What is in a name?

By Jenn

We have reached a new stage in our household. It is the stage where you suddenly go from "Mommy" to "Mom." My oldest son is 10 (going on 16) and has been trying out this new title for me. Let me just be honest here. I don't like it. Not at all. It just sort of makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.

"Mom, where is the phone? I have a call to make."

"Will you help me with my homework, Mom?"

"You just don't understand, Mom."

Oh, yes, that last one breaks my heart. Somehow, hearing it phrased with "Mommy" tacked onto the end makes it easier to stomach. For instance:

"You just don't understand, Mommy. I just can't put on my own shoes."

I can help with that. I am needed with that one. I do in fact understand. Somehow, when it goes from "Mommy" to "Mom", he is right. I don't understand.

I know that this is just the first of many signs that he is growing up and moving away from me being the center of his world. He has been for a long time. Yet, when I would hear him call me "Mommy" it still felt like he was my baby boy. Now, he sounds like a kid who is growing up. Right on schedule.

Honestly, I cheer for him that he is finding his independence and trying new things on for size. Inside, I must tell you that it is hard for me to see my baby boy becoming a preteen and moving step by step away from his Mommy Mom.

Do your kids call you Mom or Mommy? Do you even have a preference?

Comments

[tisj]

maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah

[Mindy]

I have three, so one calls me Mom, one Mommy, and the third flips between Mommy and Mama. I have to say, my heart does a little dance each time she says "Mama." It's always when she's trying to be especially cute or solicitous...

[Jennifer]

I am still " Momma" to my four year old son...when he is trying to be grown-up or talk like his daddy, I will get " Jennifer"...

[Jo]

I find myself referring to me when talking to Liam in the 3rd person as "Mommy." I would be cool with whatever he comes up with to call me though. Perhaps it will be Mama, Mom, or Mommy - I can't wait to hear his little voice say it though!!

[Betsy]

Trust me to be the mom that's always swimming upstream for questions like this one, heh.

I am mom. And I much much prefer mom to mommy.

Maybe it's because my daughter only now says 'mommmmiiiieeee' in an incredibly whiny voice when she wants something or is displaying some kind of regressive behavior (she's six), or because our conversations when she calls me 'mom' are just so cool as I watch the big kid poking her way out from the little kid.

I think this also happened with my son, who is now almost eleven. He'd use mom and mommy interchangeably for a while, but the behavior associated with 'mommy' was the behavior I was all too happy to leave behind as he got older, so I didn't much mind hearing 'mom.'

Of course, I'm starting to get the pre-teen 'MoooooOOOOMMMMMMmmmm,' which is already tiresome. Can't win, can I?

[Michelle]

Cute post, Jenn. I'd rather have the 'mom' than the MAAAAAA that I get from my oldest 2! I still get mommy from the younger 3 (although it's more like mumma), but I'm sure as they get older (and lazier, lol) they will inevitably follow in their sisters' footsteps!

[bird]

My three year old daughter calls me Mom...but only when she's mad at me. I'm sure she gets it from me because, of course, I only call her by her full name when I'm mad at her!

[Meg]

Oh my goodness - a ten year old that is just NOW switching to "Mom"?? I'm jealous. My nine year old hasn't called me Mommy since he was three! My three and five year olds, however, do call me Mommy.

[lex]

My TWO YEAR OLD!!! started calling me "mom" a couple of months ago!

[terrilynn]

Mine still calls me Mommy, but is trying out Mama occasionally, which is fine. Ixnay on Mom, however, no matter how old he gets. I am much too southern for Mom to be acceptable!

[Helene]

When Kate was 2, she tried out 'mom' for a while. I knew just where it was coming from - day care. Fortunately a little mention of this to her teachers was all it took to turn her back to calling me "momma" She's now 4.5 and I hope we have at least another few years before she tries it out again.

[Marcia]

I get "mommy" much more than "mom" (as it should be with a five and a three year old) but yeah, just stick to mommy! It's so sweet.

[Theresa]

My oldest, who's 12 calls me 'mom', unless she's trying to sweeten me up for something. The rest call me mommy, or mama. I could think of worse things...like when your 12 year old says she hates you...

[Joye]

You think you have it bad? Mine is just 3 years old and rarely calls me Mommy anymore, just Mom. :( I miss the Mommy days already!

[Robin]

This depressed me. Please erase this and write something happy....maybe about kids who love to snuggle or something, ok? I can't deal with reality today. I die everytime Lillianna uses Mom instead of Mommy or even Mama I would accept. I look around, "Who the heck is she talking too??? Oh crap! It's ME!" I love being Mommy. It's my name damn it!! I hope at 41 she is still calling me Mommy. That's what I call my Mommy(I say it like Mummy which is how Lil says it too.) My mom HATES IT!!!! Always has. She prefers Ma which is what my sister calls her. Sounds like a damn sheep!! Maaaaaaa, Maaaaaa.
I think girls have a better chance of calling us Mommy but boys.....no way!!
You have my sympathy at losing your Mommy title. I am passing you a tissue. Keep a box handy in case Lil changes her mind and makes me MOM!!! sob! sob!

[Emily]

Hannah has started using mom as well.It's sad.But I'm still "ma-nee" to Seth.

[AGK]

Sigh...my younger two followed my oldest when he stopped calling me Mommy. It was jolting, more so than if they had done it one at a time. I'm only Mommy now if the younger ones want something. Momma-shwamma when my daughter really wants something badly ;)

[grace]

I'm usually Momma or Mommy, but I have gotten Mom a few times lately. As Jax (almost 6) was getting out of the car at school the other morning I said (as I do every day,) "I love you, baby." He said, "you too, Mom." I asked him to repeat himself in case I missed something. I didn't. But I will miss being Mommy.