What's your name? Who's your baby?

Cool idea..


I am forever labeled as Jillians Mommy at her day care.

Granted, every time I walk in I am greeted by 6 or 7 kids climbing up my legs to scream HELLLLOOOOOOOOOOOOO jillians mommy! Into my ears or face

I should get them all together and let them give me a name..



I might come out poopy head or something..

The kids in my daughter's school were taught to call all parents bei
Mr./Mrs./Ms. Lastname, and I prefer it that way.

In preschool and kindergarten it was "Jane's Mom" but as they got older
it wasn't appropriate any longer.

I am either called Mr. Ratzenhofer or Dickhead.

Why "or"?

My kids' freinds always called me Mrs. until they all grew up. The first time one of them called me by my first name it really took me aback. I'm used to it now but it took a while.

My daughter has always called me by my name. I think she got the idea from a boy a little older in her daycare, who was taught to call his parents by name.

So her friends have always called me "Baby's Mommy" when they were little, and by my first name when they got older (about junior high). They always behaved with courtesy and respect (including "Baby") so I didn't really worry about the name.

As long as it wasn't poopy head!

Sometimes we're Mr. and Mrs. E with my kids friends, like Fonzie called Richie's folks Mr. and Mrs. C. My husband is always Mr. E. altho some of the kids, the girlfriends, boyfriends and lovers, will call me by my first name. Don't know why. I guess because my steps do. They're all adults.

Little kids call me Miz and attach my first name. That's how they're usually taught by their parents, just like we were. Miz Mary, Mr. John. It's tradition.

I address my elders with a handle. Always. Miz Alma. Mr. Pete. I would never address my friends' parents by their first name unless invited to.

Mumpad ran a home based childcare while our kids were still young. All here kids called her by her first name or some shortening of that.

Calling you Mrs Boomerang does not mean automatically show respect. Respect is earned and given, not deserved.

Some respect is deserved until proven that it isn't. Respect for one's elders is one. Even when it comes to something as seemingly small as how to address someone older than yourself. I know everyone doesn't ascribe to that way of thinking but, it's the way I was bought up.

I called the father of a work colleague Mister - and then I realised I was older than he was!

He's still Mister. I'm just a kid, you know!

Cool, we were just talking about this.

When I was a kid, everyone was called by their first names. This was true of my school (their policy) and true of how I addressed my friends' parents.

That was my default mode with sozlet and her friends -- I'd say to sozlet, "Jane is going to pick you up after school, OK?" and then she'd in turn address her friend's mom as Jane.

But then I noticed that kids around here keep addressing me as "Mrs. Obe," and I asked sozlet what is more usual. (One disadvantage of not being able to overhear things.) Evidently it's all Mr./ Mrs. around here (though nobody's objected to being called by their first names, that I know of).

That's how they do it at school, too. (Miss/ Mr./ Mrs. Teacher.)

So once I established that, next question was, what do WE do? We're not ones to just go with the status quo because it's the status quo, and we hadn't had any problems that I was aware of because of the first-name thing.

I decided though (in terms of what advice I give to sozlet) to go with starting out with "Mr./ Mrs." and then going by that person's cues; "Oh, you can call me Jane," or preferring the Mr./ Mrs. (and saying nothing). It's easier to correct towards informality than the other way around.

I still say, "Oh, you can call me soz," when her friends call me "Mrs. Obe."

As children, my kid's friends called me "Mr. Stanton". I always
addressed my friends parents as "Mr." or "Mrs." so I never thought much
about it. Just seems natural.

Tangent:
It was a milestone moment for me when I noticed that more and more
people knew me as "Hermione's Dad" rather than Hermione as "George's
daughter".

My nieces and nephews just address me by my first name, although if they give me a gift or send me a card I get the title of "Aunt" added on.

I love it that my 50 year old, 6' 3" @200lb brother always refers to our mother as "mommy". I don't think he even realizes it.

I know what you mean. Daddy will always be Daddy. Not Dad, not Pop. Daddy. For me and my older brothers.

It used to freak me out that my mom and her siblings called their parents mommy and daddy sometimes. I never used that with my own parents.

Like Soz, my youth was spent mostly calling adults by their first names. There was no lack of respect for them.

At my school it was policy. I think we used Mr. for the principal only. With my friends' parents, it sort of depended. I called one neighbor Mrs. until I was a teen and one by her first name. It didn't always depend on familiarity. My boyfriends' parents I called Mrs. and Mr.

I think I just didn't use names at all. I always have tried not to use them - that's changed since I've been working at the schools. I call students' parents Mr. and Mrs. and colleagues by their first names.

I'll try to listen to how the kids call each other's parents.

In my childhood, parents were always Mr. and Mrs.

When I turned sixteen and started working at a hospital, suddenly my world was filled with adults with first names. I was probably never the same again, heh, I liked it.. though the few times I then met my peers' parents, I'm sure I still called them Mr. and Mrs. I might yet to this day, at least at first, given absence of a first name introduction.

To my nieces and nephews, I'm still sometimes called Auntie Jo, perhaps at the hello and goodby stages of family gatherings, though most of the time as Jo, which makes sense since some of them are pushing 40.

In my surroundings as an adult, many of us married women kept our maiden names. For me, being called Mrs. P was odd - that was his mother, and not my favorite person at that. I usually didn't correct for that, since it was literally true, and people would figure out my usual name soon enough.

Except for the odd form to fill in, I've spent most of my adult life not using titles.

The only thing that has been consternating has been being called by my full first name by people who either knew me before college or somehow found it out. My brother-in-law, for example, or one boss, both of whom I remained fond of despite that. I do correct that - it reminds me of the nuns being corrective for murmuring in class, or at least did when I started calling myself by the shorter name - and think of the short form as more "me". My lesson from my own little whiffs of irritation clue me in to calling people what they want to be called, my only rule.

A bit of a tangent on what Eoe mentioned:

It's not a tradition where I come from, but there is something I really love about that.

The first, and only time, I have heard this in reference to myself was when I was in my early 20's. I was to be spending a few weeks at a lady's house, with her daughter, while she was away. The lady and I had worked together elsewhere, and we had a friendship outside work. We addressed each other by first names.

But when I was spending time actually living in her house, I was "Miz Mushy".
When she was giving instructions to her daughter, she was saying "Now Miz Mushy will be taking you to ...." etc. or in phone calls "Are you having fun with Miz Mushy?"

Occasionally now I use this with young women who are becoming a friend of mine, usually through work - not children but younger than I - and I have yet to meet one of them who doesn't love it. They start using it and I think part of the appeal is that where I come from, there is a lot of informality as the default.

Most adults are first name first, or they correct you and ask to be called by their first names!

My parents were always "mum" and "dad". Never thought to use their first names.

Other parents were by their name, and relatives always with the title first. "Aunt G" "Cousin T" etc...

I really appreciate that southern tradition, eoe! We've spent a lot of time in the southern U.S., and being referred to as "Miz" Carol by those who are somewhat familiar, but not familar enough to call me "Carol" hits just the right note.

I'm not particularly comfortable with my kids' friends calling me by my first name. Fortunately, they've mostly chosen to call me "Mrs. M." Not "Mrs. McKenzie", just "Mrs. M." I wouldn't correct them if they chose to call me by my first name, though it would grate, sorry to say.

I was always taught to refer to friends' parents as Mr. and Mrs. Still do. My best friend's parents are still Mrs. G.... to me, even after 40+ years.

I think I spoke to my friend's parents informally, as far as I remember.

I prefer everybody to call me by my first name, too.
I don't like to be called Mrs. Bohne by somebody who I call by their first name.
That just does not seem right to me, and I don't think respect is something you get by being more distant.

My parents-in-law I call by their first name.
My own parents I always called Mama and Papa, everything else would seem weird.