Poll of the Day: How should children address adults?
As a follow-up to my earlier post ~
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3 Responses to “Poll of the Day: How should children address adults?”
GOOD LUCK with this one! We felt exactly as you do (and had the same problem when rearing children 20 years ago, albeit in the nasty liberal East)and had a difficult time having our children call adults by Mr. or Mrs. whatever. The adult in question almost invariably insisted that the child use the first name. It got a little easier when the kids went to school and became used to using titles and last names. We settled on continuing to use last names without arguing with the friend in question. We explained our opinion to the kids but didn’t make a big deal of it if the friend insisted. I still call childhood adults by title and names for the most part–although Linda and Clay are Aunt and Uncle much less frequently then just their first names. Wonder what they think?
We are going to to the Mr./Ms./Mrs. + First Name option because I find it so delightfully (Southern) American. Had never experienced it before moving here.
My kids are 20 months and 4. So far we have done the Mr/Mrs + first name. Part of it is because when they are learning to talk the first names are usually easier to say and it is what they hear me say. I think it is hard for young ones to understand that mommy’s friend Jennifer is also Mrs. Jones. Also, most of the people that my kids address at this point are really close friends and more like family so it is OK. That being said, now that my oldest is in preschool, she starts addressing the teachers by last name and my desire if for her to address adults that are not so close to our family by last name. We will see how it goes.
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March 17th, 2010 at 4:20 pm
GOOD LUCK with this one! We felt exactly as you do (and had the same problem when rearing children 20 years ago, albeit in the nasty liberal East)and had a difficult time having our children call adults by Mr. or Mrs. whatever. The adult in question almost invariably insisted that the child use the first name. It got a little easier when the kids went to school and became used to using titles and last names. We settled on continuing to use last names without arguing with the friend in question. We explained our opinion to the kids but didn’t make a big deal of it if the friend insisted. I still call childhood adults by title and names for the most part–although Linda and Clay are Aunt and Uncle much less frequently then just their first names. Wonder what they think?
March 19th, 2010 at 2:29 pm
We are going to to the Mr./Ms./Mrs. + First Name option because I find it so delightfully (Southern) American. Had never experienced it before moving here.
March 19th, 2010 at 10:13 pm
My kids are 20 months and 4. So far we have done the Mr/Mrs + first name. Part of it is because when they are learning to talk the first names are usually easier to say and it is what they hear me say. I think it is hard for young ones to understand that mommy’s friend Jennifer is also Mrs. Jones. Also, most of the people that my kids address at this point are really close friends and more like family so it is OK. That being said, now that my oldest is in preschool, she starts addressing the teachers by last name and my desire if for her to address adults that are not so close to our family by last name. We will see how it goes.