Poppa and Honey
Picking what to call grandparents can be trying but, ultimately, the kids decide. My dad wanted to be called Poppa. And that worked because it was easy for a young child to pronounce. My mom, on the other hand, wanted to be called Grandmother. Not sure why, because that’s hard for kids to pronounce. I think it’s because my mom’s side of the family is a bit, err, country. And everyone called my grandparents on her side mamaw and papaw (it’s a Southern thing).
Needless to say, Junior never could not pronounce Grandmother. But she’d say Poppa all the time. Poppa this, poppa that:
The Wife: Say poppa!
Junior: Poppa!
The Wife: Say grandmother!
Junior: *blink*
And on it went. One day, we’re over at Poppa and Grandmother’s. And Poppa, wanting grandmother for something, yells Hey Honey. Ever since then, Junior calls Grandmother Honey. So, that’s why my little girl calls her grandparents Poppa and Honey. Honey doesn’t seem to mind.
October 25th, 2006 at 8:47 am
I hope this discussion at least happened after Junior was born. With my mom and the sister-in-law’s folks, it started shortly after the pregnancy announcement and I don’t think it was settled until the kid was born. Yet some how, I got no say in my title. I don’t like the word aunt. The parents are forcing him to call me Aunt Bitter even though I keep trying to argue I just want to be called Bitter.
October 25th, 2006 at 9:35 am
Momma Bill and Daddy Bill for the wife’s parents
Grandpa and MorMor for mine (which bothers me cause MorMor is swedish for the maternal grandmother . . . my mom should really be FarMor but didn’t want to be called that since it sounds like farmer. I call her mother mormor and thats what she wanted to be called. It really bothers me and my wife, but alas, it looks like she won).
October 25th, 2006 at 10:01 am
That’s just plain weird, Unc…
My wife’s parents are “Gramma” and “Grampa”.
My folks are “Poppa” and… “Leedle”.
It was *supposed* to be Poppa and Nonna (we’re Italian, what can I say?). But my mom used to make my son as a baby laugh by doing “Chicken in the Straw” but with “leedle-leedle-leedle-lee” etc. He started calling her “Leedle”, and the rest is history…
October 25th, 2006 at 10:03 am
Err, leedle? And you call me weird? π
October 25th, 2006 at 10:13 am
I had a Grandma and a Grandmother. Grandmother was the country one, Grandma was the city one.
October 25th, 2006 at 10:39 am
Unc,
I wasn’t calling you weird, I was commenting that it was weird that our dads are both called “Poppa” and our moms are both called something non-traditional…
October 25th, 2006 at 10:40 am
Oh. that makes sense π
October 25th, 2006 at 11:01 am
I have two grandkids, a boy, 6, and a girl, 7. To a large extent they’ve been raised by my wife, their grandmother. To them, she’s “Mom.”
I’m “Hun.” After all, it’s what my wife calls me all the time.
I just make sure they know it’s spelled H-U-N – as in “Attilla the.”
October 25th, 2006 at 11:34 am
My German-American great-grandmother apparently originally wanted my mother and sibs to call her grossmutter, but that got turned into “gomama”, and my great-grandfather became “gopapa”. That made it easy for my generation to distinguish the great-grandparents from the grandparents.
October 25th, 2006 at 1:44 pm
Well, the my older son (the only one that talks so far) called both sets of Grands “Gramma” and “Grampa,” but he moved pretty quick (with help from Mom & Dad) to “Gramma Bunny” (her name’s Bonnie) and Grampa Doug for my wife’s parents and Gramma Joan and Grampa Whitie (what my mom calls my Dad-he used to be so blond his hair was almost white) for my parents.
Now, growing up, my German-American great aunts on my mom’s side were both called “Tante “, Tante being German for aunt. I think my mom called her grandparents Oma and Opa, German colloquialisms.
October 25th, 2006 at 4:01 pm
At my house, I’m Papa and my wife is Grammaw. (I’m the pretty one) ouch, stop, don’t, Honey it’s just a joke, I take it back. ouch
October 27th, 2006 at 3:00 pm
Growing up, we always just used (phonetically) “gramma” and “grampa.” Maybe it’s an upper-midwest thing. My father in law likes his grandchildren to call him “pop pop,” while my mother in law is “gramma” or “grandma.” Of course, since we don’t have any kids, we’re just talking about dogs and cats in our case (my wife’s brothers both have kids, though). But apparently, those names are even what the dogs are supposed to call them.