to be annoyed that my mum always calls my son by a pet name...?

[Tigerlily1]

It is getting really irritating but I just wonder if anyone else would be so annoyed by it or is it just me.
My mum is rather obsessed with my ds and she is great with him and he loves her. The thing is she has a nickname for him and she only ever really calls him by that and she says it all the time, much more than you would really ever say a name. It's constant and I have told her and a friend of hers has also told her that it's too much. she did try to tone it down a while ago but its crept back up as i have stopped saying things but i feel it is just ludicrous that she says it so much and actually refers to him in conversations with other people, including me, as this name instead of his real name. She phones up and asks for him on the phone by this nickname and it is making my skin crawl now. oh, and when he's being slightly naughty she tries to get him to stop by using this name and is then surprised when it doesn't work.
I just feel she has a total disregard for what I say as she has been told to tone it down.
does anyone elses mother have the ability to annoy them this much or aibu???

Your mum does sound incredibly insensitive. YANBU and I think you'll have to be pretty firm with her.

I was about to suggest calling her Nannypig at every opportunity, but someone got there before me

Am a newcomer to MN so please forgive me if I'm not sure of abbreviations etc. Am enjoying reading some of these posts & this one strikes a chord - my DH used to use DS's name all the time, far more often than most people do, and it drives me round the bend! He doesn't seem to do it so much lately tho .... The other thing is, not sure if I'm being thick but what are the 'other implications' that people are suggesting are behind calling somone piglet?

Hi Niftyfifty, I would presume that the "other implications" of calling a child piglet / piggy would be to effect their self image. To make them think they were fat or whatever. After my dd came home from school one day ( reception) and told me at tea time that if you eat to much food you will get fat and ugly and should make yourself sick in the toilet straight away to make sure that it wouldn't happen... Yep they pick up scary things at an early age.

If my assumption is wrong someone will say so soon.

Welcome to mumsnet.

I can see why it annoys you, but I think you either have to relax and accept it, or else be VERY blunt and tell her it's not acceptable. You could ask your DS what he thinks? Although I imagine a 2.6 yo would love being called piglet or something equally as silly.

I do think groudhogs is a contender for quote of the week though; "Grandparents are exactly the same as toddlers, you have to be consistent and firm!"

Thanks Kitkatqueen, thanks for that, am with it now! Must be the glass of wine by my side ...

My mum calls my DS all kinds of cutesy silly names, so do I.

I like it.

yes, but would you like it if it was every 2 minutes (not exaggerating) and she never used his real name EVER??
I call him funny names myself and I've got nothing against them, it's just that there is no variation on this, it's constant and even when he's being naughty or running off and she needs to stop him, she doesn't shout his name, she shouts 'PIGLET'. It just does my head in. I will see how it goes the next couple of days (havene't seen her for a few) and if i really freak I will say something.

Yanbu. I just think it's odd. It reminds me of my mil. She didn't have a pet name for ds1, but was obsessed beyond belief. I know a lot of people would think it was lovely, but it gave me the creeps ... not just me, but dh and my parents too. The description of your mother's behaviour sounds just like my mil.

Does she know you dislike it? If she does and she carries on then I think it's strange.

That would infuriate me! YANBU!

I'd have one more attempt at having a chat with her. Say 'seriously Mum, its not very nice to call him Piglet. Its getting a bit much now, please can you tone it down?'

Then if she didnt tone it down I'd start calling HER something that irritated the hell out of her REPEATEDLY until she got the message (When my Mum annoyed me when I was little I used to call her 'Nan' instead of 'Mum' she used to get SO embarrassed in public!)