What do you call your in-laws

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And it took me years to work up the courage to call them by their first names!
 
My inlaws are both gone now, but for the first 5 or so years, I tried to avoid having to address them by name, so I never called them anything. In then end I called each of them by their first names and we had become fairly close. I had the wonderful priviledge of being able to nurse them in their old age. My mother in law was never what you would call warm, but she and I developed a relationship over the years, and now I miss her.
 
Ask them. =) If you can.

Light-hearted and cheery/friendly people wouldn’t mind being called mom and dad. They’d be flattered probably.
 
I’m not married, but when I am, I’ll probably say mom and dad. I like how my cousin in law says it, he calls my aunt “Mother B.” I forget what he calls my uncle, but I don’t think it’s “father B.”.
 
My parents call their in-laws “Doña [insert first name]” and “Don [insert first name]”… :yup:
 
my parents and FIL are gone, I call her Mom, grandkids call her Hon because that is what their grandfather used to call her.
 
I call them Mom and Dad. I think it is very disrespectful to call them (or any elder) by their first name, unless preceeded by a title like Aunt or Uncle.
 
I’ve recently become an in law so maybe it would help hearing from one. I would rather be called “mom” then by my first name, but I think you should first ask your in laws what they want to be called.
 
I didn’t want to influence to much at the beginning. The reason I want to know is that my son is getting married. I asked that she call me mom. She does not want to do this. It is o.k. with me but they seem bothered by my request. They seem to think that it is an unusual request. That is the reason for the poll to see if it is unusual. I don’t know of anyone who calls there in-laws by their first name. My future daughter-in-law calls me by my first name. We met five years ago so it is likely that I told her to do so. I wish I hadn’t have. Although she calls me by my first name rarely, I hate it when she calls me by my first name.
 
I call my MIL “Mom” and my FIL “Pops,” because that is what his kids call him.

The spouses of all of my siblings called my parents (now deceased) “Mom” and “Dad” and still refer to them that way.

As I recall, my parents called their respective inlaws “Mom” and “Dad,” too.

I believe it is a sign of affection and respect. “Mr and Mrs” is just too cold, first names are just too informal. That’s my opinion, anyway.

'thann
 
I call my in-laws, “Mom & Dad.” Although, she wanted to be called by her first name, I decided to call her Mom. After we were married, I called my MIL “Mom” and I remember a long pause before I got a response. It was my way of showing her affection, even though she didn’t want the affection.

My wife said her Mom wanted all her kids, (my wife’s bro’s & sis’s) calling her by her first name. She said that was her real name so why not use it? They didn’t comply. I think my MIL has some issues.
 
I call my inlaws by their first name, except for his grandparents, I call them by granny or mema (that’s what everybody else calls them).

I never knew that it was considered rude to call them by their first names. Personally I wouldn’t like being called Mrs. _____ It seems too formal and would make me feel old. I hope none of his family was offended by me calling them by their names!
 
Ann Cheryl:
I didn’t want to influence to much at the beginning. The reason I want to know is that my son is getting married. I asked that she call me mom. She does not want to do this. It is o.k. with me but they seem bothered by my request. They seem to think that it is an unusual request. That is the reason for the poll to see if it is unusual. I don’t know of anyone who calls there in-laws by their first name. My future daughter-in-law calls me by my first name. We met five years ago so it is likely that I told her to do so. I wish I hadn’t have. Although she calls me by my first name rarely, I hate it when she calls me by my first name.
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I totally agree with thann’s post. You are the mother and the soon-to-be MIL. It is only respectful for your future DIL to acquiesce to your preference. If she can’t call you “Mom”, then she has some growing up to do. If and when, she has children, she might feel more comfortable calling you “Grandma” or “Nana” or whatever. In the meantime, she needs to come to terms with it.
 
originally posted by La Chiara
It is only respectful for your future DIL to acquiesce to your preference. If she can’t call you “Mom”, then she has some growing up to do.
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I could never refer to my in-laws as “mom & dad”. 1st, and most importantly, because I had a mother and a father, both deceased, whom I loved and they will forever be my only parents. 2nd, because my in-laws are only about 15 years older than myself and very difficult people with whom to contend. It’s a constant “egg-walk” around them. They inspire no filial devotion being extremely bigoted people.
Interestingly, neither my son-in-law nor my daughter-in-law cant seem to call me anything, though I’ve always referred them to my name. When I call, I always say, “hi, this is Elizabeth.” Still they don’t use it.
 
HI,

I’m on the verge of getting married in April.

I don’t know what I’ll call the In-Laws.

Right now I call them by their First Names.

And my Fiance’ does the same for my parents.

I think I’ll ask my fiance’ what she thinks - and perhaps to ask her parents on my behalf.

I think it depends on :
How old you might be when you are married.
How long you have known the InLaws before the marriage.
What they feel comfortable being called.

My parents got married kinda young and they were married within a year and a half of dating.

Calling the InLaws - Mom and Dad - came more natually to them.

I’m 35 and have been calling them by First name for over a Year and a half. With Frequent Contact…

The switch will be more drastic for me.

I suspect - that over time I will slowly start to call them Mom & Dad as our relationship grows closer.

Pray For my Marriage

thanks

todd
 
To be perfectly honest, I used to call them by their first names, but now that we have kids, I usually call them “Nanny and Pepé”, the same as the kids do.
 
I call my in-laws by their first names. I’m not sure it’s right, and I don’t feel entirely comfortable doing so, but it’s one of those tricky subjects. We don’t see them often, and when we do my SIL and her fiance are usually around, so it’s hard to have a personal conversation. I’ve mentioned this to my husband, but he’s not terribly close to his parents so he’s never bothered to bring up the issue.

I’d like to get this resolved before we have kids- I think that would be awkward to be calling my in-laws by their first names while teaching my kids to call them “Grandma” and “Grandpa”.

Ah, it’s so much easier with my husband’s grandmothers. I just call them both “Grandma” and they both seem to love it.
 
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