What do your children call adults?

Over on Whitman's thread on the S&N board I mentioned something about teaching children manners and it got me thinking about how children address adults nowadays. When I coach tee ball, the kids call me Coach Big, not Coach Pern (not really, they use my first name, but you get the idea). To this day, I refer to my former football coach as Coach LastName.

At my cousin's wedding this weekend, I talked with a few of my friends' parents and referred to them as Mr. LastName. I'm just used to calling them that and calling them Mike or Mary Ellen just sounds foreign.

Growing up, we called my parents' close friends by their first names, but any adult outside that circle was Mr. or Mrs. So-and-So.

I'd like my kids to address adults more formally, but most tell them, "Oh, call me John," or whatever, so my son (my daughter doesn't really talk yet) calls 98 percent of adults by their first name.

I'm curious how everyone else's kids address adults.

 

Mr. or Ms. [First Name], mostly.

 

Mr./Mrs./Ms. when they are conversational.
Right now they are still at the 'doggie' and 'shoes' phase.

I was early teens when my sister had her first kid. I wanted my niece to call me 'Buck.'
My sister insisted that she call me 'Uncle Buck.'
I did not like it at the time, but as an adult I get it.
We intend for our children to use Mr./Mrs./Ms. and Aunt/Uncle or Tia/Tio for my wife's side.

 

"Noah's/Will's/Roy's Mom." Or "Noah's/Will's/Roy's Mom."

The one thing that surprises me is how many kids don't address uncles and aunts as "Aunt/Uncle So-and-So," but instead by their first names, including me.

 

My son is almost 20, but it was always first names. Even aunts and uncles were often Ralph and Darla instead of Uncle Ralph and Aunt Darla.

My nieces and nephews, who are in their 30s, call me Uncle MTM, but my son's friends, even when they were younger, went with MTM.

Edit: Dick beat me to it on the uncle/aunt thing

 

I'd say it's about 50-50 between first names and Mr./Mrs. Never heard a kid call anyone Ms. though. Fucking patriarchal heteronormalcy.

The one caveat is that almost every kid I ever coached still calls me "Coach (First Name)" even if I only coached them for a few months 10 years ago.

 

I think there's some regional differences as well. Growing up up north, it was always "Mr. Lastname" or "Coach Lastname."
As an adult in the south, I often hear "Mr. Firstname," "Coach Firstname" or "Miss Firstname," or just the catchall "Sir" and "ma'am."

 

When my kids were younger, I loved it how they and their friends would refer to parents -- "Timmy's mom, where is the bathroom?". My kids (8 and 11) normally call adults Mr. or Mrs. but when prompted by those adults will call them by their first name. I tend to correct kids who call me by my first name (that's how I grew up) but my wife will not (she grew up calling friends of her parents by their first name).

LTL -- agreed on the Coach honorific. Most of my players/former players call me Coach or Coach (my first name) when they see me in our town or at school. And my kids do the same thing.

 

Is there anyone you address as Mr./Mrs./Ms.?

I may use that in a salutation on an email, but I use first names with my sources.

I remember feeling odd calling my Congressman "Sonny" when Sonny Bono was our rep. The current guy I would probably address as "Congressman," not his first name.

 

My sister-in-law's kids refer to my wife and I by our first names. My sister's children call us Uncle/Auntie. It's not terribly surprising. My sister is pretty strict and stresses manners pretty constantly, while my SIL is rather socially awkward and sometimes struggles with her own manners.

 

Occassionally, when interacting with someone I do not know well in a work setting, if that person is not a member of my company.
Also, very rarely anymore, but when I encounter someone I knew as an adult when I was a child.
And I still call all of my aunts and uncles 'Aunt name' and 'Uncle name.'

 

I'm over 40. Nobody gets the mister, missus or miss treatment anymore. I transitioned to calling people I used to call Mr. or Mrs. so and so into calling them by their first names. I tend to believe it makes them feel younger and in a sense makes me feel older. I'm not a kid, so this vestige of childhood can be tossed. It's not a lack of respect. It's just a part of growing up.