Mr.? Mrs.? Miss? I have no idea how my kids should address adults.

When did acknowledging someone's existence get so complicated?

Oh, the formalities.
(Image credit: iStock)

Growing up in the '80s, it was a given that you'd address the adults in your life as Mr. or Mrs. or maybe Ms. You would assume that your friends' parents shared the same family name. It wasn't very confusing. If you were at Amy Smith's house, her mom was probably called Mrs. Smith. Simple. It just wasn't something we had to even consider. But that's not the case today. Now that I'm a parent myself, I'm trying to figure out what my kids should call grown-ups, and it seems that "Mrs. Smith" is a moniker of the past. These days (at least in Los Angeles) most kids call adults by their first names. But do I want to adopt this casual practice in my own household? Not really. Can I avoid it? Not really.

As the mother of a 2-year-old and a 4-year-old, I'd prefer that my kids use some sort of title to address adults; first names seem so casual! But the roadblock is that no one else does it. I don't want my children to be the only ones who use more formal terms, but I'm also not totally comfortable with them calling their friend's mom "Emily." Miss Emily? That's cute, but the "Miss" is a misnomer if the person is, in fact, a woman, and not a girl. Despite my qualms, we mostly use first names at this point. I'm going with the flow as I figure this out. And it's somehow less offensive when toddlers and preschoolers use first names; it's actually sort of adorable.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us
Lindsey Hunter Lopez

Writer and blogger Lindsey Hunter Lopez is currently immersed in the world of parenting thanks to her two small children. Her work has appeared at Parents, SheKnows.com, L.A. Parent, OK!, CNN, FOX News, and Preen, among other publications. Lindsey is a graduate of the University of California, Santa Cruz, and New York University. She's endlessly fascinated by parenting trends, subcultures, social media phenomena, and children's clothing.