What does MOM say?

Mom says, "I'm not your mother! Stop calling me mom and use my name. I do have one you know!"

Does it bug anyone else that everyone has adopted this method of referring to parents? As far as I'm concerned it's disrespectful and creates distance between the professional and the parent. I do have a name and I like to be called Karen or Ms. Olson. It's kinder. It's also very lazy for you to refer to me as "mom"!

Ryan is 20 now, so I'm used to the it and it doesn't upset me or anything but I cringe when I hear teachers and other professionals using this shortcut to address parents. Sometimes the shortcut carries an attitude that DOES upset me.

Is it so very hard to respectfully use someone's name? I really bugs me when the person doing the "momming" is a parent of a child with disabilities who is in a parent-job advocating. Would you say, "What does Guardian think?" nope. You'd add an article, "What does Ryan's guardian think?" Maybe it's a matter of syntax and semantics with me. It's just plain bad English which probably explains why it annoys me so much when teachers do it.

Referring to me doesn't bother me as much as addressing me as Mom. "Hi, Mom" isn't cute when you're not my kid.

Please, as a gesture of kindness and respect, address me by my name. It's not a hard one. If you can't remember it then ask me. If your referring to me use standard English. Ryan's mom.

Well, that's enough of a rant for me! What do you think? Does it bug you when you are referred to as Mom?

Talk soon. May God bless you and yours,

Karen