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.

@dementedma
One of my lovely DD use that 🤣
are you Glaswegian?

My DC2 is the same age and switches between mummy, mama and mum fairly randomly. I have a little inward "you're too young for this!" whenever she uses mum, but I couldn't justify actually taking any steps to try to enforce her sticking to mama or mummy.

I think my eldest mainly transitioned away from mummy to mum at about 6, but honestly I can't remember? Hes 9 now and still occasionally says mummy - mostly when he's tired or unhappy, and occasionally in indignance when I am making unreasonable requests like "put that tablet down and empty the dishwasher please" in the middle of a game. I felt a pang of sadness that that era was over because I liked being "mummy", just like I liked chubby little toddler hands in mine and snuggly babies in my bed, but the age felt about right. Suspect DC2 may make the permanent switch younger because she always hears her brother call me mum.

@HerMammy
No, but in Scotland!

As long as they aren’t calling you anything disrespectful what’s the issue?
I agree with you.
My mum was obsessed with pushing Mummy and Daddy, by teens she'd finally backed off but after we left home it started creeping back.

Preparing to be flamed here, but I don't think it's the responsibility of young children to be asked to behave in a way that centres how the adults might feel about their children growing up. Mum or mummy, dad or daddy are all entirely appropriate.

I'm was, for a time listed in my 18yr olds phone as "bringer-upper"

@AllTheUsernamesAreAlreadyTaken

I’m the opposite. I’ve always been mum. Mummy makes my teeth itch.

Same. Although I'm 'Mam', mammy/daddy are awful.

I wouldn't be so rude to my child as to ignore them for calling me mum.

For me this would be 100% a non-issue

Mum is fine. Pick better battles.

@nimbuscloud

I think refusing to respond when he calls you mum is really unkind.

I agree. Not sure how anyone could ignore their child tbh, it seems cruel

There are also lots of people who’d love to hear themselves being called mum, but haven’t been lucky enough

@LST

Why does is matter?

For the pp that hearing mum makes you 'cringe'. What are you going to be called when the child grows up? You cannot expect them to call you mummy forever?

I suspect that is exactly the message she's trying to convey, actually. That she is very, very posh and her kids will call her mummy even as adults.

@xksismybestletter

I have no idea which my children call me. I just know they say it all the time and I blank it out a lot

@Twinkie01, @FunnysInLaJardin*,*@nimbuscloud

OP has not said at any point that she will not respond if her child calls her Mum!!

In my experience, children try out a whole range of name variants for parents, particularly if they have heard of a new one. So, I have been called mummy, mum, my first name and mama over the years with my 3. If you want to reinforce being called mummy, then make sure your partner and family refer to you as mummy when talking to your child and do the same when you refer to yourself. But ultimately your DC will decide what they’re going to call you, and whatever the name is, you’ll eventually get used to it.

I’m with you OP I’ll happily be mummy or mama forever.

I see a lot of topics on Mumsnet about narcissists and narcissism. Trying to dictate what your child calls you is about as narcissistic as you can get.

We've had this too - 2&4yos. It's only started since Bluey 😂

I'm not going to correct them out anything, but it does make me feel a little sad, like they are growing up too quickly.

It never bothered me.

I remember my mother correcting me when I started saying, "Mum", instead of, "Mummy". I carried on regardless.

Sometimes I’m Mummy, sometimes I’m Mum, sometimes I’m Mama, and sometimes he calls me by my first name

He’s four

My 5.5yo went straight from “Mama” to “Mum” about three. I was so sad as I was hoping to keep “Mama” (my friend’s kids are a bit older and still call her Mama and I just prefer how it sounds). He does occasionally use “Mummy” if I badger him but I’ve given up.

Annoyingly DH gets “Daddy” - especially annoying as the reason DS switched to was because DH has always referred to me as “mum” not “mummy/Mama” to the kids despite many repeated requests from me. If DS calls DH “Dad” then DH starts calling him random names so total double standards there 😅

My 2yo sometimes calls me “Mama”, sometimes “Mum”, sometimes “Mummy” - I just let it be.

I do get how you feel as the abrupt graduation to “mum” made me sad too - nobody thinks grandparents weird for choosing whether they want to be “Nana”, “Granny” or “Grandma” so why shouldn’t mums have a preference?!

I'm sorry if I've been snotty on this thread. I never had kids (don't belong on mumsnet!) so to me it's just semantics, but it must be weird making that transition from babytalk. Just make sure they do it before the age of 18 or they will never have a girlfriend 😋