Toddler Calling Parents by Their First Name

I think it's a phase. My kids went through it too. My daughter even called her dad Dr. Marshal. LOL I think it is good for kids to know their parents first and last names. If they ever got lost they would be able to say who they belong to. We just laughed like they were being funny and said "you call me mommy". They always do now unless they are playing or we aren't paying attention. They are 3 and 4.

I agree that every child does this at some point or another, but I hate to use the word "phase", although I admit that I just used it for the first time on another post, talking about the "whiny phase". Anyway, you are the parent, and if you chalk everything up to phases, you are ignoring the fact that the current behavior needs to be dealt with. Instead of looking at things as a phase, look at them as "learning experiences". Because a child is constantly learning, not going through phases, if they're phases, than they're phases of learning. So, tell her WHY other people call you and their daddy by their first names, and tell her that since YOU are their mommy, they need to call you mommy. You are not other people's mommy, so they call you B.. That's what I did with my kids, they were just mimicking what other people were calling me, but it never became an issue, I just told them what they were supposed to call me, and they were fine with that, and if they called me "Julie" I would look at them and say "No, I'm your mommy. Say 'Mommy' "

Hi B.! My daughter went through the same thing, though she was much younger. . .I think maybe about 18 mos. Whenever she would do it we would jsut ignore it and the request. I would also refer to my husband as "Daddy" instead of calling him by his first name. This seemed to help. All I know is the bigger deal you make out of it, the more she will resist calling him Dad. Your daughter is also old enough that if your husband ignores her requests when she refers to him by his first name she will eventually refer to Daddy to get what she wants. Hope this helps

Hey B., my oldest daughter and son will do that sometimes, calling my hubby by his name, not too often though, but my daughter will call me by my nickname (Flan) because members of my family call me by that name so often..so that doesn't really phase me too much anymore. But I'm sure it's something they will grow out of.

My husband and I went through the same thing with our daughter. We kept telling her that he was daddy every time that she said his name. Also, he refused to answer her if she called him anything but daddy. In the end she stopped on her own. I think it is just a phase and they like to imitate their parents and she hears you call your husband by his first name so she does to.

My 2 year old son will do the same!! If he is trying to get me or my husband's attention and we don't respond promptly then he will call us both by our first names!! I correct him and tell him that we are mommy & daddy! He gets the picture but I also think he does it to be funny sometimes!! Don't take it too seriously as it is just another wonderful stage that they soon grow out of!!

we didn't stop our son from doing that, we wanted him to know our names incase something happened to him, ie: getting lost, then he could tell someone our names..after we knew he got the jist of it & knew who we were, we told him that yes that was our name, but we really like hearing mommy & daddy better. he's 5 now & he only calls me by my first name when people ask my name & if i'm fake sleeping joking around, after he says MOMMY at the top of his lung s half a doz times, then he says my name & i jump up a roar and start chasing him, telling him he woke up the lion..it's pretty fun.

My son who will be 4 in a couple of days did the same thing for a while. I had read or heard that it is normal and they grow out of it. I didn't make a big deal at first because when he wasn't "thinking" about it, he'd call me "mom" so I knew that was his first instinct. And he did the same for his dad. He did eventually grow out of it, because now that I think about it, I haven't heard him call us by our names in a while.

I think it is a phase that children go through. They are learning that you and your husband have names other than "mommy" and "daddy". It's great that they are putting 2 and 2 together and making this connection! I wouldn't criticize them for it...make a game out of it. You may even offer them grandma and grandpa's name. They may get a few laughs from that!