Active discussions

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Dad/Mum

82 replies

PistachioTiramisu · 12/11/2025 19:27

I have just realised that I am so tired of hearing fathers described as 'dads' or mothers as 'mums'. I was discouraged from calling my parents mum and dad and called them Mummy and Daddy until D and M took over. I have never referred to either of them to other people except as 'my father', 'my mother' or 'my parents'. I really hate Mum and Dad.

OP posts:
Hoppinggreen · 13/11/2025 09:57

nomas · 13/11/2025 01:03

YANBU to have an opinion, we're all allowed one.

My Yorkshire SIL calls her mum 'Mother', I like it, it works for them. DH calls MIL mum or by her first name.

In Yorkshire its not unusual for a husband to refer to his wife as Mother.
I am Madre or Mother (usually if I am ignoring DS or have offended him in some way)

EuroTour · 13/11/2025 09:38

Hollowvoice · 12/11/2025 19:45

If my children call me "mother" I respond with "yes child?"
Or sometimes "yes elder spawn?"

One of mine has me saved in their phone as 'spawn point' 🤣

Politicians247UnderwearExtinguishingService · 13/11/2025 09:24

I always found it weird in Enid Blyton books when children would call their parents Mother & Daddy.

Not Mummy & Daddy, nor Mother & Father. Why be 'formal' with one parent but not with the other?

Politicians247UnderwearExtinguishingService · 13/11/2025 09:22

Thepeopleversuswork · 13/11/2025 07:37

That is absolute genius. 😂

Show quote history

Not my own joke, unfortunately; it's a Milton Jones one!

rosyvalentine · 13/11/2025 08:48

@AgnesX Its not just the spelling. Mummy is pronounced totally differently to Mammy. Same with Mum v Mam!

Thepeopleversuswork · 13/11/2025 07:38

I find Mother and Father a bit sinister. Reminds me of Bates Motel and people with parental fixation who are in permanent arrested development due to unhealthy relationships.

Thepeopleversuswork · 13/11/2025 07:37

Politicians247UnderwearExtinguishingService · 13/11/2025 00:51

My parents' names are Pearl and Dean. I always address them as Mama and Papapapaaaaaaaaaaapapapapapapapapapaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.

That is absolute genius. 😂

beasmithwentworth · 13/11/2025 07:33

Quick Mumsnet HQ.. you have it all wrong. It should have been Mummiesnet all along 😳

BecauseWhy · 13/11/2025 07:30

My children have to call my parents Grandmother and Grandfather. It’s weird.

Edited to add - it’s not weird, it’s pretentious.

thepariscrimefiles · 13/11/2025 07:20

I prefer Mater and Pater.

thepariscrimefiles · 13/11/2025 07:19

JellyIegs · 12/11/2025 19:31

Adults saying mummy/daddy gives me the creeps.

I agree. I see it as something that very posh people do, the ones who have full time nannies and send their children to boarding school.

AgnesX · 13/11/2025 06:49

user1496146479 · 12/11/2025 21:51

Mummy is not common in Ireland!
it’s Mam & Dad or Mammy & Daddy

Show quote history

Another spelling pedant 😁

ViperHalliwell · 13/11/2025 01:15

If it bugs you it bugs you, so not unreasonable. I never addressed or referred to mine as Mum or Dad either, but when someone says "your mum" (or "your mom" in the US) or "your dad", I know what they mean and it doesn't bother me any more than someone saying "your mother" or "your father" in the same context. "Mums and dads" more generally is somehow less neutral, more twee. And it DOES seem really odd to me if someone (who is not my sibling) omits the "your" and says, for example, "are Mum and Dad coming to you for Christmas?"

Christ0nABike · 13/11/2025 01:15

Politicians247UnderwearExtinguishingService · 13/11/2025 00:51

My parents' names are Pearl and Dean. I always address them as Mama and Papapapaaaaaaaaaaapapapapapapapapapaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.

Can’t stop silent laughing at this 😂

Father sounds forced or like someone trying to sound posh. Or a royal. I only refer to my mum as ‘my mother’ when she’s annoyed me.

nomas · 13/11/2025 01:06

EveryKneeShallBow · 12/11/2025 19:30

I always find it weird when adults use mummy and daddy. It’s just what you get used to I suppose.

Yep, that does grate when I hear it. The only time I thought it was sweet was when Charles called the late Queen mummy at her jubilee.

HeddaGarbled · 13/11/2025 01:05

I'm only here for the conversations - have zero interest in kids

Wind-up

x2boys · 13/11/2025 01:05

Well its not really up to you is it most adults. Refer to their parents as Mum and Dad
There are regional.varistions such as Mom or Mam or Mommy ,Mammy etc but you can't police how people refer to their parents

nomas · 13/11/2025 01:03

YANBU to have an opinion, we're all allowed one.

My Yorkshire SIL calls her mum 'Mother', I like it, it works for them. DH calls MIL mum or by her first name.

HeddaGarbled · 13/11/2025 00:58

I would never refer to my parents as 'my mum' or 'my dad' to others

That’s bonkers entirely your own choice but you are totally unreasonable to judge the rest of us for doing such a completely normal thing.

Imanexcellentdrivercharliebabbit · 13/11/2025 00:51

AgnesX · 12/11/2025 19:48

Are you Irish by any chance. The only place where mummy and daddy was common; when I was growing up anyway.

Beat me to it

you’ll also hate my neck of the woods upbringing in deepest rural Wiltshire

my adult cousins still refer to their parents as ‘Muh’ and ‘Daah’

I love it
Chippenham/Grittelton/Hullavington on a plate m’duck/lover

Politicians247UnderwearExtinguishingService · 13/11/2025 00:51

My parents' names are Pearl and Dean. I always address them as Mama and Papapapaaaaaaaaaaapapapapapapapapapaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.

Beekman · 13/11/2025 00:43

Erm, so what?

SALaw · 13/11/2025 00:42

I was going to ask if you’re Welsh. My Welsh relatives call their parents Mammy and Daddy and refer to them in speech as “my mother” and “my father”. I hate you calling them M and D, in the same way I hate when people put in texts or emails to me “Hi S” because my name starts with an S.

pitterypattery00 · 13/11/2025 00:01

user1496146479 · 12/11/2025 21:51

Mummy is not common in Ireland!
it’s Mam & Dad or Mammy & Daddy

Show quote history

I thought the same as @AgnesX - the only people I know who say mother and father when talking about their parents are Irish. (They call them Mam and Dad when talking to them).

nopiesleftinthisvehicle · 13/11/2025 00:00

AgnesX · 12/11/2025 19:48

Are you Irish by any chance. The only place where mummy and daddy was common; when I was growing up anyway.

I love mummy and Daddy in an Irish accent.
Less so in British royalty, although I remember the solitary coffin wreath that said 'Mummy' at Diana's funeral being very moving.