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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To not refer to my baby's bedroom as a nursery...

68 replies

HooverFairy · 03/08/2013 08:54

I have always referred to my baby's bedroom as his bedroom, because it is. I don't understand why people would call a baby's room a nursery, to me a nursery is somewhere where your child is looked after and if this was at home then it implies you have a nanny etc. and this would be the baby's living space rather than their bedroom.

I know I'm BU but it really winds me up, I have a friend who is having a baby and I have to repeatedly look at pictures of the 'nursery' when they add something new. IDK, maybe it just sounds a bit snobby to say 'nursery' when it is a bedroom.

Anyone else?

OP posts:
PeriodMath · 03/08/2013 08:55

I agree, I find it very peculiar too. Especially when I recall that DS didn't even slept in his "nursery" until he was 9 months old! And now, at age 3, it is still the least used room in the house.

catgirl1976 · 03/08/2013 08:57
Confused

It's a pretty standard term

YANBU to not personally like it or use it but YABU to mind when others do. Most people do use it

Anyway, babies don't have beds so bedroom is wromg

Confused
MardyBra · 03/08/2013 08:58

It's a word now commonly used fr a baby's bedroom. It used to mean a place with a nanny, but the meaning has changed. Language changes.

And it's not a big deal.

BlackholesAndRevelations · 03/08/2013 08:58

Nope! Grin

It's a nursery in our house until they go to their "big boy/big girl room". Third dc will have to have the nursery converted into a big girl or boy room. I guess it comes from the fact that a baby is nursed in there and looked after, be it by a nanny or parents.

KirjavaTheCat · 03/08/2013 08:58

Hmm nope, don't have a problem with it. I don't really think of it as a bedroom until they're toddling around and have their own 'things' in there, and it is an actual living space for them. DS' 'nursery' was literally just a cot and a changing table for the first year. No twee decorations or anything. Just seemed silly until he was old enough to appreciate it.

Yanbu to refer to it however you like though.

Justforlaughs · 03/08/2013 09:01

I've never called my childrens bedrooms "a nursery", nor has it ever occurred to me to do so. I don't really care what other people call their rooms. My parents always had a "front room", my grandparents had a "parlour" and we have a "living room", funnily enough they are all the same thing.

DonDrapersAltrEgoBigglesDraper · 03/08/2013 09:02

Fine if it winds you up, YANBU.

But whatever the word might imply to you isn't necessarily what it implies to other people, so they're only using the word 'incorrectly ' in your mind.

Original poster
HooverFairy · 03/08/2013 09:17

MardyBra I think it is because of the implications of having a nanny, which none of our friends do. But as DonDraper says, perhaps because it has different implications to different people then it's not an incorrect use of the word.

God point catgirl, I hadn't thought of that!

OP posts:
Original poster
HooverFairy · 03/08/2013 09:17

Of course, that should say GOOD, not God...

OP posts:
catgirl1976 · 03/08/2013 09:18

"Baby's room"? :)

If it helps I have an unreasonable hatred of the word "slacks" for trousers :)

mejypoo · 03/08/2013 09:19

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

LimitedEditionLady · 03/08/2013 10:59

Maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
I hope that helps you.

flipchart · 03/08/2013 11:04

I mentioned this a couple of years ago on MN ( under a different name) and got flamed!

It doesn't wind me up, I just think it is ridiculous!

The word that I'm not keen on ( as used by my nan) is 'trews' for trousers.
She has always said it and now aged 96 I guess she isn't going to change!

Wbdn28 · 03/08/2013 11:46

YANBU. It's the baby's room. I think "nursery" has come from marketing as some customers will think it sounds "better" or more aspirational, like the orangery or something!

stopgap · 03/08/2013 11:52

I say nursery. Is it more of an American thing? I've lived overseas awhile, and the local lingo does tend to creep in here and there. Plus "daycare" is the standard term for nurseries here, so no chance of confusion.

MortifiedAdams · 03/08/2013 11:53

Ive always used Bedroom, then Meg's Room. Soon it will have two children in and I am yet to decide what it will be called but Ive never used the term Nursery.

I sure as hell wasnt traipsing in to use it to Nurse. I Nursed wherever I was at the time.

AnxiousAugusta · 03/08/2013 12:04

It amuses me how so many people have a study or office in their homes these days.

JessieMcJessie · 03/08/2013 12:12

I think it's an American thing. "Nurseries" often have "cribs" in them...

Augusta I think that lots of people have studies and offices in their homes for the following reasons:

  1. Computers at home are standard now and many of the tasks that are done on them are "officey" things like paying bills, ordering shopping etc.
  2. It's much more common for people to work at home now - in a good way i.e. flexible working and also a bad way i.e. there is access to your office system through the internet and your employer expects you to use it.
  3. Kids have to do homework on computers and there will not always be funds to provide a computer in each child's room
  4. A study doesn't have to be as big as a bedroom so estate agents use the word to describe rooms that would previously have been called box rooms or something else.

So, all in all, not very amusing at all.

Parker231 · 03/08/2013 12:21

We decorated the smallest bedroom as a nursery and the DT's slept in there from six weeks. It remained as the nursery until they were about 2 when we moved them into their own bedrooms and the nursery became the study. The study is used by me on days I work from home, DH always has loads of paperwork to wade through when he gets home from work and the filing cabinet is in there with all the bank statements, bills, documents etc. occassionally the DT's do their homework in there although that is rare as doing it in front of the tv in their bedrooms usually wins !

whyno · 03/08/2013 12:36

Your thread would've been more honestly titled 'AIBU to be irrationally annoyed about what others choose to call their baby's room'. What's it to you? Call it what you like and let others do the same.

Tabliope · 03/08/2013 12:52

I agree nursery sounds a bit pretentious, same as study. Office fine if working from home.

BlackholesAndRevelations · 03/08/2013 12:56

WTAF is wrong with study? What would you call it? Confused

Wbdn28 · 03/08/2013 12:58

It amuses me how so many people have a study or office in their homes these days.

What would you call it, if that's where you work?

Pagwatch · 03/08/2013 13:01

Really?

Nursery/baby's room/office/study - just shorthand for the primary use of the room really.

I have a butlers pantry. I don't actually have a butler.

Trinpy · 03/08/2013 13:03

I can't believe having a study is seen as pretentious! What else can you call the room where you have a desk/computer/important documents/books for study/etc?