How do I get my 3.5 year old to stop calling me mum?

[whistlers]

Started a couple of days ago and it's constant.

I would like to be called mummy again. Mum sounds dreadful.

I don't mind what my children call me. I'm happy for them to decide, even at a young age. DS2 calls me a different version every week - sometimes several at once when he's out on his funny half hour! DS1 is 13 and still calls me mummy, but we're in NI and that's pretty normal here, although my mum was 'mum' by the time I was 10. Last time I checked, I had a name of my own. I'd be more annoyed if people called me a variation of that.

I don’t blame you, OP. I was sad when dds changed from mummy to mum, though they were probably more like 7 or 8 at the time. If it were me, I think I’d go selectively deaf for a while, tell him your ears only work for ‘mummy’.

My DM was never ‘mum’ - she hated it, thought it sounded fat! We were never those teens or adults who carried on with ‘mummy’ for ever, though. She morphed into ‘Old Woman’ (DF was Old Man) and funnily enough, still much preferred that to ‘mum’.

My 3yo calls me by my first name or mama. Mum doesn't seem so bad

If I met a man and he called his mum 'Mummy' at the big age of 30, I would RUN AWAY. Suggests he hasn't really grown up.

Don't move to Northern Ireland then as you might be single forever!

Mine went through a stage of using my Christian name...I'd just say "Mummy" every time and they stopped eventually but I didn't ignore them.

They have probably heard other children at Nursery use "Mum".

Mine are older now and I can't say that I remember them transitioning to "Mum" but it obviously happened at some point.

I get it? It's sad but there's lots of things that are more important and they might switch again, mine settled on mama and still call me that as adults, around 8 they stopped calling their father dad and switched to papa or paps ... whatever doesn't bother me. My dp calls his mother mummy

@spooney21

If I met a man and he called his mum 'Mummy' at the big age of 30, I would RUN AWAY. Suggests he hasn't really grown up.

Don't move to Northern Ireland then as you might be single forever!

Hahahaha - I didn't realise it was the done thing in some places, someone just pointed that out! If it was the norm in that area then I'd be okay with it (and if there was a NI accent involved I would be willing to listen to anything to be honest 😍!). If someone round here did it it'd mean they hadn't stopped getting their mum to do their washing/paying their allowance for them, that'd what'd put me off

'Mum' is not dreadful, it's friendly and it's normal.

Ds stopped calling me mum at around 2! It doesn't matter have a word with yourself.

@BeforeLight

Just wait til your child starts calling you ‘bro’ like my 11 year old ds 😂

Same here dd is 22 🤣

11 not 22!!

My younger ones call me mum

My teen calls me peasant

My older teen calls me marge

My DD stopped calling me mummy around the same time. Her teenage brother calls me mum and she wants to be like him, so not much I can do. Actually, she sometimes calls me mom too in an American accent (I guess that must've come from TV). DS called me mummy alot longer - probably until he was finishing primary school. Here in Northern Ireland many adults DO call their parents mummy and daddy forever though. It doesn't sound weird at all when you hear it so often.

I've been called Mummy, Mum, Mother, a couple of not particularly flattering pet names (but make me laugh) over the years. It has now settle to being a pet name and only Mum is used if he is worried. I really do not mind. Things settle and you may end up being called Mummy again.

@Generalpost your teenagers sound really funny! I hope mine call me names like that, as long as it's in good humour.

I’m 29 and I call them Mum and Dad.

But if I’m asking where one of them is/talking about them ect I always refer to them as Mummy and Daddy. My friends find it hilarious but it’s a habit that’s stuck! And my brother who is 27 does the same.

@therocinante
I really hope "Hit your child because he called you mum" is a joke...

Yes, of course!

I said "Box his ears!" because to me it's the sort of old-fashioned/colonial approach that seems to go hand in hand with insisting on correcting your small child's affectionate name for you.

Whatever comes naturally to the child, I would have thought, is lovely. It's the spirit that counts, not the number of syllables or how precious it sounds.

I'm early 30s, still call them Mummy and Daddy if I need to address them - and I honestly didn't know this was regarded as so cringe and dreadful! I refer to them like that within the family, too.

My wife and I do, much of the time, address and refer to my mother by a very loving and affectionate nickname, too. But I just never got round to calling her 'Mum' instead of Mummy. I suppose in casual conversation with strangers I do say Mum and Dad, or my mother and father, so obviously at some point I unconsciously phased out alluding to them as Mummy and Daddy!

My daughter calls me Birth Giver when she wants to be especially annoying.

@whistlers

I'm absolutely ok with him calling me mum when he's even a little bit older! Just not yet!

He's not even at school yet

Tough

What?! Mum is standard, mummy makes me cringe it's like a Catherine Tate sketch

Are you upper class, op? I hear posh adult men still saying “mummy.” Bit weird

@whistlers - strange thread to start, my daughter called me mummy and then switched to mum around 5 years old. My toddler also calls me mum. As long as they aren’t calling you anything disrespectful what’s the issue?

Thing is though if you "reaffirm it's Mummy every time" you're going to confuse him by having to "reaffirm" to him at whatever age YOU deem him to be too old for Mummy, "It's mum now"...

I prefer mummy when they are little. My 4yr old calls me mum sometimes. I don't make an issue of it you are likely to become mum sooner than later.