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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

How old is too old to call parents mummy and daddy

81 replies

suchafuss · 27/08/2016 08:25

My DD9 had just spent a few days with her GPs. When she got back she was upset as she had overheard them saying that she was too old to still call us mummy and daddy. She calls us mum and dad at school and to her friends and I like that she still wants to call us this. AIBU to think its none of anyones business and there is nothing wrong with this?

OP posts:

BertrandRussell · 27/08/2016 09:35

Depends. How posh are you?

IsMyUserNameRubbish · 27/08/2016 09:40

Each to their own obviously, but when it turns to "mother" start running, we all know about Norman Bates.

ParanoidGynodroid · 27/08/2016 09:45

I remember as a child that there was a time when you stopped saying mummy and daddy... about 7 or so.

But with my own I have:
DS(24) Mum and Dad,
DD(21) and DD(18) Mummy and Daddy
DD(10) Mum and Dad
DD(6) Mummy and Daddy

I love to be 'Mummy' as it seems to somehow show affection, as well as being a name/ denoter of relationship.
We are not that posh.

Anniegetyourgun · 27/08/2016 09:47

I'm reminded of those threads about people's favourite/most moving lines in films. The last scene in The Railway Children always gets a mention. Fortunately nobody has ever yet ruined it by saying she was far too old to call him Daddy. BECAUSE SHE WASN'T, OK?

NigellasGuest · 27/08/2016 09:48

Sometimes my DD who is 19 calls me MumboJumbo but only at home as a joke! DD 18 says mummy quote happily. DD 16yrs says mum ALWAYS. I don't care what they call me and it's no one else's business anyway. I have some pretty weird nn's for them too. Sometimes I call my dad Daddy but the DPs are invariably mum and dad to me and Dsis.

DollyBarton · 27/08/2016 09:49

I live in Northern Ireland and everyone here seems to only use mummy and daddy regardless of age. Mine called us mummy and daddy till we were at my parents I'm Ireland a couple of weeks ago and heard me calling mine mum and dad. Now they have both switched to that! They are 2 and 3 and I feel a bit weird about it actually. I'd gotten used to mummy and daddy.

Enb76 · 27/08/2016 09:52

I stopped calling my parents mummy and daddy in my 20's and went to Ma and Pa. my daughter calls me mummy, she's 8. I dislike Mum so would ask her not to call me that if she tried but she would be welcome to find another moniker. I think it's fine not to be called something you dislike the sound of and if she wants to call me mummy forever, that would be fine.

BreakfastAtSquiffanys · 27/08/2016 09:57

My MIL is 90. She called her mother Mummy right to the end when GMIL died well into her 90s

Mummyoflittledragon · 27/08/2016 09:59

I want to be mummy. Always. My mother is known as "mum". My parenting is very different from here and to be called "mum" by my DD makes me feel nauseous and sends shivers down my spine. Dd tried it at about 6 and I corrected her a few times and I will ask her to continue to use mummy - at least in private - if she tries out "mum" again. If she talks about me as "my mum". That's fine because that's about her fitting in with others.

So in answer to your question. No age is too old.

booklooker · 27/08/2016 10:07

My 15 y/o daughter still calls me daddy... in the classroom! I am her teacher as well.

It doesn't seem to phase any of the other pupils, nor me. So no problem at all.

mollie123 · 27/08/2016 10:10

until I lost them when they were in their 80s and 90s, I called my parents Mummy and Daddy to their face and amongst close family.
To others they would be either 'my parents' or 'my mother and father'
It is not posh to use mummy and daddy, it is really a way of addressing your parents affectionately (and yes I did revert to Mum and Dad when at school to conform)
I am sometimes called 'oh mother' though.

Witchend · 27/08/2016 10:17

I probably depends on your area and what everyone else does.
When I was at school pretty much everyone changed by year 2.

However I did gently suggest to dd1 she might like to change at about 9or 10yo and she refused and still uses mummy/daddy as apparently her friends do, at 15yo.
Otoh dd2 has changed from about 6or 7, and ds usually uses mum/dad and has done since preschool. Because that is what their friends do too.

onemorecupofcoffeefortheroad · 27/08/2016 10:24

My 17 yr old son calls me 'mumles' and me and my DP (who is also female) jointly 'the mothership'

Littlelondoner · 27/08/2016 10:25

I call my parents mummy or daddy or if referring to them to others they are my mother or father. I also have nicknames for them.

musicposy · 27/08/2016 10:30

DD1, who is 20, graduated to calling me Mother some years back. I do feel as though we live in a Victorian novel!

DD2, who is 17, is much more the type to not give a shiny shit what anyone thinks. As a result she calls me Mummy in front of anyone and everyone. I think it gives others confidence actually - to the point that the other day I heard her boyfriend say "I'll just call Mummy" - I reckon there are a lot of them out there pretending to call their parents a different name!

Corialanusburt · 27/08/2016 10:32

The rules are these:
If you are from Norn Irn or are very posh, you may call your parents Mummy and Daddy at any age.
If you are anything else you stop saying Mummy and Daddy in public at some point in your childhood and say what you want at home.
Btw, it was a bit mean if the PILs to say that to the OP's DD.

ohmygodyouguys · 27/08/2016 10:37

My mum and her siblings still refer to their parents as mummy and daddy. All in their 50s and 60s. I probably thought it was weird when I was younger but now it doesn't bother me. I call my parents mum and dad though, except when I wanted something like a PP in which case it was mummy and daddy!

eyemonster12 · 27/08/2016 10:38

I don't think it's GPs business at all, and within your family I think they can call you whatever they (and you!) like!

I don't know why anyone would judge an adult who used mummy and daddy, every family dynamic is different and it's definitely no one else's business! I think I switched to calling my mother Mrs surname when I was about 6 - she was a teacher and I worked out it was the only way to guarantee a response...! I use her first name now, usually. I have to say the only adults that I know personally who call their parents mummy and daddy are punting and croquet posh, although all of my friends (early 30s) with fathers do the "daddddyyyyy" thing when they need help/a hug which I think is quite funny (in a nice way).

NataliaOsipova · 27/08/2016 10:44

I think it's a "posh thing". Mum was regarded as a bit common. That said, I did find it disconcerting to hear a middle aged man the other day calling loudly to an old lady "Mummy!". 9 certainly isn't in that category though!

MyLlamasGoneBananas · 27/08/2016 10:44

My 18yo calls me mummy. Not posh here at all.
My15yo calls me mum, ma, madre and mummy.
I called and still refer to my Grandfather as Poppy. He was Pop to adults but even at 30 I was still calling him Poppy as I did as a child. I suppose it's an affectionate thing and if you can't be affectionate to those you love then it's a sad world.

There are no rules. It's what you and your dd are comfortable with.

cariboo · 27/08/2016 10:47

There's that use of "posh" again.

MadisonMontgomery · 27/08/2016 10:49

I still call my father daddy. Nobody has ever said it's odd.

suit2845321oie · 27/08/2016 10:51

My 14 year old calls us mummy & daddy and their friends call their parents the same. Sometimes I'm mumsy which I rather like

Donth8procreate · 27/08/2016 10:53

My BILs girlfriend still call her mum and dad mummy and daddy and she's 19.

deste · 27/08/2016 10:53

I have a friend who share a Facebook account with her partner, when she facebooks her sons 35 and 42 to let them know it's her that's messaging them, she signs off Mummy. I'm mortified so don't know what they think. One is a personal trainer the other is in Iraq. We are not sure if she is joking but I don't think so.

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