How do you address your parents, how do your children address you?

[JB]

I guess I am old fashioned. That is probably normal for my age (76). But this always irritates me.

Do you call your parents Mom and Dad? Or do you call them by their names, Bob and Mary? How about your children? Do they call you Mom and Dad?

For years I admonished my older brother (older than me? Yup. Amazing, huh?) for addressing our mother by her chosen name (Mom was named Frances Bancroft nnnnnn but chose to be known as Bannie). I considered it disrespectful of her "rank" as matriarch.

I do not ever get addressed by any of my middle aged children as anything but "Dad", though in conversation with others they sometimes refer to me as JB. That is okay with me. All of my second and third generation descendants address me as Granpa, Granpa JB or Opah (German for grandpa).

I ask aquaintances why they call their parents Joe and Sally. They say I am stuck in the 19th century.

What do you do? Why do you consider that correct?

 

[levittownnick]

Re: How do you address your parents, how do your children address you?

I'm of your generation and bent.

Nick

 

[lncoop]

Re: How do you address your parents, how do your children address you?

Dad is "Pop". That's what we always called him. My daughter and my nieces and nephews called him Papa until they got old enough that they thought Pop sounded cooler, so he's Pop to them too. Mom is Mert, or Mamert to her grandkids. I always call her Mom or Mert. Mert is short for Martha but for some reason doesn't seem disrespectful to me. I'd never call her Martha. FWIW I'm forty.

 

[Bob_VT]

Re: How do you address your parents, how do your children address you?

I still use Mom and my Mom has always called me Robert....... never Bob which is what I really use.

 

[tomdinwv]

Re: How do you address your parents, how do your children address you?

I'm in my late 30's and have always refered to my parents as Mom and Dad. Sometimes I call my Dad Pappy (as in Poopdeck Pappy from the old Popeye cartoons). Long story how he got that name but he doesn't mind it. I always addressed my Grandparents as Mommaw or Poppaw. My sister and cousins all addressed my fraternal grandmother as "Gran". I was also taught that anyone else I encountered was to be addressed as sir or mam. I have tried to instill these same values in my 2 sons. Ofcourse they are still young, 10 and 12. I guess time will tell if my lessons hold up.

 

[Fireman431]

Re: How do you address your parents, how do your children address you?

I'm not of your generation (I'm mid-40's) and have always referred to my parents as Mom/Dad and grandparents as Grandma/Grandpa. If introducing my mother to someone, I would refer to her by her given name if the other person were close to her age. If there were much younger, it would be by a title and last name (Mrs. ****).

However, times are changing. My oldest 2 (19 and 26) have their friends over and if the familiarity is there, they will call me by my first name. My youngest (11) friends call me Mr. *****.

I think there is a last ditch, desperate attempt on my part to hold on to what's left of my youth (not much...I get it...) by having my sons friends call me by my first name. However, there are one or two that I'm not fond of that I make call me Mr. (just 'cause I can)

 

[QC]

Re: How do you address your parents, how do your children address you?

Yeah, pretty close to Fireman for me. Most of the kid's friends call me by my first name. My brothers and I all refer to Mom as Mom, boys all call her Nana, Mrs QC calls her by her first name. Boys call us Mom and Dad or the boys call me Pops too. Pretty standard with all of our friend's families as well.

 

[jigngrub]

Re: How do you address your parents, how do your children address you?

It's Mom and Pop, and when I answer one of their yes or no questions it's always followed by Sir or Ma'am.

If I had kids they would be doing the same... or they'd be picking their teeth up off the kitchen floor!

All of my nieces and nephews were raised the same way.

This respect was instilled into me and my brothers at a very young age... when we picked a couple of our teeth up off the kitchen floor!

 

[angus63]

Re: How do you address your parents, how do your children address you?

You only get one Mom and Dad, why would or should they be called anything else.

 

[Kiwi Phil]

Re: How do you address your parents, how do your children address you?

It is always Mum and Dad for me and the wife, although as a kid I called my parents Mother and Father in a formal situation and Mum and Dad in an informal one. (it wasn't as confusing as it seems).

My brother as a young man wanted to call Father by his christian name, to which Father objected. The brother said 'he wanted to be fathers "friend", to which father said " I am not your friend, I am your father, and I have very few friends and a lot of close aquaintances". (if he was still alive I feel he would object to facebook 'friends').

Quite amusing actually. When this brother comes out (he is an Englishman) he still prattles on about it, to which we all say in unison: "FCS Rodg, get over it - it's 41yrs".

My 2 adult kids (40's) friends call me by my name, I actually ask them too as I am comfortable with that.
The youngest (17) friends call us Mr and Mrs.
We suggested the Grandkids call us Oma and Opah but their parents didn't want that. Pity really. I feel we gave in too easily.

Cheers
Phillip

 

[dwco5051]

Re: How do you address your parents, how do your children address you?

I am from the generation that when I was a child all adults out side of family were addressed as Mr or Mrs and their surname and was used to being addressed that way myself by children. I now live in an area that is about 20% Amish and about 75% of my neighbors and close friends are Amish. When I first moved here I was somewhat taken back that all the their children address adults by their first names. It took me a few weeks to realize that almost all of the Amish population in the valley shares the same four or five surnames and using first names narrows things down a bit.

My mother recently passed away nearing the age of 95 and she was "Mom" to me up until the day she died.

 

[bigdee]

Re: How do you address your parents, how do your children address you?

I always addressed my parents as Mom & Dad......My kids do the same. When they were young they would slip up and call by name and I would tell them names are what you use to call your friends and that they had plenty of friends but they only had one dad.....it is all about respect and I have the most wonderful grown kids that a dad could ask for.

 

[ehenry]

Re: How do you address your parents, how do your children address you?

I"m 53 and raised in the south my entire life. I call my mother 'Mamma' and called my father 'Daddy'. However, 'Daddy' gets swapped to 'Pop' about half the time since thats what their grandchildren and great grands call them. I say 'yes mam' 'no mam' 'yes sir' and 'no sir' to them as well.

Our son does the same for us....we have no grands.....................yet.

 

[foodfisher]

Re: How do you address your parents, how do your children address you?

It was mom and dad for me. Now it's dad and grandpa to me. Can't think of a better way.

 

[eavega]

Re: How do you address your parents, how do your children address you?

For me it's always been "mom" and "dad" ( or "mami" and "papi" for those of us with a latin background). My kids refer to my wife and I as Mami and papi, and grandparents as Abuelo "First Name" (or nickname), or Abuelita "first name" (or nickname). Kids in our neighborhood refer to all the adults as Mr. "First Name" or Mrs. "First Name" Its a Southern thing, as I refer to a lot of folks in the same manner.

Rgds

 

[southkogs]

Re: How do you address your parents, how do your children address you?

Mom and Dad. Occasionally in jest their first names get pulled out, but that's pretty rare. When we're serious, sir and ma'am get included real quick too. My kids - Dad/Mom, sir/ma'am, Grandma/Papa. Period.

Most of the kids we know call us Mr./Mrs. Southkogs. In the south they tend to utilize first names a little more: Mr. Erik, for example. That doesn't bother me too much, especially if they're good friends. But I try to keep my kids using last names: Mr. Smith, Mrs. Brown, etc. It seems more respectful.

FWIW - I'm 42.

 

[mommicked]

Re: How do you address your parents, how do your children address you?

I am 47 and it's always been mom and dad since my mommy and daddy days. When my neices and nephews came along it seemed to become mawmaw and pawpaw. I look younger than my age and constantly get told by some co-workers and strangers I meet not to call them sir or mam. I usually tell them to speak to my father about that because he taught me that was the proper way to address strangers and elders and usually said after excuse me, pardon me, thank you, yes and no.

 

[tx1961whaler]

Re: How do you address your parents, how do your children address you?

Mom and Dad for my parents.
Mom and Dad from my kid.
Mr. <last name here> from any other kid.

 

[kenmyfam]

Re: How do you address your parents, how do your children address you?

Being originally from England its Mum (not Mom) when writing it and Dad is Dad. Our 5 children all call us Mum and Dad, their friends call us Mr and Mrs. Maybe we are still a century behind to some people but the respect shown by not using the first names should be eternal.

 

[Jeep Man]

Re: How do you address your parents, how do your children address you?

It's been some time since my dad passed, but it's always been Mom and DAD. To my grandkids, it's Grandma and Grandpa, and we are very happy with that. To our daughters, it's Mom and Dad, unless we don't answer the call for the third time. Then it's Kathy or Ray which gets a raised eyebrough but it does get our attention. I think we raised a couple of smart*****es.