Hmmmm ~ what do you think...

[CC]

It took 4/5 years for Chris to call me Mommy. Before that he called me "B" go figure LOL but thats what he called me for years. Then I finally heard "Mommy" and Loved it and the last year he has been calling me "Chrissy". I have no problem with it, its kind of cute actually and he calls Colin, "Colin" too and not daddy.

K, here is the ?, a friend of mine said do you let him do that cause he has special needs? Hmmm NOPE Man oh Man my Mom's name was Elaine and I use to call her "Elaine" for a bit of time then changed to call her "Granny" when she was a granny.

K, I am just wondering if our kids ever get a break and not every thing they do has to be due to special needs in others eyes, KWIM

CC ~

[Emilysmom]

Interesting question, Christie. I think that every family has it's own dynamics, and that includes the names we call each other. I think some families are VERY firm on being "proper"..........I knew a family who thought it was rude for children to call their mom anything but "Mother" (way too "formal sounding" for me) and "Grandmother" for their grandma. That worked for them, but I would hate it. For some reason, NONE of my kids ever called me "Mommy".......it was always "MOM", and that just felt right to me. So, maybe your friend is one who would never want to be called by her first name by her kids...........you know, it was about HER, not Chris? I don't know. Would you be ok if Kodi called you "Chrissy"? If so, then it has nothing at all to do with Ds.

And, I know what you're saying............LOTS of stuff has nothing at all to do with Ds, and sometimes others tend to think it does.

[jelanismom]

I don't know what I think anymore...LOL

When we were growing up we would only say "Mom" and "Dad." I remember my Mom instilling into our little brains that we need to refer to our relatives when speaking to them as "Aunt Rose" and "Uncle Larry" and so on and so forth for everyone except cousins we used first names of course. I still to this day refer to my Aunts/Uncles the same way.
I think that Ds gets used as a catch all phrase..."it's the Ds". Well maybe he prefers to call you Chrissy because you're his like best friend or whatever, ya know?
I can't wait till Jelani actually calls me Mom. So far I'm nameless, he always knows where I am and doesn't call me anything yet...but the day will come. And if he calls me Elmo or Spongebob, well that's fine too...LOL ;D

[Kristin]

My daughter knows my first name is Kristin, but is discouraged from using it. She refers to me as Mom and has learned to tell others my name. The hard thing is for her to call her teachers by their last names, as many of them went by Miss (first name). I think the rules for what your child refers to you should be the same whether or not they have DS.

[Ericsmomma]

I'm wondering if she meant do you let him "get away with it" because he is special needs and you don't want to discourage him/correct him? Thats how I would take it. But I wasn't there..you can tell so much more by a person's attitude and tone of voice.
My kids always called me "Mom"....never had to deal with the "first name stuff"...if it did occur, I would probably would have told them to call me Mom. Personal preference I guess. (and I'm sure when they were teenagers they referred to me by "other" names!)

[Googsmom aka Jennifer]

I have a nefew who calls everyone by there first names including his mom, dad, gramma and grampy. I first thought this was weird but now days I think it's the cutest thing. "M" is smart as a whip for a 5 yr old and everything is so politically correct w/ him. He's so cute

As for my girls....I'm the momma!!!

[Renee']

poo on her. My girls call me Renee from time to time. We giggle about it and tell them I am mommy. You can just tell her that it is a major step for him and you want to enjoy it. If it doesn't bother you who cares. But I am pretty crabby these days.

[Emilysmom]

Dolly,
That's the same thing I thought........is he "getting away with calling you that" because he has Ds? And I think whether or not we even see it as "getting away with" anything differs from family to family. That's why I said it had more to do with HER and what she liked to be called, I think.
Heck, Emily even tends to call me "woman" at times, and the way she says it just sounds cute to me and I don't think of it as her getting away with anything.

Susan

[carolyn]

John has always called me mom. This year however, I started substitute teaching at the elementary school he goes to and sometimes when he is really trying to get my attention he calls me "Mrs. Rathsack"!! Too funny!

[Chris too]

As for my own kids, there is never a question; they call me "Mommy." But it's a rule in my house set in place to reinforce the chain of authority. If it has never been a rule in your house, then with what is Chris getting away? He isn't breaking any house rules in calling you "B" or "Chrissy," so there is no "getting away with it" going on. Does Kodi call you Christie?

To me the name thing is a respect issue. I don't let other kids call me Chris; they call me Mrs. Nichols. And my neices & nephews all use Aunt before my name. I am a very short, very fun & friendly person, so kids can get to thinking that we are on equal ground even when I am in fact the authority figure. So the name just helps them remember that they need to follow my very few, but very firm rules when I'm in charge. They don't seem to mind & come to me for help or permission even when I'm not the one in charge

[CC]

THANKS all for your responses

LOLOL Susan "Woman" LOLOL now thats cute

Funny thing is Chris called me "B" till he was 4 years old cause he actually could not say Mommy or even Mom for that matter. But then at 4 as he was going onto 5 and moving into Kindy he finally said "Mommy" and it was truly the COOLEST ever to finally have my son call me that ;D

Who knows why but the last year he has been calling me Chrissy and Colin by our names and has dropped the Mommy and Daddy.

Honestly it was so cute when he first did it and so very clear when he came out with it that we just said, what the heck, its new words and very clear KWIM

We seem to always be correcting Chris for so many things that this particular thing we just said its no biggy. So maybe it has to due with his DS/speech issues in a way but then again if Kodi decided she wanted to call us by our names I truly would not have a problem with it

Honestly any adult we let him call by their first name and it has always been fine with all, with his speech problems first names seem much easier for him and much more articulate (sp?) then when he tries to say most last names, KWIM

Anywho thanks for listening and I loved reading your thoughts on it

CC ~

[Connie]

Hummm...

My kids always call me MOM or Mommy but, my mom they call Grandma Jo or Mammy. She has been Mammy to all the kids she has ever babysat for the the past 40 years. However...Collin calls my mom old goat or old bat, funny thing it has turned into a term of endearment to her.

Connie

[adnegron]

This is how I see it.

Calling someone mom, dad, grandma...so on, is a way to show respect and authority. So as long as he is not being disrespectful, it's just a word. And you know what, so what if it is cause of the DS that you allow it. It is an accomplishment and should be celebrated!!