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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To be on the floor devastated

281 replies

TheSheepofWallSt · 01/12/2018 20:57

That my only-just two year old has started to call me “mum” not “mummy”?

Happy to be handed a grip, because I’m ridiculously (very unusually for me) sad over this!

OP posts:
kateandme · 02/12/2018 02:48

aww op its all in the changes but it doesn't mean you losing mummy you gaining new ground.a cosy solid mum your love has grown up too taken to a next level.its stronger.
I still call my mum mummyyyyyyyyy sometimes.but I think shed squirm herself If I did it all the time lol.she sometimes gets a oi fuckface too and when she slips or trips over wholes in the floor(never there) she gets a mother!when being sweet she gets a mammie.

redandwhite1 · 02/12/2018 03:14

I know I'll get slated for this but I think to allow kids to call their parent by their first name is weird, I would feel disconnected to my son if he didn't refer to me as his mum/mummy and instead called me by my name

PickAChoooo · 02/12/2018 03:15

We've been Mum and Dad from day one. I can't stand the 'mummy' thing.

1forAll74 · 02/12/2018 03:33

Yes Mummy is nice, but Mum is ok I have sometimes heard new parents,trying to get their small children to speak, as in wanting Mummy, but the parents start saying firstly MUM MUM MUM to get the small child to copy this, so maybe the Mum stays in the minds best

And yes, Mummy is nice as Prince Charles calls his Mother Mummy ha ha

The4thSandersonSister · 02/12/2018 04:16

My Mummy was always called Bear 🐻.

FrostyMoanyWind · 02/12/2018 04:43

So sorry to hear about the cat. I'd go with a simplified version of the truth. Cat ran out into the road without looking and got hurt very very badly.
Problem is, if you go with a story, then everyone else needs to keep it up and that's not necessarily going to be possible.

As to the name, mine went through a phase of mum, then around 4 discovered our real names. So, for a while, those were used. Now back to "mummy", sometimes mami (because learning to write and that's how they've been taught it's written, not English speaking school), sometimes Mama if using baby speak.
I think I went for the line "only Mummy gives out treats!" Seemed to work Grin

PandaWhere · 02/12/2018 04:58

I am so sorry.

Was the cat young? In which case the Mog book would work so well. Otherwise, it would have been a great way.

I'd recommend a simple version. Cat didn't see the car, was too badly injured and the vet did all she/he could but the cat sadly died. If you have the body, you could bury it in your mother's garden or something? Choose a nice herb or a rose bush for over the top that the toddler could water.

learning about death at 2 is way more important than grammar, or class systems.

FWIW though Id just correct to Mummy. My much older children tease me that's it's anything BUT mummy. They call me Mummy most of the time, often Mother and frequently Mama. All are less grating than Mum to me. They still say Daddy too.

PandaWhere · 02/12/2018 05:01

@iamthere123 my teenager uses "Mother" in the same way 😆

apostropheuse · 02/12/2018 05:19

I called my parents Mammy and Daddy until they died (I was 38) and still refer to them as my Mammy or my Daddy if I'm talking about them.

Mummyoflittledragon · 02/12/2018 05:45

Dd is 10. She uses mummy. She did try out mum when she was younger and I corrected her a few times and she reverted. She talks about “my mum” with her friends.

I would say the cat got very very poorly and was too tired to play anymore. Some kind of memorial / burial would be good. There are plenty of books to explain - have a google. baby centre advice.

EnglishRose13 · 02/12/2018 05:46

My two and a half year old often calls me by my real name instead of "mummy".

Pinkkittens292 · 02/12/2018 06:13

I know where you are coming from.
I always preferred them to call me Mummy when they were little.
My daughter went through a very short lived phase of calling me by first name!!

I now have an eight year old who only has one word in his vocabulary (due to disability). That word is "Mum" and hearing his little voice say it is ultra precious.

Zulor · 02/12/2018 06:24

I got called everything under the sun, the least favourite of which was Mam-maw (like little house on the Prairie or something).

When she was in distress though, I was always Mammy.
But I have been Mum, Mummy, Mam, Mammy, Ma and of course Mam-maw!

tryingtosortmylifeout · 02/12/2018 06:50

Adults who say “What?” when they can’t hear something sound extremely rude IMO. To anyone who thinks this is acceptable behaviour, I’m afraid you will be coming across as very rude in real life. However, a “Sorry, what was that?” is fine. “Pardon?” also fine.

To the PPs who use “excuse me” when they can’t hear someone - that is just wrong. If someone responded to something I said with “excuse me”, I’d think they had either taken offence at what I’d just said, or were asking me to move out of their way.

JustMarriedAndLovingIt · 02/12/2018 08:28

Two is quite young I guess. However I find it weird that DSS still says mummy and daddy at nearly 15. My DS had stopped by secondary school, I can’t remember when exactly.

JustMarriedAndLovingIt · 02/12/2018 08:28

*DSD

cadburysflake · 02/12/2018 12:22

My dd also 2 has started to say mum too, it's much easier to shout "mum come and wipe my bum" than mummy 😆! I don't really care either way.

What I did find odd was when I started uni and met a girl from Surrey (a bit posh) who at 18 was still calling her parents mummy and daddy. She's still one of my best friends and she still calls them mummy and daddy, she's in her mid 30s with 2 kids of her own now!

simiisme · 02/12/2018 17:26

What? is rude. It's not being fake genteel to say, Sorry?

Wills · 02/12/2018 17:34

Havent read all the way through, but all my daughters did this (but not my son) and yes I just reiterated Mum. However I now have the opposite problem that my 15 year old still calls me mummy and I don't know how to tell her that she's probably too old for it now. I cringe whenever I hear Jack Whitehall calling his father 'Daddy'.

Sarahrellyboo1987 · 02/12/2018 17:35

Ummmm....is this even serious?
Does it actually matter!?

Mikklehaha · 02/12/2018 17:36

Surely it’s whatever the child is comfortable with. I have been ‘mummy, mumarge, mumarge-sticks, mumo, mumstar, whatever stupid thing it pleases them to call me in the moment. It’s all said with love and affection and for that I am truly grateful. Chill OP, if you force it, it will not be natural. Allow your child some space to be themselves.

Mikklehaha · 02/12/2018 17:38

And I’m sorry but pardon? is for excusing yourself. What? is perfectly acceptable.
Tone of voice, however, is everything.

missyB1 · 02/12/2018 17:39

Ds is 10 and calls me mummy at home, but outside of the house it’s strictly mum, other children have told him mummy is babyish.

I do cringe slightly at my friend’s dd who at the age of 11 calls her dad “dada”. It’s just sounds odd.

Minxmumma · 02/12/2018 17:39

My dd2 currently progresses through Mummy, Mumma to Muuuuum depending on the urgency of her request woth increasing volume. Smile

They go through fits and starts. My eldest went through a mid teen phase of 'Mother' but has gone back to Mummy of her own accord at 22...... as long as it isn't rude I don't worry. Bigger things in life to stress over.

SmileEachDay · 02/12/2018 17:41

My DS has taken to caking me by my full name

As in “ Smile EachDay can I have a biscuit”. The little angel even wrote my birthday card to Ms EachDay. He genuinely thinks it’s hilarious.

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