I am going to be 35 this year in September so I don't think I'm too old.
Growing up, I always addressed my friends' parents as Mr. and Mrs. So-in-so. This was fine and dandy with me.
Now that I am a parent, in my inner circle of mommy friends (I am very close to 3 mommies in particular) they have allowed their kids to address me by my first name. When our friendship was still new, I would tell Ricky to address my friends as Mrs. so-in-so and my friends would say, no, just call them by their first name.
It just feels weird to me and slightly inappropriate that Ricky addresses them by first names and that their kids address me by first name. I don't know. Am I too old-fashioned? Am I stuck in the 80s?
I haven't made a big deal about it because I don't want to be the only Mrs. So-in-So in the group. It feels like you have be uniform - so it looks like first names win. Not to mention the fact that the oldest children are 3 - and already are accustomeed to this. It might be too hard to change.
Any opinions on this?
1 comment:
I don't think having manners is too old fashioned at all. Like you, I grew up calling adults Mr. and Mrs. So-and-So. In fact, even though I'm now 30, I still say Mrs. Carlson or Mr. Sheridan when referring to my parents' friends. I was also expected to call my in-laws by their last names until my wife and I were engaged.
There's too little respect these days, and good manners seem to have gone right out the window as well. My son uses our friends' first names, but puts Mr. or Mrs. in front of it. I suppose it's a decent compromise, but it will be too easy for him to drop the Mr. or Mrs. a few years from now.
However, when my son starts bringing friends by the house, behind my back they can refer to me as "the old fuddy-duddy," but to my face it had better be Mr. Turner.
-MJT
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