Wednesday, September 9, 2009

What will the kiddos call me?

This is a question that I've been mulling over for longer than I've been trying to get licensed. I had hoped that in my training class, they might have addressed practical questions like this.

Until yesterday, I had been floating three ideas:
1. My first name
2. Mama [My first name]
3. Ima [My first name]

But then inspiration struck. I have a little friend (Boy4--at least for now) who just turned 3 on Sunday. He can't quite say my name. Now, let's say my name were "Jenny" (it's not). Boy4 calls me "Munny." (If my name were "Serena" he would call me "Murena.") Which seems a great combination of "Mama" and my name. Plus, it's so adorable when Boy4 does it, but he is slowly growing out of it. (His parents, however, are slowing that process by no longer using my correct name :-) )

On the other hand, it might be strange for a kiddo to come into my home and have me kneel down to introduce myself and say "Hi, I'm Munny."

Yeah, maybe this requires more thought.


3 comments:

  1. You might want to consider being "Aunt Ima" (substitute your name, of course). In a lot of ways it makes things more natural for kids.

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  2. Thanks for reminding me about that option. That was #4--and what makes the most sense culturally as well--and yet it had flown out of my head.

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  3. I also like the "aunt" idea - although all of yours are fine too. Often foster kids just call their fp by their first names - but having a "label" helps too. Often someone will ask the child "who is that picking you up?" (especially in the cases of different races etc) and the child then feels compelled to either just call you their "mom" or explain the idea of "foster mom". Having a somewhat generic label of "Aunt" means not having to explain things that they'd rather not explain.

    I also had a foster parent who was a judge - and all the kids in her house just called her "Judge"! It started as a joke, but then became a trend...

    Now she tells them that they can call her "Julie" or explains that some kids just call her "Judge" - they always pick Judge. :)

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