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How Old is Too Old to Say "Mommy"?
drop-in centre: family names canada
(Aug.17.11)
When I was about 13 years old, I got into the regrettable habit of calling my mother by her first name. Blame it on teen rebellion because for the life of me I can't even remember why I started it and continued to use it. But I remember why I stopped. It broke my mother's heart. She pleaded with me and explained, "I'm the only person in the world you can call mom."
I've called her "mom" ever since, with the occasional "mum" slipped in as a heart-warming throwback to our British roots.
On the opposite side of my family tree, I jokingly call my father "Daddy" but it sounds more like "Du-ddy" because my sister and I take on silly, baby voices which drive my father crazy. His usual response: "You idiots."
When referring to one another, my mother decided it was weird for my father to say, in speaking to his children, "Your mother...(wants you to clean your room, insists you set the table, would rather you not [insert something stupid I've done here])." Instead he was asked to use her first name, "Alice wants you to clean your room." "Alice insists you set the table." "Alice would rather you not..." You get the idea. My father, ever the joker, refers to her instead as, "Alice, the woman formerly known as 'Mom.'"
Names in families can get complicated. It's pretty straight forward when kids are kids, but when kids become adults, should naming conventions change?
Should a 30-year-old daughter still call her mom "Mommy"?
Can parent's still call their sons and daughters their "kids" when their kids are 40?
What do you think? Leave a comment below!
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