What does your child call you?

[natural]

As the title states, "What does your child call you?"

On my paternal side, they mostly call their parents by their given name. As far as I know, I am the only one grandmother, granny. I believe I may have also have a couple that may call their parents mom or dad; but most call their parents by their given name. I am not truly close with my paternal cousins, so I can only remember so much. However, I am positive, they will call my grandmother by her given middle name--her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchild alike. I was never allowed to do so, thanks to my mom teaching, but I do find it odd and confusing. Do you think it's disrespectful in any way?

On my maternal side, we call our parents, mom or dad--grandparents, grandma and grandpa. Or some variant of it, such as mommy, pops, papi, gramps, grams, papa, etc.

So, what does your child[ren] call you and/or your parents?
Just curious.

[mrstrivette]

My kids call hubby & I mommy & daddy. My oldest girl calls me mom though 'cause she's 6 going on 14. LOL Hubby's parents are called Mema & Papa. My mom & dad, my kids know them as Grandma & Grandpa. My parents divorced & remarried along time ago & I've never been close to the step-parents, so when my kids are old enough I'll explain it to them & they'll know the step-grandparents by their first names. We live 5 states away from them so this isn't something that needs to be explained now.

If my kids called us by our first names, yes, I would think of it as disrespectful.

[meogan]

My son calls me mommy, mama, or mom, and he calls my husband daddy. It would be odd for me if he called us by our first names, because I'm not used to children doing that. Is it cultural or just family preference to call parents and other family members by their given names?

[littlemissmariss]

I think to each family their own, but generally I do find it disrespectful.

I don't have any children, but I know my future kid/kids will call me Mum/Mummy. And they will call my SO Dad/Daddy. My parents have already specified what they'd like to be called, though I'm unsure of his parents. And I know my SO's grandparents would want to be called by the same as they've got, as they are fairly distinct and it'd work nicely.

I feel like using these sorts of names really is just out of respect. Anyone can call you by your regular name. On a normal bases, it really doesn't mean much. But the special moment when someone calls you Mummy/Daddy... melts my heart

I can see how someone could find it unnecessary though. Its not like we go around calling our siblings "brother" or "sister", even though they are our brothers and sisters. And it could be seen the same way here.

I do think its cute how my best friend calls her dad by his name, Mike. And she talks about how her future child would call him "grand-Mike" rather than grandfather he he he! Then again her entire family is strange, so I don't tend to compare

[catloverd]

I don't think it is disrespectful if they are okay with it... I go the traditional route, my parents are mom and dad, my grandparents are grandpa and grandma. I never use their names.

My fiance's nieces and nephew call their maternal grandparents "gee" and "bompa" because they couldn't say grandma and grandpa when they were little and it just aged with them. They'll probably use the proper terms when they are older. I'm not sure what they call their paternal grandparents....

Personally I wouldn't like it if my child called me by my name unless it was necessary. In a sea full of mom and dads and you get lost, sometimes "mom!" just doesn't cut it. My sister and I only ever use their first names when we need to get their attention and "mom! dad!" just doesn't cut it.

[east93]

I dunno, I'm kinda torn on this issue.

I think that the line between parent and child should be distinct, but not overbearing. Calling a parent mom, mommy, dad, daddy, shows that line but it's not overbearing. It's an affectionate term, and should be used as such while being respectful.

I think to disregard that is to put the parent on the same level as the child, and that's not possible.
Parents are always "above" children in that role, they maybe be equals in height, strength, even intelligence, and are both equally worthy of respect, but they're different.

[malaria]

I've always just viewed Mom and Dad as terms of affection, and when I'm upset with my parents, I drop the Mom and Dad, same as I do with the terms of affection I uses with my siblings (Bubba, Sissy, Buddy).
I don't find it disrespectful when people call their parents by their first names, just a bit odd.

[noahsark]

I call my own parents mama and pops (or a variation of it:Popadom, Popsicle etc.)

Grandparents on both sides: nana and grandad. Only distinguish them by Nana 'surname X' and Nana 'surname Y'

I've a lot of friends (teenagers, early 20s) that call their parents by their first names, I see no problems with it, and I'd often my mother Tessa, affectionately. There's no obvious diffeence in Parenting overbearing or trying to be their friend. Each to their own, no disrespect shown in simply how you call your parent or are called by your child.

[natural]

No, it's not a cultural thing. As far as I could remember, that is how they called my Granny/Aunts/Uncles. I guess since the first set was use to calling my Granny by her given name it kinda stuck when they had theirs.

It was not until I was older that I realized that the name they called her was actually her middle name, her fn is something entirely different. My mom has always taught me to call her granny, no matter if the other kids called her _____. Because of that, I remember I would get teased by my cousins, aunts and a couple of uncles, and be called, "a daddy's girl, snooty, etc." I didn't really get it until I became older of course.

I remember asking the only two cousins I am close to why do they call their parents ____ and ____ -- they couldn't really give me a good answer. One roughly responded that it didn't seem right and that they preferred it that way, "I guess."

To be honest, I joke around with my grandma on certain occasions when I call her by her full name. Not in an disrespectful way, but to let her know I am talking to her. My older two sisters call her mama as well, so she will sometimes ask who am I talking to--her or my mom. Lol

My paternal grandma is strictly granny.

My maternal grandma is strictly grandma.

I never knew my paternal grandpa, so I never had the chance to call him papa or something like that.

My maternal grandpa is grandpa, gramps, or his given name to get his attention when he is too involved in television. Lol

[crunchymama]

My kids call me mommy or momma. My husband is dad or daddy...occassionaly "pops" if we're feeling silly.

They call their paternal grandparents Nana and Papa. (my MIL decided she wanted to be called Nana so we went with that.) They call my parents Grandma Jan and Grandpa <first name>. We are also pretty close with my husband's grandparents (my kids great grand parents) and they are called Grammy and Pap Pap to the kids.

I don't think adding a first name to Grandma, such as my kids Grandma Jan is disrespectful, especially when she is ok with it too. However if they just called her Jan or me by my first name, that would be disrespectful.