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Original poster

Evolution from Mummy to Mum - what age?

139 replies

MoggyMittens23 · 04/02/2023 07:14

I feel like we are at the point where Mummy is too babyish but Mum feels too grown up!

OP posts:
DilemmaDelilah · 04/02/2023 08:33

I get told off by my grandchildren if I call their parents Mum and Dad to them (eldest is 12) so I don't think they're going to make the transition any time soon!

Wine4whine · 04/02/2023 08:34

DD5 flips between mummy and mum generally. However, at the moment she is insisting on calling me mother 😠

ShowOfHands · 04/02/2023 08:35

Somewhere around 13, DD changed from Mummy to Mother. DS is 11 and following suit now. DS is Father or Parent (short for Parental Unit).

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Families
Mammma91 · 04/02/2023 08:36

My little boy will be 4 soon and he calls me mum. Sometimes mamma if he’s upset but mostly mum. I’m a bit sad about it lol!

FirstnameSuesecondnamePerb · 04/02/2023 08:37

9 ish for all of them I think.

WandaWonder · 04/02/2023 08:37

Mummy when my child something I may say no too
Mum!!!!! When something I want to say no too or don't want to know about happens

MajorCarolDanvers · 04/02/2023 08:39

12 ish in our house although my 14 yo DS still occasionally calls my mummy.

Mum really kicked in when high school started.

ETref · 04/02/2023 08:45

7yo and 4yo still call us Mummy and Daddy. I recently asked the 7yo if she wants to call us Mum and Dad and assured her that it was absolutely fine if she did but she said she wants to stick with Mummy and Daddy. She did say that she says "my mum" or "my dad" when talking to her friends though, which I didn't realise at the time but have noticed it since.

I imagine that she will transition to Mum and Dad soon enough and her younger brother will follow suit.

Itci · 04/02/2023 08:46

FannythePinkFlamingo · 04/02/2023 08:12

Same with me. I found it excruciatingly embarrassing bringing friends home from school and would try and avoid asking my parents for anything while friends were there in case I had to call them mummy or daddy. Once I called my mother 'Mum' in front of a friend and she condescendingly replied 'Mummy if you please'. I'd already suffered bullying at school and this was just another stick for the other kids to beat me with. My parents knew this but refused to allow a name change.

With my own kids, it was a natural progression from mummy to mum around late primary school. They still call me mummy sometimes at 25 and 23 in a jokey way though!

Show quote history

Oh Christ, solidarity! My mum will not allow mum to this day (now in her 80s!). Hence I call her by her first name. Is your mother a narcissist too, or incredibly pretentious? She would correct me too.

I found it awful to get her attention in public, eg a shop. Somehow I stumbled on the word “mumsy” which for some strange reason she didn’t mind. She completely believed “mum” to be “low class”. Why? What? Maybe for aristocracy, but I only have one adult school mum contact (admittedly rather posh) who refers to her mum as “mummy” in conversation. I cringe. As I cringed when I read bits of Harry’s memoir. It brings back all those ridiculous memories. Must be the done thing if you live in a stately home. We didn’t.

Anyway, sorry, thread diversion. Mum from the age that the child wishes! Certainly in secondary I’d say, unless a funny joke. Or unless you live in a mansion, and have an inherited title, I guess. Or are Irish.

nopenotplaying · 04/02/2023 08:47

My 19 year old 6'6" son still calls me mummy he doesn't give a damn what his mates think

YukoandHiro · 04/02/2023 08:49

My almost 6 year old now alternates between both. Can't imagine she'll stick with mummy for much longer

ShillyShallySherbet · 04/02/2023 08:51

8 year old told me she calls me mum around her friends but she prefers to call me mummy or mumma at home.

Fizbosshoes · 04/02/2023 08:52

idril · 04/02/2023 07:29

From my experience, it's much more common to use mummy and daddy in the south than in the north.

I grew up in the north and NOBODY said mummy in public past the age iof about 6 or 7. I now live and have children in the south and my kids and all their friends still used mummy and daddy until their teens!

I eventually forced my kids to switch to mum when my oldest was 16!! He was stuck at a phase where he felt silly saying mummy but said mum was too weird so he had taken to calling me mother which I hated. So we bit the bullet and I only answered to mum.

I have a friend from Yorkshire (were both in our 40s) she still calls her parents mummy and daddy.

My own kids went from mama to mum I guess when they were around 9 or 10 (they're teens now) DD often calls me Mother but I hate that!

Blanketpolicy · 04/02/2023 08:55

Ds never called us mummy or daddy, it was always mum and dad.

Until he hit teen years, and while it is still dad I get alternated between mum, mummy and mother depending on what he wants!

Reindear · 04/02/2023 08:55

Probably aged around 6 my 2 gradually transitioned to mum. I don’t think many kids in their school use mummy and daddy past infants

Whydoitry · 04/02/2023 08:56

I was about 11. I felt forced to change because my younger sibling had. I didn't like it!

custardbear · 04/02/2023 08:59

DS10 usually says mum and dad, DD14 mummy /mama and daddy unless it's in front of people

UsernamePain · 04/02/2023 08:59

3 😭

MogHog · 04/02/2023 09:00

Youngest is 16 and I've now gone from mum to bruv 🙄

JetPlanesMeetingInTheAir2BRefuelled · 04/02/2023 09:03

I'm still almost always Mummy at home as I still have a 3 and 7 year old. 11 and 9 year old call me mum in public, or when talking about me.

GlumyGloomer · 04/02/2023 09:03

My three year old was in hospital for a little while, and the staff always addressed me as mum (obviously I wasn't the patient, my name wasn't important). 3YO started calling me mum too, which broke my heart just a tiny bit more. Mummy made a come back once she'd been home for a while though. She's 6 now, and uses a mix ("I love you, mummy" or "mum! Can I have...")

MistletoeandBaileys · 04/02/2023 09:05

In Ireland a lot of us say Mammy till the bitter end of time. Even talking to others id say ‘oh I need to call mammy’.

Although over on the West it’s very common for people to say Mom instead.

Mumofone1993 · 04/02/2023 09:05

I'm nearly 30 and still call my mum "mummy" 🤣

chipshopElvis · 04/02/2023 09:06

I went from mummy to mother around the start of high school! They think it's hillarious but apparently they refer to me as mum to their friends.

Jayneisagirlsname · 04/02/2023 09:07

I'm Northern (from a very rough town) and everyone I knew called their parents Mummy & Daddy to their face until at least secondary.

Always 'me Mum' and 'me Dad' when talking about them though.

My ds 14 uses only Mum & Dad. Dd 11 uses Mummy, Mumma or Mum depending on how teenagerish she is feeling that day 😁