to think there should be a point at which you stop using Mummy and Daddy for your parents?

[Surprise]

I'm not sure at what age, but there seems to come a time when it just sounds wrong. I think maybe up to 11 is fine, but after that it just starts to sound a bit ponce-tastic. Do you agree?

(you can tell I have a boring Friday night ahead of me and am looking for a fight can't you?)

Thank you Namey! Dear sister uses Mother and Father but it feels too formal.

Actually when not using Mummy and Daddy, I call them Granny and Gdad.

I do cringe when DH calls his parents mum and dad.

Nope! I call my mum, mummy or mum. My DC call me Mummy (aged 17 down to 6). I love it! Of course DD1 calls me Mother Dearest when she wants something... that makes me think Bette Davis and keeps me looking over my shoulder.

YABVVVVVVVU... cos I love it!

I am 39 and call mine Mummy and Daddy - only to their faces - not to a third person.. My father however, who has a second set of kids, much younger, has suddenly started signing cards and emails "Dad". I'm assuming this is a hint that I should change what I call him but am ignoring it as It would be like giving him a new name...I just can't think of him as Dad.

My 3DC (oldest is 12) still call me Mummy. This could be because we live in France so her friends all says Maman (no shortened version) so she doesn't sound uncool saying Mummy. I don't think it's crossed her mind to make the change tbh.

I stopped when I was a tweenager as I thought it was babyish, then started again when I was about 16 because I thought it sounded cool and cute. My father remained "daddy" and my mum is mum although "mummmyyyyy" when I want a favour, but thats very tongue in cheek.

Mum is Mum and will never be Mummy again to me.

Daddy is Daddy. He was my darling Daddy (he died) and at 30 he remain Daddy to me.

My little brother (29yr old 16 stone rugby playing 'little' brother) called Daddy Pops tho.

I think there is a class thing/ cultural thing. I'm Scottish and mine haven't been Mummy/Daddy since I was about 3.

Generally they are Mum and Dad to their faces. Mother and Pater when they are pissing me off (which is frequent)! My sibs tend to use this terminology too.

If I'm referring to them in the third person they are Mother/Ma, Father/Faither/Dad (ie this would be facebook status terminology). Here my sibs differ they would tend to stick with Mum/Dad.

Collectively they are the P.U. (parental unit) and directing them is like herding cats.

(If anyone now knows who I am can you keep it quiet, Ta).

my dd is 18, still calls me mummy, but refers to me as mum - i dont mind either

DDs 2 and 3 (12 and 8) call us Mummy and Daddy to our faces, and refer to us as Mum and Dad to non-family others. DD1 (17) poncetastically calls me "meine Mutter" in private and public - started when we were practicing for her GSCE German oral the other year by speaking as much in German as we possibly could, and has carried on.

MaeMoebly you are taking the piss, surely? "Mum and Dad are way too common". No, Mum and Dad are what 99 per cent of the population call their parents and are considered normal. "Mummy and Daddy" are just plain wrong for adults to use of their parents. Marks you out as a twat, I'm afraid. (Told you I was in the mood for a fight)

Agree surprise - sounds twatish

I'm called Mama and DD (who is 6yo)'s father is called Dada.

I suppose that makes us Poncy Mediterranean Types or something.
I'm called Mother if I've apparently done some unspeakable thing.

Surprise - isn't this bumsex night... not fight night.. unless you like it that way of course..

It would immediately put me off an adult person if they called their parents Mummy and Daddy. I would instantly know I had nothing in common with them. Plus it sounds creepy.

I live in the US and loathe Mommy/Mom. But I'm fighting a losing battle...

My ds has fairly recently moved from Mummy to Mum, and I really don't like it. My parents were and are Mama and Papa, so I've never used Mum, and it just feels to me like he's talking about someone else.

Thinking about it, I think it was about the age of seven that my mother stopped being "mummy" and started being "mum" (or mutti dearest when I feel like being annoying ).
Never stopped calling my father Daddy though. It's pretty much the same with all my siblings too.

I have no idea how people can find it creepy or weird, that smacks of insecurity to me. Are you that insecure in your adulthood that you feel you have to be "grown-up" about your parents? To an extent it also seems snobby to me somehow - comments like Gay40's for instance, "I would instantly know I had nothing in common with them". I think it's quite sad that you would potentially cut out what could be really good friends for such a ridiculous non-reason.
I have lots of friends who call their parents by their name, and equally have lots who still call them Mummy and Daddy. (Or Mama and Papa, which I think is nice and posh )

OP, YABU. It's such an insignificant yet deeply individual thing, you're being quite silly to think everyone who doesn't do it your way is "ponce-tastic".

Your parents are always your parents (unless you disown each other in some massive fall-out) so I can't see why anyone would stop calling them Mum and Dad. Why would one want to call them by their first names like anyone else on the planet can do?

I have known a few people who wanted their children to always call them by their first names, not by relational names. Personally I'm proud to be the mother/mum/mummy/mama of my kids and they're the only ones in the world who can call me those names, which makes it special and devoted and a sign of affection, not permanent childishness.

Mine mostly call me Mum, occasionally Mama or Mummy when they're being cute or wanting something; my parents are Mum and Dad (as are most in the country, I'd guess) and will always be designated so. I would never call them by their first names. I know people who still use Mummy and Daddy of their aged parents and whilst it sounds strange to me personally, it's just a cultural upbringing thing.

My parents are mum and dad and have been for as long as I can remember. DD1 (2.5) has started occasionally calling me mum instead of mummy and I find it very .........I want to be a mummy for at least a few more years!!

Here in NI noone bats an eyelid at Mummy from adults.

OTOH, x MIL calls me Mummy, which makese want to kill her dead, ARGH. And she signs cards to me from "Mum and Dad," which is just weird IMO.

Jeez, I'm on a website that flames people for daring to criticise someone who chooses crappy names for their kids but where people think mummy and daddy are odd!

I'm really puzzled by the people who want to move from Mummy to . Particularly the comment (I think by cake on the first page of the thread) 'I'm not a mum, I'm a mummy' What's wrong with mum?

Lostrequiem, I think it's creepy because it's a baby word, and grown up adults using baby words to describe their parents smacks of the worst sort of insecurity to me - I just think "oh for christ's sake grow up" and then start taking the piss.

Mind you, I feel the same way about grown up women who infantilise themselves with their husbands and do that little girl act, using similarly stupid words that should never be uttered once you start school.

I have never been allowed to use mum!

She hates mother (what I use to everyone else and she's in my phone as).

Mummy all the way - I even have to call it out in shops