My 2 year old and my 7 month old baby girls just started going to a babysitter while my husband and I are working. For the last week or two I have heard my 2 year old call her babysitter's husband daddy. And, he answers her without correcting her. I don't want to correct her in front of him for fear of hurting his feelings, but her daddy loves her very much and would be crushed if he knew she was calling someone else daddy. Is this normal? What do I need to tell her? What do I need to tell my babysitter's husband?!
2006-08-11 02:20:49 · 20 answers · asked by KC 2 in Pregnancy & Parenting ➔ Toddler & Preschooler
This is VERY normal! Your two-year-old is still learning how to classify things and people. This is called over-generalization, and it just means that she has figures that males, who are big like her daddy, are classified as daddies. Just as I bet she classifies all furry, four legged animals as dogs. She is learning to separate and organize things into categories... and sometimes she makes mistakes. My neice is into this stage right now, and has been calling me "Mommy". I usually respond with something like, "Remember, I'm Aunt Kate. What do you want, Ashley?" They are trying to get down all these rules of grammar, language and social status, and sometimes it just gets confused. Give her a little time to finish sorting out her classifications.... Pretty soon, she'll be calling him by his first name and understanding the relationships everyone has with one another. As for talking to your babysitter's husband- either just mention that you would like him to respond with (ie: "My name is Tom. What did you want?") or model for him when you are there ("His name is Tom, sweetie. What did you want to ask to him"). Either way, he should get the idea. If they have children of their own who have gone through this stage, he probably knows that children typically do this when they are learning, so he probably just responds knowing that she will grow out of it.
2006-08-11 05:02:36 · answer #1 · answered by dolphin mama 5 · 4⤊ 1⤋
Definitely don't let your husband know. I would be crushed if I heard my son was calling someone else mommy. But at the same time since I am a full time working mother, and my son spends more time awake with his grandmother (my day care mom) then me. Which sucks. However, when talking to my son she calls herself Grammy. You might want to be sure that your sitter's husband isn't teling your daughter to call him Daddy. There are some weird people out there that get a power trip from odd things. Definitely talk to him about it or one day your husband will go to pick up the kids and it will happen right in front of him. Start putting a stop to it now before it gets too late!! Good luck...
2006-08-11 02:44:03 · answer #2 · answered by Momin2005 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
so what if you hurt baby sitter's husband's feelings. Just be polite about it. The next time you catch her calling him Daddy all you do is pick her up and say "no no baby that's Mr. So and So. Daddy is waiting for us at home lets go see him" Or something to that affect. My oldest did that for a while. Anybody over 5 foot tall was Daddy. I was in the middle of a divorce and it scared a couple of dates away. It was cute really. Just do what i said and then the guy will get the picture that you don't want your kids to call anybody but their Daddy daddy.
2006-08-11 02:29:08 · answer #3 · answered by murph_ltt 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
It's really not that big of a deal. I have watched alot of children and two year olds really know who there dad's are. They sometimes just think all men are called dad.
Do not say anything to the babysitters husband. He knows he is not the child's father. But it is very nice of him to have a nice connection with your daughter. Alot of men would care less. I am sure by the time your daughter is 2 1/2 she will never even remember calling him dad. It is just a phase all children have them.
I watched a 2 year old and he called me mom. I tried to correct him as much as possible. Then I just decided he doesn't know any better. I my's as well stop wasting my time trying to correct him and just have fun with him. I am sure that is what the other man feels.
Try not to worry about it that much. Don't rush to making it a bigger deal then it is.
2006-08-11 02:39:06 · answer #4 · answered by Bears#1 2 · 2⤊ 0⤋
This is something happen with most of the kids. My children did called other kid's dad daddy. My 26 months called all the daddy "dad" because he know it's the kid's dad.
But he know his daddy and go for comfort and loving to his dad whenever in need.
Don't worry about it. That will change as they get older.
Kids know their parent before birth.
I'll be happy if my kid is happy and find comfort in other people when I'm not around.
Take it easy on the kid. good luck
2006-08-11 02:42:16 · answer #5 · answered by Shanobaby 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Firstly, relax. LOTS of little ones call men "Daddy". They can relate more to their mother because they see them more often but when they see a grown up male, they think it's their dad. Also, men have deep voices which gets their attention. Maybe explain this to your husband so he's prepared for it if it happens in front of him. Explain it's normal - maybe even make a joke of it ( "Our little one sure has a lot of Daddies!"). Maybe talk to the sitter's husband that it bother you a bit but don't get too wound up about it. By the way, it's happened to me a few times ( being called Daddy). I found it amusing!
2006-08-11 02:31:20 · answer #6 · answered by ezc692 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
If your babysitter has children also, your daughter probably hears them call this man daddy and just does the same.
I would make sure that your daughter knows this man's name as Mr. Jones, or Bob or whatever. And I would also ask him to correct your daughter on this.
My sister has 2 granddaughters, and sometimes they call me grandma. They know that I am "Auntie Debbie", but sometimes in their excitement to tell me about something they make this error. I don't correct them because I know it is just their excitement causing the mistake. However, if they were doing it all the time, then, yes, I would correct them.
2006-08-11 02:30:17 · answer #7 · answered by tweetymay 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
It's perfectly normal. Especially if your sitter has children that call him daddy. Your child might truly think the man's name is daddy. She is much too young to understand that this would hurt her own father's feelings. Calmly refer to the may by his given name as much as possible around your daughter. Eventually she will catch on. My daughter started calling me by my given name because everyone else around her did. I wasn't offended. She also my friends mommy because their children called them mommy.
There is no real need to tell the sitter's husband anything. Not so long as you calmly refer to him by his name.
2006-08-11 05:49:15 · answer #8 · answered by Mary J 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
its probably just a confusion with words. she is most likely just thinking that any adult male she sees often is "daddy" maybe just try to drop hints at the babysitters hubby that you really dont approve of him responding to daddy.
2006-08-11 05:08:29 · answer #9 · answered by horseluvr215 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Its OK! maybe the men she sees resembles her daddy,dont worry about it..unless she wants to go with them,she will grow out of it.
2006-08-11 03:14:18 · answer #10 · answered by Ms Scarlet 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋