Do your children's friends call you Mom?

[NMAmy]

DD, her friend, and I had this discussion the other day. This is a new friend and she asked what she should call me--I told her to just call me Amy. She said, "Wow, that's a relief. M's mom insists that I call her Mom."

I've noticed this with some of the kids--and I really dislike it. I don't like anyone to call me Mom except dd. I'm fond of them and all but I'm not their mother. Call me Amy or Ms. Last Name or as one little boy at pre-school used to say, "Mrs. Caitlin's Mom."

And I really dislike it when doctors refer to me as "Mom" when I take dd in. Our regular doctor doesn't do this (I'm also her patient so she refers to me by name) but I've noticed it a lot at the ER or Urgent Care. I realize that a lot of moms have different names from their kids (actually, dd and I have different last names) but I would much rather they call me Ms. WrongLastName than Mom. I'm not their mom--although sometimes they seem young enough to be my kids.

Ok, I'm rambling now but do your kids' friends call you mom? If so, do you like it?

 

[Maleficent13]

Well, most of DD's friends can't talk yet , but when I was growing up I never called any of my friends moms "Mom". Most of my friends called my mom "Mom" though...but that had a lot to do with the fact she was the only nuturing person they knew, including their own mothers. She never asked them to call her that, and really didn't mind anything they called her.

As far as doctors, etc, I don't mind when they call me Mom.

 

[mom2rb]

All of my boys' friends call me Coach Jamie. I teach gymnastics and I home school. My boys have made friends with the siblings of the girls I coach. It does seem weird be at home and hear " Coach Jamie I'm hungry ".

 

[parrothead365]

I still call a friend of mine's Mother, Mom. It just seems to fit. My DS calls his friends mothers by their first name preceeded by "Miss" ie. "Miss Sue".

 

[Marseeya]

I am totally with you! I tell all my kids' friends to call me by my first name and I'm perfectly fine with that. There are only two people in the world allowed to call me Mom and I don't appreciate hearing it from anyone else.

I have this one friend, and she was my best friend since kindergarten. I love her to death. She insists that her kids call every adult by Mr and Mrs Lastname and I'm so not comfortable with that. And it's weird for my kids too... they call all my other friends by their first names (at their request), but they have to call my friends Mr and Mrs Lastname.

When I was growing up, we called one another's parents by Mom and Dad and they loved it.

 

[nucpharm29]

The little boy that DD plays with almost everyday has called me mom before. But they are really young (2) and I think he got confused every once and a while--I was feeding him, changing him, and bathing him so it was like I was mom. But now he calls me Miss Stephanie (and it's so cute b/c stephanie is really hard for 2 year old to pronounce) I'm teaching DD to call people Mrs. so and so--So she'll be respectful of other people, but at church and playgroups moms refer to themselves as Miss (insert first name) which is okay too.

 

[SGB13]

I would never want another person's child to call me mom. That is reserved for my kids. But I guess it's because I'm from the south, I'm not so happy with kids calling me by my first name either. I'm fine with Ms XXXX (first Name) they don't have to use the last name. I think it's a respect thing. And if a 6 year old is calling my by my first name they aren't showing me respect. (Of course, it might just be the fact that my friend's kids who do this will tell me no to my face if I tell them to do something! In my house!! )

 

[minkydog]

I prefer to be called Mrs Lastname, but I have a difficult name so I'll settle for a respectful Mrs D. I do have one child who calls me Mom, but he lived with us for awhile when his parents kicked him out and feels very close to our family.

It doesn't bother me to be called Mom at the doctor's office. I'm sure they do it for the same reason I do it--not sure what to call the parent. I have had more parents than I can count get really mad because I dared call mom by the ex-husband's name, no realized that she had a new name. So unless ther tell me to call them Julie or Mark, I just use Mom & Dad and hope they don't take offense.

 

[Disney Doll]

I pretty much let kids' parents dictate what the kids call me.

There are some parents who prefer their children use the more respectful Mrs. Lastname. There are some kids who call me Patty. There are some kids who call me Auntie patty. There are some kids who call me Mrs.Patty. There are some kids who call me Pabby (a name my goddaughter called me when she was little that has sort of "stuck").

 

[caitycaity]

yuck! i can't even bring myself to call my mil mom. no way would i have ever called my friends' mothers mom.

i was brought up to call my friends' parents mr. and mrs. lastname. we do have a close friend of the family that i call uncle firstname eventhough we are not related, but other than that... it just seems wierd to me!

 

[pkasbohm]

I perfer for my kids friends to call me by my first name! I have about 8 kids here everyday because i do daycare and they all call me by my first name!

 

[Brianne]

We're still struggling with this issue, although there's no way I'd want their friends to call me "mom"! I'm not crazy about the Miss or Mr. <first name> that seems to be popular out here--I'm a west coast gal originally, so titles weren't a common thing to do. However I know a lot of parents who insist on doing it that way. And Mrs. <last name> sounds so old & formal!

At this point, I'll settle with a "hey you! <kid's name>'s mom!"

 

[Marseeya]

For those who insist that Mr/Mrs Lastname is showing respect, don't you think it would be more respectful to call the adult what makes THEM feel most comfortable?

That's the way I was taught growing up.

I'm really going to struggle with this when I start teaching. I don't like Mrs. Lastname, but I guess I can settle for Mrs. M or preferably Ms. M.

 

[71010]

All of my kids friends have always refered to me as "mom". The call my husband "Big Phil". The kids are 20 and 17 now, but it has always been this way. For years I have fed them, they have slept over countless times, spend summers in our pool, vacationed with them, and just spent time talking, I love these kids. They become like family. I think we all know the difference between "Mom" to your own kids and "Mom" to their friends. Its a wonderful compliment that they feel comfortable enough with you to refer to you as Mom.

 

[skooniebird]

I insist they use my first name. I hate them calling me Mrs. Schoonover. That's my MIL! My DD has one friend who sometimes calls me mom, and has always called my parents Grandma and Grandpa. But my dad used to hang out with their grandpa in their rowdy days, my uncle and their dad were best friends in highschool, and we moved next door to them when the girls were 1 and are now 13. So her calling me mom doesn't even register as anything different anymore.

 

[malibuconlee]

My two best friends parents I call Mom and Dad. I've done it for so long, that even if I haven't seen them for years it feels wierd to call them by first name.

Funny story about that. We were in the waiting room when my older best friend's husband was havng surgery. His parents and her parents were there as well.

Of course there were other families in the area, and we were there all day, so we had spoken with one of the other families.

I was talking to her parents and these other people had heard us both call them Mom and Dad. This lady looks at us and says, "They're both your daughters?"

I said no, we've just been friends since we were kids and I've always called them that.

I'm 5 foot 1, she's about 5-9, I was a blonde kid, she was a brunette, we look like total opposites. I guess she was trying to figure out how we looked so different to be sisters.

 

[JVL1018]

Some of them call me Vicki (these are kids where the Mom and I have been friends long before any of us had kids) and I've noticed all the kids in my daughter's class call me "Julia's Mom".

I am a room parent, so I'll hear things like, "Excuse me, Julia's Mom, can I have more juice?"
I think it is so funny!

 

[damo]

Some call me by my first name, some call me Mrs....

It depends on what they've been raised to call people. We always taught our children to call adults by Mr. or Mrs. unless they were instructed otherwise. Sometimes they just get used to that title and it sticks.

 

[PooohBear]

most kids call me by my first name or Mrs. R, I have one 12 y/o girl who insists on calling me mom, strange thing is though is that she always tells my DD that she wishes I was her mom and she doesn't have a very good relationship with her own mom, so

I have lots of kids that spend endless hours at my house but don't feel the need to call me "mom"

 

[NMAmy]

Ok, and here's another question to add to my original post, I guess. Besides not wanting dd's friends calling me Mom, I don't really want dd calling anyone else Mom. She is uncomfortable when others call me mom, as well, and I think if this other girl's mother insisted that dd call her mom, she'd tell her no. And, frankly, I think I'd be talking to the other mother, too.

DD's friend is the one who told me that another friend's mom insisted that this girl call her mom. If one of your child's friends insisted, what would you do? Is that okay with you or does it feel weird? I know the girl I talked to felt weird about it.