Who do you call what?

My how things have changed over the years. I know when I was a child that I called EVERY adult I met either Mr & Mrs or Aunt & Uncle. There was NEVER calling an adult by their first name - ever.

These days things have changed - in some ways. Doctors are still referred to by their title, and teachers are generally called Mr or Mrs. Sometimes the elderly or heads of companies are referred to by title. I would say that usually the Queen, Prime Ministers and Presidents also use a title when spoken to by adults or children. But us old regular adult folk are referred to by kids by our first names.

Now I am not a parent yet - however, I always stated that I wanted my children to show respect to adults by addressing them by their title. I say this now and I don't know how things are going to pan out when I am in that situation, but my mindset right now is that I want my children to address adults like that. Mark and I are in agreement on this topic also (thank goodness).

Children will call adults whatever you tell them to call them. If you refer to a person as Mr or Mrs or Aunt and Uncle, the kids will call them that. They don't know any different. Just like in high school when you were introduced/met a "Smitty" or a "Rocky" that would be what you called them because that is what they were introduced to you as. Sometimes you would even forget that they have a 'real' name.

Kids (and adults) don't have a problem referring to their child's teacher by their title because that is what everyone was introduced to each other as. Adults even still refer to their doctors and dentists by the letters after their name. Children just follow suit.

I also think that adults feel awkward referring to other adults with their titles and thus they don't do it. The children will then follow suit and call other adults the same name that their parents do.

Again, I say this now, but things might change when the time comes. It will be weird to refer to my friends by Mr & Mrs but I think it is important. But then again, I wouldn't call them that when I was speaking to them face to face. Kids are SMART they know the difference of what they should call someone and what someone else calls someone.

As a mom, they know that they call you mom but that Dad calls you by your first name. They know you are the same person. They figure things out pretty quick.

On another note, I would hope that other adults respect my wish for my children to call them by their title. I don't want the adult to say "oh they can call me Melissa". If that happens, I am not quite sure how I am going to address that yet - but let's just take one step at a time.

I think society is becoming so much more lax then it ever has been, and in some ways that is good, but in other ways with simple respect, I feel it has gone too far in the other direction. I believe that it is important to do the little things that you can to teach your children. They learn so much from and you and they most certainly learn how to treat other people by the cues they observe in their home and in public from their parents.

I am sure there are MANY points of view on this topic - so there you have it - MY view.