<p>Recently, the daughter of a close friend of mine joined a group of six adults as we were helping one of those adults move into her new residence. We met the daughter when she was still in high school and she has always called me Mrs. FlyMeToTheMoon. But on this day she asked her mother to ask me if it would be alright to call me by my first name. She is now in her thirties (how did that happen?), and I told her by all means, please call me (first name).</p>
<p>But it got me to thinking about making that transition form the more formal title to a first name basis. Our older daughter is 20, and her friends still call us Mr. or Mrs. FlyMeToTheMoon. I’m thinking about telling them to address me us our first names, since they are adults.</p>
<p>I’m way older than 30 and I still call my parents friends by Mr. and Mrs. Habit. If they asked me to call them by their first name I supposed I would but I guess they are in the habit of hearing it too.</p>
<p>As it happens. I don’t care enough to focus on it. I use the “Mrs” title or “Ms” for a number of women, and my MIL’s generation will always be “Mrs” and “Miss” to me unless any of THEM specifically ask me to call them anything else. I refer to the school secretary who has seen 4 of my kids through that school as Mrs, and she finally asked me to call her by her first name–now that I am out of the school, it’s a go. But my oldest is pushing 30, and his peers all refer to me as “Mrs” as do all of my friends kids. If any ask to call me by my first name, they’ll get my consent with no problem at all, but it just isn’t something worth bringing up for me.</p>
<p>What do children in law call you, “you” being the generic “you” for board parents? I always called my MIL by her first name, but my DH to this day calls my mother Mrs_.</p>
<p>"What do children in law call you, “you” being the generic “you” for board parents? I always called my MIL by her first name, but my DH to this day calls my mother Mrs_. "</p>
<p>MAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHM!!!</p>
<p>Don’t know why, all walk into the house, my kiddos, their significant others, the PARENTS of the significant others…seriously, and usually at the top of their lungs.</p>
<p>Little house, so it’s not like I can’t hear them if they were to whisper…but no, I can usually hear them if I am inside another neighbor’s house, or my yard, or down the street at the bus stop, or in the nearby park…</p>
<p>I generally had the kids friends call me by my first name even when they were younger, except for a few who weren’t comfortable with that. ( they both also attended schools where adults used first names, mostly).</p>
<p>My grandparents went by grandma & grandpa " last name", but my kids called their grandparents grandma & grandpa “first name” ( H also called my grandmother & grandfather, " grandma & grandpa", as they asked him to, which was sweet but a little weird for a while)</p>
<p>I don’t often see my inlaws and so don’t have to address them but early on it was Mr or Mrs,and now that I have been married to their son for 31 yrs I call them by their first name. No they didn’t ask me to change but I feel I’ve earned it. H called my mom by her first name.</p>
<p>We rarely ever call friends’ parents by Mr or Mrs. Always first names for as long as I can remember. Parents’ friends were usually Aunt or Uncle to me but as I’ve grown, I’ve dropped the Aunt and Uncle.</p>
<p>I’ve always asked kids to call me by my first name, even when they were three. Some felt uncomfortable and still call me Mrs. Blank-Blanky, though that is not my name. My kids had a hyphenated name, and my name is Dr. Blank. So formal.</p>
<p>My kids were D Blank-Blanky, and S Blank-Blanky, and kids could never understand that neither my H or I are Blank-Blanky. He is Mr. Blanky. (A rival to SpongeBob perhaps?)</p>
<p>However, somewhere along the line kids decided that they didn’t like a hyphenated name and they are D and S Blank. H wasn’t perturbed; it is by far the nicer, simpler name.</p>
<p>My daughters 25 year-old friends (she is 25 too) seem to try and avoid using names at all. Same with S’s 23 year-old friends.</p>
<p>To make matters worse, if I’m not Dr., I’m Ms. I am no one’s Mrs (Mistress of). Never wanted to be, even as a child. Both my husbands supported that.</p>
<p>Though married 30 years, I myself have never loved being called “Mrs” - I’ve always preferred that kids I know well call me by my first name - many still go my Mrs., but some have retreated.</p>
<p>As my dad would have said, you can call me anything but don’t call me late for supper. I honestly don’t care if people use my first name or Mrs. Onward. I call my MIL by her first name. I have tried to call her mom but that is my mom’s name! Now that my mom has been gone for five years (really?), I thought I would be able to switch to calling my MIL that. Nope, still can’t. Luckily, MIL doesn’t mind. She told me once that she didn’t care what her in-laws called her as long as she had a name.</p>
<p>This is certainly a study in regional differences. We call no one in these parts Ms. or Mr. aside from school teachers, and even some of them use, Ms. Mary or Ms. Pat, avoiding the last name. All my kids friends have called me by my first name from the time of meeting, age 3. Though a friend was shocked when she moved to a more conservative part of our state, and Mr. and Ms. suddenly were being used by her son’s peers.</p>
<p>Most of my kid’s friends already call me by my first name. Since most of the others if they call me anything at all call me Mrs. Husband’s-not-my-last-name, I generally notice and say “Please call me my first name.”</p>
<p>I still have this dilemma at 50 years old with my parents’ friends (all in their 80s). I don’t really call them anything… “Oh, how nice to see you! <em>hug</em> How is <fill in=”" blank="" with="" their="" kid’s="" name=""> doing?" It actually becomes an issue, believe it or not, when they die and I am writing sympathy cards or letters. Internal to our family we always chat about them as “Nancy” or “Connie” or “Bill”, so it just feels so awkward to go to Mr. & Mrs. after that.</fill></p>
<p>With all this in mind, I have very specifically introduced myself by my first name, and asked my kids friends to call me that pretty much since they were in middle school. Especially the bf/significant other types. I just don’t want there to be any awkwardness over this, and it IS my name. :)</p>
<p>WildChild has called H and me by our first names since he was about 13. Long story, but we thought it was a stage and at the time we were fighting some other battles and didn’t choose to fight that one. However, it never changed. We got used to it, but it was pretty shocking to others. As a result, most of our kids’ friends call us by our first names, including my son in law. This is fine. My husband and I have different last names, so it’s easier that way anyway instead of everyone having to figure out what last name goes with which adult.</p>
<p>I only always wanted to be called my first name. I had one friend who wanted to be Mrs. X to kids and my son always obeyed. I never got it, but there you go.</p>
<p>It was a bit of a shock for me when I started working in an office and was expected to call EVERYONE by their first names-- people around our office it was no big deal because they introduced themselves to me how they wanted to be called, but emailing people I don’t know in the branch offices-- especially the branch managers who are LIGHTYEARS ahead of me in rank-- and just assuming first name is okay still feels foreign to me, but I do it because it’s expected. I’ve never been one to call someone much older than me by their first name unless they told me to, I always follow the lead of whoever I am speaking to. My friends parents were always Mr. and Mrs. X… I think I prefer it that way, but I guess it’s not up to me!</p>
<p>I am an odd one in that I picked up “sir” and “ma’am” even, despite not being raised that way and that not being typical in the region I live in. I have to squash the impulse to say those words or people think I am being sarcastic.</p>
<p>When my kids were younger, their friends called me Mrs. <strong><em>. Since they began college, I introduce myself to their friends using my first name. I never felt comfortable being called Mrs.</em></strong>__, but that formality seemed to be the norm where we live.</p>
<p>For people we knew long before we or they had kids, everyone is called by their first name.</p>
<p>All of my kids current friends here in the South call DH & I “Mr or Mrs. D” although DH does get called “Coach” by a group of them because he’s been their Coach for years. When we go back to NJ, all the kids who were my kids friends back in the day call us by our first name, although my kids call their parents Mr. or Mrs. X (it’s ingrained now!)</p>
<p>I cannot call school staff anything but Mr or Mrs. X. Although the GC & I have finally gotten past that and try to use each other’s first names (but I almost always type Mrs. X first.)</p>
<p>I am old school. I grew up calling adults Mr., Miss, or Mrs. Even today, I have trouble calling parents of former classmates or parents of former neighbors by their first names. I was taught that it was the respectful thing to do. </p>
<p>I am over 50 and am an elementary school teacher. I am surprised by the number of parents who call me by my first name.</p>