Mama, Nanay or Mommy -- does it really matter?
By jureathome
@jureathome (5361)
Philippines
July 27, 2012 9:02am CST
I grew up thinking that economic status dictates how kids address their parents. For example, for the rich, kids call their parents Mommy and Daddy or Mom and Dad. For mid-range status, they call their parents Mama and Papa. For the poor, they call them Nanay and Tatay. I don't know if there's a reason behind it or if that's even right.
But now, I can see more variations of how kids call their parents, and it doesn't matter whether they're rich or poor.
I call my parents, "mama and papa".
My daughters call me "Mommy", because they use "mama" for their grandmother. And, they call their father "Dada".
1 person likes this
6 responses
@ShyBear88 (59342)
• Sterling, Virginia
27 Jul 12
Here in the US it just depends on where you live. I call my parents Mom and dad the same as my husband. Now my daughter calls me mama and calls her dad daddy. Where we live in the US pretty much everyone calls there grandparents mamaw and papaw.
@ShyBear88 (59342)
• Sterling, Virginia
28 Jul 12
That is only when your kids have kids so that there kids don't get confused. But I don't call my parents by there first name. It just really depends on the relationship. You do need to know your parents legal names for paper work so it is important to know it and know how to spell it. Actually normally even when you have kids you still call your parents mom and dad. We do call my husband's step dad Grandpa Mike. You have a misconception of how things work in the US. It just really depends on where you life. People that don't like there parents call them by there first name. I don't even call my grandparents by there first name or my husbands grandparents by there first name. I know them but they are always address by the name they have always told the kids to call them.
It was easier for my daughter to call me Mama and my husband daddy. My mom has always been mom since I was little girl that is all I've know her as. yes I know her first name, middle, maiden name and married name.
Its not common in the US for kids to call there parents by there first name at all. It's like any where else in the world some form of mom or some form of dad.
@jureathome (5361)
• Philippines
2 Aug 12
I do see that a lot on movies. I don't know, perhaps, it's just a choice that parents make.
My daughter knows our full names even when she was still 3years old, even if she calls us Mommy and Dada. Knowing the names is something that parents could teach their kids.
@jureathome (5361)
• Philippines
28 Jul 12
It is also common in the US for kids to just call their parents by their first names, right. So, why did you prefer your kids to call you mama and daddy?
@yahnee (1243)
• Philippines
28 Jul 12
Economic status does not really matter on how the parents should be called but sometimes it all depends on the region where we come from. For example there are provinces like Batangas where it is more prevalent to use Inay and Tatay irrespective of social status. In Bulacan my sister in law calls her mother Ina. In the Ilocos, many call their parents Inang and Tatang. However, any which way we call the parents it is our sign of respect and hopefully not because of social status.
@jureathome (5361)
• Philippines
28 Jul 12
I would like to think that social status has nothing to do with this. However, when I was a kid, I don't know how I got the idea that mommy and daddy are only for the rich.
@Cutie18f (9546)
• Philippines
27 Jul 12
I used to think that those names signify a family's economic status but it does not. In our family we called our late mother "nanay" while our late father we called "daddy" and I think they did not have anything to do with our status. Nowadays we easily use "mommy" or "daddy" without any meaning.
@jureathome (5361)
• Philippines
28 Jul 12
I think "nanay" is a sweet term for calling our mothers. And, its very Filipino, too.
@SIMPLYD (90717)
• Philippines
28 Jul 12
Yes, that's what i think too whenever i hear those different ways of calling our parents.
But whatever ways we call them, we call them from our heart.
@factorial (977)
• Philippines
27 Jul 12
At the instant I saw my son in the delivery room at the hospital I told him "hello Ton Im your papa". So in our home we taught our son to call us papa and mama. Then one morning when he was able to say few syllables I just heard him called me daddy! I think he heard me calling my father daddy (that is the way I call my father). Then he called his mother mama. When he knows how to reason I asked him why he calls me daddy and not papa? He answered me that papa is a police. Our neighbor is a policeman and his children call him papa. hahaha!
@jureathome (5361)
• Philippines
27 Jul 12
Oh, that's funny. Kids really don't fail to amaze us with how they think and how they perceive things they see around.
My kid also once called me "Te", short for "Ate", which is how her nanny calls me. So, I explained to her the difference.
@riyauro (6421)
• India
27 Jul 12
For us, it is mummy and daddy. But I think how fast we accept the modern ways of living that is how we get to this differences. I sometimes call my mum mother and she loves it when i say it loudly like 'MOTHER' haha. dad is daddy always for me. All different words but the feeling is same.
@jureathome (5361)
• Philippines
28 Jul 12
I also sometimes call my mother that way-- in a jokingly manner. Its a fun way to address her, but of course, respect still comes with it.
