What do your kids call your friends or neighbors?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Mr / Miss first name.
I do not know last names of tons of people and have a harder time recalling them.

It is 2020, while it might be acceptable for grandparents to use Miss, please do not teach it to your children.

[Anonymous]

I do Mr/Ms. Firstname. Or if they have a nickname that they use to introduce themselves-- like our neighbor is Ms. Goldie even though that's not her actual first name, because she drives a gold car and is generally an unforgettable old lady who likes to dress well. I introduce myself to kids the same way because that's the norm here, although I also go by "Ms. Larla's Mom" if needed. My actual last name is a struggle for anyone to pronounce so if I did want to use it, I'd go by the first initial of it.

Where I come from (a hippie social community northern New England) using Mr/Ms would feel really odd and you'd just use the first name. So when up there my kids tend to follow what other kids do.

[Anonymous]

Mr. /Mrs. Last Name

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Either by their first name if we are all close or Mr./Ms./Mrs. Last name. We don't do Ms./Mr. First name. Weird to me.

Teach your children manners. Children are not the equal of adults and do not call them by their first name.

Not where I’m from.

[Anonymous]

English doesn’t have a good solution for this. In DH’s native language if you have to directly address your friends parents you would call them the equivalent of “mother” and “father” (with the equivalents of “mom” and “dad” being reserved for your own actual parents). I like that, it seems respectful but not overly formal/distant. Wish we had a similar widely accepted rule!

[Anonymous]

The Mrs. Larla vs Mrs. Jones is very southern. I live in Pennsylvania and nobody addresses adults that way.

[Anonymous]

Ms/Mr. First name for neighbors/casual friends.
Uncle/Auntie First name for our good friends.

[Anonymous]

Nothing. We don't speak to our neighbors.

[Anonymous]

Mr, Ms, Miss, Dr Last-name until the neighbor requests something different. Aunt and Uncle First Name for close friends. First name if that’s what the person prefers.

Nanny is called Nanny First Name and housekeeper is Miss Last Name and once-a-week gardener is Mr. Last Name - those we insist on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:First names, but usually, they manage to have conversations without names.

Rude. Kids need to respect the adults and use titles.

[Anonymous]

If your child calls me by my first name I have no qualms about telling them that I am Mrs. (Last name) and I don't invite them or their parents back. I am so fed up with children with no manners.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The Mrs. Larla vs Mrs. Jones is very southern. I live in Pennsylvania and nobody addresses adults that way.

+1 I also live in PA. Must be a regional thing.

[Anonymous]

Southerner here. I grew up saying Mr and Mrs Last Name, and our children will too when they get older. For now, Mr Mrs First Name is fine for our 3 year old

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Mrs. Larla vs Mrs. Jones is very southern. I live in Pennsylvania and nobody addresses adults that way.

+1 I also live in PA. Must be a regional thing.

In NJ where I'm from it's Mr/Mrs last name. Here in DC it's more often Mr/Miz first name. That's how some neighbors introduced themselves to me, prekids. I guess I'm a kid to them, anyway.

It really rubs me the wrong way to be called just my first name by kids. First name only feels so rude, probably because where I grew up in late 80s/90s, kids would be spanked for doing that. It feels awkward to say "actually, it's Ms. Katie to you."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My two year neighbor called my husband “Mr. Ms. [My Name].” That’s our favorite thing ever.

Oh my god that so funny. You made me laugh.