An un-PC question...

[alison]

In Germany, I noticed that lots of kids call their parents by their first names. My dh calls his dad by his first name and his mom is "mama." Kris, what do your kids call Thomas? Just curious.

My adviser is a professor as well as a dean. I asked for permission to call her by her first name early on and that was that. I guess I didn't really leave her an out - was she supposed to say, "actually, I want to be called Dean X?" She once met my brother and she said "Hi, my name is FIRST NAME, LAST NAME. Call me FIRST NAME." My brother had a look on his face like: . I mean, he had read her book and everything and was supposed to call this lady by her first name?!

I should probably be more careful with what I call people since it's obviously something that some people feel strongly about. I guess I've had it with my frustrations with the German du/Sie formal yous (like vous/tu in French) that I'd just rather not deal... :>

Most everyone dh works with (lab techs, etc.) calls him by his first name, but I think the residents call him Dr. Patel.

Our kids call us Mama and Daddy or Mudder and Fadder ... depending on their mood. Both went through a phase of wanting to use our first names, which I quashed. I told them that it's a very special thing for them to call us Mom and Dad - they're the only 2 people in the world who get to do that (for now ).