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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To think people who call themselves mummy and daddy to their pets are just WEIRD?!

79 replies

writingmynamewithsparklers · 05/11/2013 22:46

Sorry, I know this is probably controversial and I'm donning my flameproof pants just in case it is but it just sounds WEIRD.
I see it on FB all the time by some couple (yes, it's a FB thread too. )
Pics of dogs/cats with captions and comments such as "being good for mummy" "having cuddles with Daddy."
It's. A. Dog. cat,dog, snake, rabbit, whatever
Makes you sound a tad strange.

OP posts:

QueenStromba · 05/11/2013 23:57

You know the think that children do where you're not paying them any attention because you're wrapped up in something else and they keep tapping you on the arm going "mummy, mummy, mummy"? Our cat does that but without the talking so I ask her if she wants her "mummy, mummy, mummy". But I'm not her mummy and I never refer to myself as such otherwise.

ShadowsCollideWithPeople · 05/11/2013 23:57

Hegsy, I was going to post almost exactly what you just did. A very cuddly little puppy arrived in our lives right about the time that, after many years of ttc and 5 MCs, DP and I realised that we would probably never have children.

So, I talk to the puppy constantly, refer to him as my baby and myself as Mama, post photos of him on FB. It probably makes everyone I know want to puke. Yes, it's probably me channeling some need to care, nurture and parent into a dog. But tbh, if it helps me cope with our reality, then I don't really give a shit if it offends anyone else. It's most likely healthier and less irritating than me crying and feeling sorry for myself. And the dog cheers me up when it all feels horrible.

IamNotLegend · 06/11/2013 00:16

Every evening I come home from work and ask my dp if he's fed the kids. The kids being River and Joaquin the goldfish. I swear they get excited when I approach their tank.

Mogz · 06/11/2013 00:25

YANBU to think it's weird but that won't stop me doing it. I am mummy to our motley collection of cats, bunnies, fish and reptiles. But I do not treat them like 'fur babies', that's a step too far for me. I don't really care what other people do, so long as they look after their pets, that's what matters.

Birdsgottafly · 06/11/2013 00:25

My dog is "my little girl" and I post more pictures of her, on beaches etc than I do of my children, it is a running joke.

My DD (15) has a cat, which I am "Nanny" to and she is treated by everyone, including my dog, like a baby.

She follows me up the road and I generally speak in baby talk to her, much to the amusement of my neighbours.

I speak to my pets with more affection than most of the children in my area get spoken to, I certainly would call my dog the names that I hear used to said children.

So I don't give a shit what anyone thinks, every living thing within my house is loved and spoken to as though they are.

Birdsgottafly · 06/11/2013 00:26

That should of been, "wouldn't talk to my dog in the way the children in my area are."

QueenStromba · 06/11/2013 00:30

Actually maybe I am her mummy since I covered her in a blanket when she fell asleep on the sofa.

Scarletohello · 06/11/2013 00:31

Well I used to have a boyfriend who referred to his dogs as his " girlfriends".

That relationship didn't last long...

plinkyplonks · 06/11/2013 00:33

YABU :D

QueenStromba · 06/11/2013 00:39

Having furry babies is definitely normal compared with furry girlfriends. The furry baby thing is just expressing a love for your pet that is like familial love whereas the furry girlfriend thing sounds like you're romantically in love with your pet.

Zucker · 06/11/2013 00:53

YANBU it is weird. I saw on facebook this week a woman sharing with us that her dog has an infection. Signed off the post with:

Mammy Loves You xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Now does the dog have a facebook account where they can read this and say thanks, who the hell is she posting that for?

everythinghippie29 · 06/11/2013 01:51

I fully acknowledge we are weird but my cat is my fur-baby and both I and DP are known as mummy/daddy.

So I say YABU, it happened organically I swear!

fackinell · 06/11/2013 02:08

YANBU, Mummy and Daddy?

In our house they're old enough to know us as Mum and Dad now.

AscoyneDAscoyne · 06/11/2013 03:02

I know loads of people who do this (myself not included) So what? Its a bit harsh to write them all off as "weird" and "strange"

GoshAnneGorilla · 06/11/2013 04:31

Calling yourself Mummy to your pets is ok.

Sharing that fact with the world via FB is not ok.

Being one of those people who hates children, bitches about parents and then talks about your pet more most parents would about their actual child is not ok. The OP didn't mention that, but it drives me crackers, so I thought now would be a good time to get it off my chest.

Full disclosure: I am Team Human in the Housefire Scenario.

claraschu · 06/11/2013 04:44

The children are growing up and abandoning me. The cats will always be happy to sit on Mummy's lap. Children hate being talked down to; cats like my baby talk (it means wet food).

Blissx · 06/11/2013 06:50

I have two cats and my DH and i call them our fur babies and "Mummy and Daddy" too. I accept that I am wierd!

WestieMamma · 06/11/2013 06:58

YANBU it's bloody weird and not something I would do. Never. No, not me.

diddl · 06/11/2013 07:01

I'm happy to be weird!

(Doesn't make it onto FB, though)

frustratedandfailing · 06/11/2013 07:08

I think if it's weird to you it's weird to you but to other's it's fine but does it really matter. Would you choose to keep your distance from someone who chooses to use that terminology? Is that your basis for friend-filtering?

Each to their own.

littlewhitebag · 06/11/2013 07:17

My DH and I are mummy and daddy to our lab. My DD are her sisters and she has granny, grandad and aunties too. I don't really care what anyone else thinks. We love her and have raised her from a tiny pup. I feel like her mummy. I don't have Facebook so no pictures of her in the public domain but i have more photos of her on my phone than i do of my children; 100's more. (kids are 16 and 21 and eldest doesn't live at home, they are not tots). What is it to you anyway?

WheresTheHoneyMummy · 06/11/2013 07:25

Zucker - I discovered yesterday someone I know has fb accounts for each of her cats. And they're updated regularly. How? Why?

SharpLily · 06/11/2013 07:28

We do call ourselves mummy and daddy to our dog, but I appreciate it's a bit dodgy. For what it's worth, I'm 38 and pregnant now, but for a long time it looked as if that would never happen. So when I got my dog he was a very conscious and deliberate child substitute and always has been, so mummy and daddy seems entirely appropriate. I would say that's a relatively healthy way of coping with childlessness.

I will always have more pictures of him on Facebook, because I will not be putting pictures or any other details of my child in a public domain, not because I value one or the other more or less.

FurryDogMother · 06/11/2013 09:11

See username. Not bothered if that makes me weird or a tad strange, tbh. My dogs don't have FB accounts, nor do I refer to myself as 'Mummy' on FB - in the privacy of my own home, it's a different matter :D

SoleSorceress · 06/11/2013 09:21

My goldfish love me and my goldfish are my life
Yabu

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