I’m a Dutch Mama Not an English Mummy

Do you prefer to be called mama or papa, like the Dutch use, or the terms in your native language? In my English case, this would be mummy.

A Bilingual Household

I speak English to my sons. The idea was always that they would then speak English back to me. It’s an ongoing battle experiment.

However, my kids have always called me mama, not mummy.

I’m not sure I ever contemplated being ‘mummy’ to my Dutch sons; I think using the Dutch term mama was a given for some reason. I don’t know if I even consciously decided on my kids using mama instead of mummy.

I do know that my son called me mummy one day and it felt weird.

I Don’t Feel Like a Mummy!

He had called me mama since the day he could talk and after an extended trip to the UK, he came out suddenly with mummy.

I didn’t react instantly because it took a second to realise he was actually addressing me.

I corrected him with “mama” and he looked confused. Everyone else in England had used mummy when referring to me – “Shall we see if your mummy wants to do that?” “Maybe ask your mummy before you eat that.” So he had adopted it and begun using it back in the Netherlands. To my surprising dismay.

I think I got used to hearing mama from him so when he used mummy it sounded alien.

I later realised that I prefer being called mama because it reminds me of who we are as a family; my children are Dutch and no matter what my background is, they are more Dutch than they will ever be British. That’s our family. Multicultural, but Dutch at its core.

Over to You: What do your children call you? Do you use terms from your host or birth country?