How do you refer to yourself?

[cvanbrunt]

I was flipping through my Toddler 411 book looking for something and came across a developmental milestones chart. The language section had a milestone about the use of pronouns. I realized that I always call myself "mommy" when talking to the girls...mommy's making dinner right now...Why do I do this? I don't say, "Let Carrie grab her coat and she'll join you for lunch" at work. Am I the only one who does this?

[bnme]

OK, I do this too. Never really realized! I think I do it less now that they are getting older. But I still do it.

My younger guy (almost 3.5) still say's 'Travis did it' sometimes instead of 'I did it'. When are they sapposed to master pronouns?

[Pennylane]

I do the same thing 70% of the time. Now that my kids are getting a little older (over 2), I try to say " I'm going upstairs to do the laundry" or whatever. It is a hard habit to break though!

Ann

[hez]

You're not the only one :)

[trentsmom]

I have no idea if I do this. I'm going to have to listen to what I say today!

[Marisa6826]

Yep, I refer to myself as "Mommy" and when talking to the girls, and call Jonathan "Daddy". But, you know, I remember my grandparents calling each other "Nan" and "Pop" whenever I was around. As I got older, they'd occasionally call each other by their first names, but it wasn't uncommon for them to slip and revert back. Boy, do I miss them :(

-m

[JustMe]

I sometimes do this as well. My mother, who had no parenting education/never read a book about it, always made a big deal about how she never did that (she referred to herself as I and me, not mommy) and never talked "baby-talk" to me. (She died before dd, so she is not criticizing what I am doing, she just used to mention this from time to time when she saw other people doing it).

Personally, I think I do use the "mommy" thing when I am trying to emphacize my role in some way...like I want her to do something, or she wants something from me, but has to wait because mommy has to do something else first.

It is a good thing to think about...I mean, it isn't really necessary, and it is nice not to talk down to your kids if you consider this as doing that (hope that makes sense!) but I don't think it does any real harm either.

[Jenn98]

When I was growing up my parents never ever called themselves by their first names unless they were speaking directly to each other. Otherwise it was always, "Go ask your dad XYZ" "Go get your mom ABC" Or if we were talking about my aunts my mom called them Aunt SoandSo.

But in DH's family MIL calls herself and her husband by their first names all the time. So if she was talking to DH and referring to his dad, she'd say "Go tell Phillip XYZ." It drives me nuts. And instead of calling her dad Grandpa she called him Daddy. I find it very confusing.

When I talk to my girls I interchange between using Mommy or I/me, but when I talk about someone else I refer to them using the relationship that they have with that person. So, I call my brother Uncle Dave when I am referring to him when talking to my girls but I just call him Dave if I am talking to him. Confused yet? ;)