My white friend refers to her daughters as "mama" as in "Come on mama, it's time to go." It threw me for a loop. But when I asked about it, she said, "Oh, this is a term of endearment I've heard for year's in Carlos' family. That's how his mother refers to the girls." They will also call the girls by their name.

Both families are from Texas, and her husband is Mexican-American. And for the record, both my friend and her husband are highly educated upper middle class professionals here in DC.

Anonymous wrote:Our Columbian nanny uses "mama" as a term of endearment with DD1 and DD2 all the time. I think it's very cute.

It's ColOOOOOOOOOmbian!!!

We Ayrabs do that. Your mother calls you mama, your dad calls you baba, you aunts and uncles call you aunt or uncle (or the Arabic equivalent thereof), and your grandparents do the same. It's a bit strange, but it's harmless I guess.

MIL calls her stupid dog Mama.

Our Columbian nanny uses "mama" as a term of endearment with DD1 and DD2 all the time. I think it's very cute.

Whenever I want my toddler do everything I want we do some role-play
She is my mama and I am the baby... you should try it its great!!
Mamma can i have water please? etc.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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?

Well, it's not the equivalent of "mother" and "father," it's "mommy/mom" and "daddy/dad," which are terms of endearment. Why the parent and child term is the same, I don't know. I never thought it was a reference to the child's actual parent (as in, I love you and your mother too).

In those same cultures mama/mami, and papa/papi are not used solely for parents. Growing up in my mixed up Black and Latino family, I called my grandmother mamita (she was a teeny tiny woman), grandfather was papa, and my younger siblings were often mami, lil'mama, papito, etc. They are terms of endearment not used only for parents, like you may call your son or daughter sweetie/honey/baby just like you would call your SO.

Thank you so much do that explanation! I have never had anyone explain it toe like that, but it makes perfect sense now!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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?

Well, it's not the equivalent of "mother" and "father," it's "mommy/mom" and "daddy/dad," which are terms of endearment. Why the parent and child term is the same, I don't know. I never thought it was a reference to the child's actual parent (as in, I love you and your mother too).

In those same cultures mama/mami, and papa/papi are not used solely for parents. Growing up in my mixed up Black and Latino family, I called my grandmother mamita (she was a teeny tiny woman), grandfather was papa, and my younger siblings were often mami, lil'mama, papito, etc. They are terms of endearment not used only for parents, like you may call your son or daughter sweetie/honey/baby just like you would call your SO.

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.

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

Could it be that they spend more time around other ethnicities???

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.

There are poor lawyers.

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.

I disagree with this. My boyfriend does this and he is upper middle class. His entire family of lawyers and accountants do the same. I think it's cute.

Anonymous wrote: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?

Come on, you've never heard of anyone calling a baby girl 'little mama'? It's just another term of endearment, like 'little lady', 'little man', 'little miss', 'little missy'. Just one more example of those.

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.

I agree, my black middle class friends call their daughter "mama".

Anonymous wrote: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?

Well, it's not the equivalent of "mother" and "father," it's "mommy/mom" and "daddy/dad," which are terms of endearment. Why the parent and child term is the same, I don't know. I never thought it was a reference to the child's actual parent (as in, I love you and your mother too).

Anonymous wrote: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".

12:11 here and sorry to jump on you OP. I'm just sick of feeling like a lab rat around here these days.