FIL Wants To Be Called Papa

[Anonymous]

My dad is Papa to my kids. I think it's a great name and see nothing unusual or untoward about it. I'm surprised OP is so upset and I wonder what's really at issue.

[Anonymous]

My mom called her grandfather "Papa".
We still refer to furniture in the house as "Papa's desk" etc.
I called my grandfather "Poppie".
When my kids were born (the last in the family) they just called their grandparents the same thing the other cousins did.

[Anonymous]

Why not go for Pop-Pop? It's kind of close, but different enough that it won't be "Papa."

[Anonymous]

Incestuous? WTF?

I don't see anything wrong with it, and don't really see why parents need to be overruling what the grandparents want to be called to begin with.

[Anonymous]

Wow OP this is not the bridge you want to die on. It's what ever the grandparents want to be called.

[Anonymous]

I can't picture a modern-day child calling their immediate father "Papa" past age 3, when they get to preschool and the other kids make fun of them for not using "Dad".

I can, however, picture LOTS of grandfather "Papa"s. Sounds like a great grandpa name.

[Anonymous]

My FIL goes by Papa to his grandkids. It sounded like dad to me (I'm fluent in Soanish). But we didn't have his first grandchild. He was already papa. Don't love it but it's fine. Get over it, OP. It's his choice.

[Anonymous]

Another thing is that often the child comes up with the grandparent name. You might guide them to something, but the child pronounces it a different way -- and their way is cute and it sticks.

[Anonymous]

My husband is daddy and my stepfather is papa. My father is grampa. If my husband wanted to be called papa then my stepfather would have to find a different name.

[Anonymous]

One set of grandparents was grandma/grandpa and the other set was nana/papa. So I don't see the issue. If you don't want to be called papa then it is up for grabs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Growing up in the Midwest my wife called here parents Amma and Papa. She wants our son to call them that too. I've never heard anyone call a grandfather Papa. I think southerners or people in rural areas may use some variant but not straight Papa. To me it's no different than calling him Dad. It seems incredibly inappropriate and even implies something incestuous between him and his daughter. She doesn't see it. I think that the fact that she called them these things is evidence enough that they are names for parents but she doesn't see it. What's the best way to handle this? We are all together for the week and I feel done after only 24 hours.

Our grandson calls us nana and papa.

I think the issue is that op's wife calls her dad Papa, so it seems a bit different to have grandkids use the same name. I still don't know that it's weird though, definitely not incestuous. You will have many more issues to deal with in the future as you and inlaws spend time together.

[Anonymous]

My Dad goes by Papa to my kids. I agreed to it but do wish my parents would just go my the normal grandma or grandpa.

[Anonymous]

I'm pretty much a pain in the ass about everything but I don't care what my kid calls his grandparents. He calls FIL papa and I have never even thought much about it. I'd let it go.

[Anonymous]

OMG, 7 pages over such an innocuous issue....

[Anonymous]

This will blow your mind, OP - I call my father "Papa" because it's the term for father in my native language AND my children call my FIL "papa" because in the part of US he is from, it's common. And I don't care! The FIL prefers that and the kids can pronounce it, which should be the only requirements, unless the picked word is a curse word or something else insane. Why does it even matter, seriously? Talk about creating drama out of nothing.