technically "Mum") and "Dad," like most kids.
However, my husband and his brother always called his parents by their actual first names. Part of the reason why I think is that his parents owned a retail store, and thus he was always referring to his parents to other people--but still.
It got me thinking that, if I ever had kids, I think I'd leave it up to them to decide what to call me. Mom, Mother, Squid , whatever.
Anyhow, I'm curious if kids calling parents by their first name is common. Any of you have your kids do that? Did/do you refer to your parents by their first names?
My name is Mom to my children just like my mother's name is Nanny or Grandma whichever she chooses. They would never get away with first name familiarity. My children are not even allow to call strangers by first names. Miss Ann is our neighbor that is my age, Mrs. Lemley is our neighbor that is my grandmother's age. My brother is Uncle Bill, I have Aunts and Uncles that they call by Aunt and Uncle. My older only tried it 1 time. Just not acceptable to me.
Okay...so here's a question for you guys. Growing up, I always called my parents "Mom" (well, technically "Mum") and "Dad," like most kids.
However, my husband and his brother always called his parents by their actual first names. Part of the reason why I think is that his parents owned a retail store, and thus he was always referring to his parents to other people--but still.
It got me thinking that, if I ever had kids, I think I'd leave it up to them to decide what to call me. Mom, Mother, Squid , whatever.
Anyhow, I'm curious if kids calling parents by their first name is common. Any of you have your kids do that? Did/do you refer to your parents by their first names?
The one friend I have who calls her father by his first name does so because she has no respect for him as a father.
But I imagine in a situation such as your husband and brother-in-law it could make sense. Though short of an unusual situation like theirs, it's hard to imagine it's a good thing for kids to do this in general.
However, I have to admit the idea of hearing a little 3 year old say "I love you Squid" does sound cute
Never met anyone who called their parents by their name. Whenever someone asks who I am I may say so and so's daughter or granddaughter. I may say my father name is so and so. To him and around my siblings he is dad. Same for my mother.
My name is Mom to my children just like my mother's name is Nanny or Grandma whichever she chooses. They would never get away with first name familiarity. My children are not even allow to call strangers by first names. Miss Ann is our neighbor that is my age, Mrs. Lemley is our neighbor that is my grandmother's age. My brother is Uncle Bill, I have Aunts and Uncles that they call by Aunt and Uncle. My older only tried it 1 time. Just not acceptable to me.
I'm trying to think back, and I think the times I may have tried to call my mother by her first name, she just kind of laughed and said that sounded weird coming from me. I've never really thought of it as a respect issue--more just a convention of sorts. Interesting.
In my family Uncles/Aunts usually are just called by their first names by their respective nieces and nephews, without the "Aunt" or "Uncle" before. Also, when I talk about my grandmother (mother's mother) to my mother, I also refer to her by her first name...and so does my mother to me. Yet in person I call her "Grandma."
...and yes, I'm probably the only one on earth that finds this interesting.
Mostly my daughter calls me mom, but occasionally she'll call me by my first name. Mostly because she's older now, almost 17, and she likes to mess with me in a fun way. We're very close, more like sisters, so I don't see it as disrespectful.
Plus, we often get mistaken for sisters, so she can get away with not calling me 'mom' in those circumstances, because we're both having fun collectively messing with other people.
I think it depends on the people and the situation. Not sure that there's a 'right' and 'wrong' on this one - to me it's more about the intent and the relationship.
I have no problem with my daughter doing this, but I certainly don't have a problem with people who wouldn't want their kids doing it, either.
NO one in our family (immediate/extended) addresses their parents by first name unless they are joking around. No one in our family addresses any of the elders without the appropriate "titles" of Mom/Dad, Aunt/Uncle, Grandma/Grandpa and even further, in our culture we use a designation of "Ate/Kuya" which is a sign of respect for older siblings or cousins.
I'm sure at some point as our children get older & can actually speak, they will call DH & me by our nicknames as that is what they hear but they'll learn early on we're "mom/dad". Our neighbor's daughter at age 3 started calling him "Honey" as that is what she heard her mom addressing him by. It got on his nerves because 3 yr old called him "Honey" when she was annoyed or frustrated. It was pretty funny for us as neighbors. Not so much for "honey". It went on for about a month.
The only people who I personally know that address their parents by first name are those that didn't grow up with their biological parents or had distant relationships with a parent.
I've heard a couple of adults refer to their parents by their names, which is startling enough because it's so unusual. I don't think I've heard a kid do that, other than my cousin whose stepdad is Dad and father is Mike. (She was raised by and lived with her mom and stepdad.)
Also, my oldest daughter called my dad by his name (also Mike) when she was very little. Maybe two, three at the oldest. My grandfather is Grandpa, and my dad is Grandpa Mike. She just called him Mike, and we all though it was funny. She'd race into my parents' house: HI MIKE! Nobody thought it was disrespectful, but I guess we corrected her after a while, because she stopped calling him that.
I experienced that once where an aquintance's young daughter called her by her first name. She thought it was because the daughter heard her husband [the Dad] call the Mom by her first name.I guess that's why my husband started caling me "Mom" right after out first kid was born, and he was "Dad." We never had that divide.Of course ,13 years later it is such a habit that it gets embarassing out in public when my husband calls to me, "Mom!" and people kind of look at me, like, OK, you look kind of young to be his Mom!
My daughter calls us by our first names, I don't know why. It does not really matter to me, but drives her dad crazy.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
, whatever.
It went on for about a month.
