Toddler calls brother “Dad”?

[chillibilly]

Should I be worried about this?

I have a 2 year old DD and a 15 year old DS. DDs Dad hasn’t really been in the picture- split up when pregnant then just very sporadic contact. Doesn’t see her at all now.

Past few months my DD has started referring to my DS as Dad or Dada! I don’t know where she has got this from and don’t know if to be worried about it.

She does also use his full name, she goes between the two. He’s a good lad but he definitely does not take on any sort of caring role for her, or around the house… typical teenager I can barely get him to clean his room let alone do anything else. The most he’s ever done is watch her for 5 mins while I have a quick shower if we are having a bad day- usually I take her with me or have a shower when she is in bed. This is once in a blue moon.

He is a lovely brother and when he comes out of his room he does play with her. He loves being outside so will go out and kick a ball around with her as he loves football. I think that’s all normal stuff?

Anyway I just don’t know if I should be worried that my poor DD is terribly confused and this could cause some sort of long term damage.

Honestly don't worry about it. DS used to call every single man 'Daddy' for about a six month period aged 2. I think he just equated men with daddies. What's a bit embarrassing sometimes!

He and you just need to be clear every single time she says it that he is

she’ll learn soon enough if both you and your DS are consistent

My dc all called random men daddy at some point despite their dad being at home and very hands on. They are very little and trying to work out the world around them, they often think man=dad. It will pass.

DS2 called all men Daddy for around 6 months.
He also thought I was the only person called Mummy, so when other toddlers were crying for their mummies in the playground or something, he’d be telling me they wanted me.

Yes, when my DS was 2 he used to point at random men on the tube and yell DADDY!! happily. Most of them laughed…

he also went through a time of calling everyone in a caring role “mummy”, whether male or female.

When my oldest DD was 2 she called random men in the street daddy. My youngest dgd 2, looked at a picture of her brother when he was about 8, said that's daddy
Daddy has black hair, brother is blond.

My son thought that my boss was his dad ( I was explaining his sperm donor to him )

i wish ! My boss is a millionaire 😆

Oh thank goodness it’s quite a normal thing then! My son is almost a man I suppose so could just be a stage of any man = a daddy. Rather than “I think this is my Daddy”.
Naturally I have some guilt around being a single parent and not giving her a “normal” family so I was worried I had messed her up somehow.

Same as previous posters described, a had quite a few embarrassing moments with DS1 at that age calling every male person dad/daddy etc
Lasted at least 6 months.. DS2 calls every female that has the same name as I do (and it is really common) mummy as he obviously thinks everyone with that name must be hiscmummy 🤔😏