To HATE the word 'Mama'?!

[grimupnorth1]

Just a lighthearted whinge really.
Why is the word mama suddenly everywhere?! I'm 24 weeks and feel like every other day someone says something like 'Are you excited to be a mama?' Or I see t shirts etc with 'mama' on. One of the midwives even uses it!

Makes me cringe beyond belief.

I've always called my Mama, mama... she's only 'mother' when she's bring chastised

BookMe You’ve blown my mind. (Be gentle with me, my brain isn’t working properly today )
It’s only just dawned on me about the baby sounds ie “mama” and “dada” usually being the first words, so a lot of languages use that as their word for “mother”
My mother tongue is Polish, and we do have a “proper” word for mother (matka), but literally everyone calls their mum “Mama”.
It all makes sense now....and I feel very dim

Are people implying that only middle class believe in the importance of education, activities and music? Am I actually reading that correctly?

And therefore adopting the word ‘mama’ differentiates you somehow from the working class? That view sadly says everything really about those who have adopted the word.

I'm Mum/Mummy to 3
Ma/Mam/Mammy to 1
Ama Ama to 1

The Mama thing is definitely an Insta/hip thing. They'll call you what the want.

Your kids can call you whatever they like, but if you're a grown woman wearing a t-shirt saying 'mama' I'm going to rightly think you're a twat.

What are your thoughts of shirts saying Mother? Are they more acceptable?

I'll tell dd (18 months old) to pipe down with "mama" then.

To add to the lingo fest, mama is also mother in Mandarin and Spanish. We live in a very international world, these days. x

'I'm a baby wearing, boob feeding, cloth bottoming, co-sleeping, attachment parenting mama'

Well no I'm not at all but that is a sentence I read on a gentle parenting Facebook page and they were ALL like that. Vom. Made me want to yell at my kid whilst chucking cheese strings at him while he plays on the Xbox tbh

I’m shocked that someone would judge a child as being affected and a bit wet, then again this is MN...

This entire thread has gone wonky because people haven't grasped that the OP is talking about a specific type of use of the word mama or mumma by adults about themselves or others, not by children or by people who aren't brutish.

My DS said it instead of Mummy or Mum (as I expected like his elder DSis) naturally and I liked it. This was 15 years ago nearly, then we moved to a Southern European country where it was standard.

Tbf at first it was more Maman. Maybe he was French in a past life ...

Ignore the judgy-pants, go with what your DC are happy with.

No, a shirt saying mother is no better

"Are people implying that only middle class believe in the importance of education, activities and music? Am I actually reading that correctly"

Can't speak for people. But I'm not. I'm implying that a stereotype of the middle middle class is an aspirational "worthiness". Which seemed to be the source of many objecting to the use of the word. That people were trying to be something they aren't. Be that the apeing of different European cultures, or the upper classes

A stereotype I match by outlook and words.

Not that it isn't possible to believe in the importance of education and improving activities or music if you are of other classes. But the stereotype is different

I think it's the whole glorification of parenthood, it makes it harder for parents, harder for those trying to be parents and harder for people who have been parents. All the mama bear, we got this mama's whatever stuff being marketed is just aspirational bollocks destined to make you feel a bit crap. Being a parent is tough without Instagram and influencers peddling a life that isn't real. Kids calling their mum mama is cute, mum's referring to motherhood as a mama isn't.

I'm a Mumma. I prefer it to Mummieeeeee and they are too little for Mum yet!

Oops, though DD has always called me Mama she will on occasion call me Mother, generally when chastising me for doing/not doing something or other, such as not upgrading my phone/relying on roadmap rather than satnav/anything old fashioned or outdated.
In response to which I address her as Child.

I feel the same about the word 'bubba' instead of baby. Ugh.

One of my twins calls me mama. I think it's so I can identify her voice easily as her id twin calls me mummy. I don't like adults calling me mama though.