Names in front of children

[dolallymum]

Out of interest:
When speaking to your children's other parent (OH or ex) in company of your children how do you generally refer to them - mummy/daddy or by their name.
e.g. daddy do you want a coffee, or , joe do you want a coffee??

dcs quite capable of being cheeky without using parents' names!
likewise, using the names doesn't necessarily equal being cheeky!
I just think its a bit of a non issue.

I use my pet name for him, if I am directing the conversation at him. Or call him honey etc.

If I am asking a question (as if coming from DD) I might say Daddy. For example...'mummy I want to go to the park' I say 'let's see what daddy says....Daddy? DD wants to know if we can go to the park today'...etc

DH's parents call each other mother and father....so stagnant to me.

I use DH's name if I'm talking to him directly. I refer to him as Daddy to DDs. eg "please would you ask Daddy to come here". I try to use the term Daddy as much as possible, so get DD1 to ask him things instead of just yelling out his name etc. DD1 is 2.8 and uses mummy/daddy interchangeably with our real names, or uses both eg mummy-name. She does the same with my parents. I just figured she'd grow out of it eventually, but I like what Icedfinger said, so I'm going to try that.

Calling DH 'Daddy' directly would just feel wrong.

Like others, I'll say Dad if speaking to the DCs and name if directly to him, sometimes get it the wrong way round (name is mot dissimilar to Dad). He does the same with me.

My parents still refer to each other as Mum and Dad sometimes when talking to me, they're in their 70s. I've never really called them by their first names but sure they wouldn't mind if I did. My DCs occasionally use our first names, no big deal.

if you want them to call you Mummy, then get your dh to call you "Mummy"

Do you get everyone else you know to call you Mummy as well?

Joyful puddle- very good point about the getting lost conversation. I might have to have that conversation with DD now as I don't think she has a clue what our real names are!

iwaswatchingthat ^ just that. I am a bit twitchy when I hear couples refer to each other as mummy or daddy (shudder) I also don't get it when friends/randoms say "I was just telling mum/mum said..." Whose mum? Not mine. Say my mum then I will know at least who your referring to.

God no. DP and I use each other's names. Occasionally a sort of pet name like "love" or whatever. Never ever Mummy and Daddy.

You do the thing though where you tell the child "Daddy is going to be late home now" you wouldn't call them Fred or whatever.

DS went through a phase of using my first name but then he stopped again. I don't see why it would encourage them to use your first names at all

I had a health visitor who used to say "and how is mum today?" Referring to me. Bleeeeuuurrrrhhhh

A bit of both I think.

If the conversation is involving DS, I probably more often say daddy - "Daddy, DS wants to go to the park later". If I am talking directly to DP about something not involving DS I would probably use his name, whether or not DS is also there. We don't have strict rules about it though and sometimes DS uses our names to get our attention which I have no problem with.

In fact DP sometimes does it to be ironic and it makes my skin crawl.

i refer to DH as Daddy when the children are around, as I am trying to get dd2 (nearly 3) to stop calling us Charlotte and Branwell.

it's not working - I should probably give up, really.

We call each other by our names and DD2 had a long spell of calling us by our first names too. We thought it was quite funny and she has long grown out of it.

If I am talking to the girls about their dad then I use Papa but if I am talking to him then he gets his name unless he's really annoyed me then he gets his sunday best name.

Just remembered one instance when DM had taken dd to an after school club for me as I had a doctors appointment. When I turned up after my appointment to where the parents were waiting DM exclaimed "ooo mummy, your early" there were no children in sight. I was horrified.

Same as Igloo.

Sometimes we call each other Mummy and Daddy now for ease, as my DD is only 7 months old and that would confuse her.

When she's say, older than 2, I think Igloos rule would completely apply.

When they are teens it would be 'your Dad' instead of Daddy, but same rule applies.

I knew what my Dad was called when younger and when he annoyed me would sometimes call him by his first name, which would infuriate him.

Oh god no, no, no.

The only people who should refer to me as 'mummy', as my children.

DH and I do not call each other mummy and daddy. That's really fucking weird.

I would say 'give this to your daddy', not 'give this to Peter' but I would never call him daddy. In any context.

No child I know has ever been confused about who their mother is because they've heard other people calling them by their name.

Wierd. Of course hearing their parents' names won't cause the children to use first names instead of Mummy and Daddy. Even very small children 'get' the use of nore than one name/title/ form of address. If you call your 2 year old Monkey half the time and Max the other half, odds are high that when asked his name he'll know which is the cirrect answer!

If you "go mad" if your child calls you by your name, they'll always know that's an excellent way to push your buttons :o Similarly if you respond to it as being equally acceptable to Mummy/ Daddy then they may choose to use it. If you smile and remind them to call you Mummy, they'll know that's what you want to be called by them. Each of my 3 has tried out my first name the odd time but returned to Mummy without really thinking about it. My youngest (2.5) occassionally says "Mummy you are Mummy and you are [firstname] and you are MY mummy" ... which is true enough...

There is no reason to make an issue of it, your OH is neing a teeny bit ridiculous OP.

Like most people - DP if I'm talking to him when DD is around, but Daddy if I'm actually talking to her.

I call DH Chicken.

So this is one thing we won't have worry about

We use both as people above have said depending on the situation. Only DD speaking so far and we realised I call DH a lot (as in shout to him to come here etc. but just by calling his name) since DD started using DH's name to mean come here