I am African. In my country, we also call little girls "mama" and little boys "papa". It has nothing to do with wealth. It is done pretty much across all layers of society.

My friends from other African countries have the same habit. I am kind of tickled that South Americans share it.

I'm a new poster and I want to know WHY Hispanics/south Americans call their children the equivalent of "mother" and "father" - I would never think of calling my kids mother or father and I'm curious what it means - is it like "little lady" or is it kind if referring to the child's parent - like you're-just-like-your-mama so we're going to call you mama?

OP - here. Wow...I had no idea the turn this thread would take! I honestly had no idea this is a cultural issue since it was certainly not evident from the people I observed using this term!

I apologize if I offended anyone by using the term odd to describe mothers calling their daughters "mama".

What is this board's fascination lately with what other cultures are doing? (and often with a condescending/judgemental tone attached to the question)

Does anyone care if/why a WASP calls their son Chip or Skip?

Its a term of endearment and in mine case it was used for me when I was a little girl because I was a sassy little thing! People used to say to me:

"come on lil mama"

"ok then lil mama"

"lets go mama"

My mom and I used to play back and forth. I'd call her Madam and she'd call me madamoiselle. (27 now we still do it. lol)

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's normal in black or Latino communities to call children mama, mami, pop, or papi. I personally call my dd mama pretty much every day. It's only odd if you're not familiar with different cultures I guess.

This is more socioeconomic than race/ethnic. You rarely hear children called mama/papa among my middle to upper income hispanic and black friends (and I'm hispanic). i have, however, heard it among family members in lower socioeconomic classes.

BS. I'm of west indian descent from an upper class family. We use these terms as well as a term of affection.

Yes, sometimes I also call my DD, "Ma'am." Like, "Let's get a move on, ma'am."

Anonymous wrote:I call my toddler "Lady" sometimes, as in "Come over here Lady." I have no idea why, it's just stream of consciousness."

Yup, my daughter is "Baby Lady" or "Little Lady."

Anonymous wrote:I call my toddler "Lady" sometimes, as in "Come over here Lady." I have no idea why, it's just stream of consciousness."

+1 I also say ma'am. and I say mister or sir to my 3 yr old DS. lol

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's normal in black or Latino communities to call children mama, mami, pop, or papi. I personally call my dd mama pretty much every day. It's only odd if you're not familiar with different cultures I guess.

This is more socioeconomic than race/ethnic. You rarely hear children called mama/papa among my middle to upper income hispanic and black friends (and I'm hispanic). i have, however, heard it among family members in lower socioeconomic classes.

Are you calling me a poor? You're wrong sweetie. I'm a lawyer.

What I am suggesting is that perhaps you or your family grew up in a working class environment. There is nothing wrong with this, I did as well and worked my way up from poverty. I rarely hear it from friends and associates that grew up wealthy

Sorry that doesn't ring true. But e for effort for trying to clean it up. Your black and latino friends don't represent the community. Hopefully you aren't representative of the formerly "working class" community either.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's normal in black or Latino communities to call children mama, mami, pop, or papi. I personally call my dd mama pretty much every day. It's only odd if you're not familiar with different cultures I guess.

This is more socioeconomic than race/ethnic. You rarely hear children called mama/papa among my middle to upper income hispanic and black friends (and I'm hispanic). i have, however, heard it among family members in lower socioeconomic classes.

Are you calling me a poor? You're wrong sweetie. I'm a lawyer.

What I am suggesting is that perhaps you or your family grew up in a working class environment. There is nothing wrong with this, I did as well and worked my way up from poverty. I rarely hear it from friends and associates that grew up wealthy

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's normal in black or Latino communities to call children mama, mami, pop, or papi. I personally call my dd mama pretty much every day. It's only odd if you're not familiar with different cultures I guess.

This is more socioeconomic than race/ethnic. You rarely hear children called mama/papa among my middle to upper income hispanic and black friends (and I'm hispanic). i have, however, heard it among family members in lower socioeconomic classes.

My Hispanic in-laws are fairly well off and call our daughter Mami (along with a string of other nicknames), so it's not exclusive to the poors. You do hear it more often, though. I would say it's by far more ethnic than socioeconomic. No poor white family in Kentucky calls their little son Papa or Daddy.

I've heard poor whites call their kids mama

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's normal in black or Latino communities to call children mama, mami, pop, or papi. I personally call my dd mama pretty much every day. It's only odd if you're not familiar with different cultures I guess.

This is more socioeconomic than race/ethnic. You rarely hear children called mama/papa among my middle to upper income hispanic and black friends (and I'm hispanic). i have, however, heard it among family members in lower socioeconomic classes.

My Hispanic in-laws are fairly well off and call our daughter Mami (along with a string of other nicknames), so it's not exclusive to the poors. You do hear it more often, though. I would say it's by far more ethnic than socioeconomic. No poor white family in Kentucky calls their little son Papa or Daddy.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've never heard it, but it sounds ghetto.

You sound like you are not open to cultural differences. I am white; however, I have friends (highly educated - world bank, etc.) from countries in South America as well as Cuba and I have heard them call their children "mami" or "'papi". the first time I heard it, I asked and was told that it was just a nickname sometimes given to children.

+1