No-gendered terms of endearment

It's interesting that boys often get "little man" etc but girls don't get "little woman". Possibly ties into women being referred to as "girls" regularly (as individuals rather than collectively).

They do get "little lady" though, but I know lady is not a popular term...

I think that the majority of pet names aren't gendered in of themselves, the issue is more how you use them. The only really gendered terms I use to my children are 'sonny boy' to ds and 'lovely girl' to dd. I do use terms of affection more with my dd, but that tends to be because she is generally more helpful so there are more occasions to thank her. I did notice that I was more likely to use terms that referred to appearance to dd back when they were tiny and so more consciously told ds that he was a beautiful boy too.

So OP can your dh call his son sweetie sometimes, and use champ, mate and buddy for dd too? If not he might want to think about why that doesn't feel comfortable to him and if there are similar terms he could use instead?

I didn't think anyone said "champ" outside Leave it To Beaver though!

Agree with lass that hose terms aren't gendered, he's using them that way. My dd has been buddy since she was a baby

Isn't the problem that your DP doesn't think to call his DD buddy / mate or his DS sweetie?

They can be used for both sexes, so I wonder if whatever new word you present him with it will end up being gendered and only used for one or the other.

Ask him to make a conscious effort to call DD buddy and DS sweetie for a week maybe. See if he can manage to slip into using them all interchangeably.

DD and DS both get called darling, lovely, kiddo and mate (depending on the situation and whether they're being particularly adorable or not) If they're being particularly beastly I call them little beasts, and occasionally little heathens
DH calls them 'pal' which I think is a Scottish thing as his parents both call DH 'pal' all the time!
My mum calls them kiddikins, lambkins and various other 'kins'.
I don't think we use any gendered terms of endearment, although that's not necessarily a conscious decision. It just happened that way.

My boys are sweetheart, lovely or honey. I don't call my female friends 'hon' though!

When I was a TA I'd call the DC sweetheart mostly if I couldn't remember their name.

Toots, for everyone!

For some reason that's lost to time DP and I always called each other Fluff. All pets and children in our lives are now Fluff too. It's mildly confusing, especially for the cats who don't know their actual names.

My DF called me, my brother and our dog "fruitbat". I have no clue why he came up with it but I feel warm and fuzzy whenever a fruitbat comes on a nature show

Gendered or not , why care ?

I really notice how little boys tend to get 'equal' pet names: mate, little man, buddy, and girls get diminutive ones: sweetie, cutie, princess.

My pet names for DD are entirely unplanned but have turned out to be:
Monkey
Monkey trousers
Monkelamonk (spot the theme)
Moosticks
And randomly adding 'fish' to the end of her name!

In fact he has called our niece mate, pal before.

I watched this too and was because I'm always calling DS honey, sweetpea, love, darling, sweetness, angel etc. They were acting like that was bad. DH does call him buddy/pal as well as all the above, I agree those are more boyish. I don't really see the problem TBH, he'd probably call any daughters that too really as that's in his nature.

Gorgeous
Chicken (or chick)
Sweetheart
Love

It's interesting that boys often get "little man" etc but girls don't get "little woman". Possibly ties into women being referred to as "girls" regularly (as individuals rather than collectively).

Baby

Sweetie tart

sweetheart

Fat bum ( this is DHs as well...i say it and they all respond, none of them have fat bums)

Gorgeous ( i do say boy or girl occasionally)

Darling

They are all called pretty

Tiger, cheeky monkey used here...

Oh, and they're "oy, mister!" And "cheekychops!" Where appropriate too.

My friends get called missus when I'm teasing them, so it's equal from that POV.

My boys are "darling" and "sweetheart", just as they would be if they had been born girls.

It's all daft nonsense.

If I'm talking collectively to the dc they get called chillblains.

In a mary poppins voice

"Come along chillblains, time to go"

Not sure how helpful that suggestion is though

My boy gets called:
Pumpkin
Sweetie pie
Munchkin
Baby
Monkey
Darling
Mister
Little man
Cheeky
Matey peeps

I don't have a girl but would probably use those with a girl too, except little man/mister obvs.

I only have boys, and terms of endearment don't come naturally to me (my mum didn't really use them), but mine are called animal names normally (toad, monkey, piggywig), and by me, 'My Sweet', trouble.

I wouldn't use 'my sweet' on other kids now I think about it, but the rest of them get used for any child I'm in contact with, boy or girl.

DP uses Mate (but again, I've seen it used with our nieces as much as our nephews - it's just his go-to when he doesn't remember a child's name quickly enough).

Perhaps the solution could be for your DH to spread out his usage instead? Use Buddy etc. for your daughter, and sweetie for your son?

I call DS sweetie sometimes. And mate. Baby. Dude. Pumpkin (although mumpkin as that's what he used to say).

I sometimes call my pupils chicken or pickles. (As in cheer up chicken or come on pickles get your work done)
Male or female.

Toots!

None of buddy, mate, champ or sweetie are gendered.

I think its which ones the OPs DH uses for the boy only and which for the girl only which is the issue.

I call both of mine (one of each sex) 'sweetie' and 'honey bun', even though teenage DS is taller than me and would more appropriately be nicknamed 'grumpy guts'.