One woman has sparked a debate online for admitting she 'cringes' at parents who call their children 'babies'. The woman shared her opinion on popular parenting forum Mumsnet, asking fellow mums and dads if she was being unreasonable or not.
"Genuinely not sure if I am being unreasonable or not," she said. "But it makes me cringe when people call their children over the age of about six months 'my baby'.
"In my eyes they just don't necessarily seem like babies any more. I can sort of understand up until 12 months but definitely not after. I've come across people calling their child of nearly two year old 'my baby'." The woman later added: "So as not to drip feed I have not got any children, hence why I think I may be being unreasonable."
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Since asking the question on Monday (Jan 23), hundreds of fellow Mumsnet users have commented on the post. The vast majority say they can't see the problem as many parents still see their kids as their 'babies', even after they've grown up.
LongRoadtoNowhere replied: "My mum still calls me her baby, I’m 36. It’s a term of endearment!" Zanatdy quizzed: "Huh? So a seven month old baby parents can’t call them ‘my baby’? What are they supposed to call them? Of course you can refer to a baby as a baby."
Sprogletsmum2 said: "My baby is almost six, still my baby." Emma1103 echoed: "Both my four year old and my three week old are my babies. They always will be." Jevoudrais told her: "My baby is 2.5. I regularly tell her she is my baby and will be forever."
Zola1 explained: "Round here (area wise), the youngest child in a family is 'the baby'. So we will say, will you put the baby's bath on, will you watch the baby a minute.. she's 2.5." Reugny stated: "You are being ridiculous."
The Mumsnet user later asked those who commented on her post, "would you say to others in everyday conversation though? For example "I've got to go and pick my baby up from nursery." Muffinmctuffin responded: "I actually agree. Obviously not while they're still babies (and I think anything up to about 2!)
"But I cringe inside when I hear older children or adults being referred to as 'my baby'. Or when people say 'my babies' and they're not. But, live and let live, I probably do plenty of other things that make people cringe."
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