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Parents-in-Law. What do/did you call them?

(103 Posts)
Marmight Mon 22-Apr-24 09:04:47

My late in-laws weirdly popped into my mind the other day while I was chopping veggies. It occurred to me that I never, in the 10 years I knew them, called them anything. Gladys & Donal didn’t feel right nor slipped off the tongue. Mum/Dad wasn’t appropriate as I already had a Mum & Dad. Mother/Father too formal & uncomfortable. I must have mumbled something when necessary - heaven knows what! They lived for each other & died 40 years ago within 6 weeks of each other. Perhaps, subconsciously, I was remembering the anniversary. Strange to think I am the only one left who does and although we were never close, I feel quite emotional about it. Perhaps with the benefit of hindsight & experience, I would treat them differently than I did as a newly married 20 something.

Grams2five Mon 22-Apr-24 18:46:20

My Dh called my father by his Christian name and my mother “mum”. I called my in-laws “your fathers mother “ and “your fathers father” to our kids “dhs mother / father”
To anyone else. We were estranged for decades so I never had to call them anything to their thank goodness!

Grammaretto Mon 22-Apr-24 18:55:12

Mine were Ma and Pa and then Grannie and Grandpa.

I referred to them by their first names but hardly ever used those.
DMiL died last year aged 98. They both outlived DH and I miss them all.

Teebles64 Mon 22-Apr-24 21:54:01

I used their Christian names. They then became known as nanny Flo, nanny Flora when we had children

Greyisnotmycolour Mon 22-Apr-24 22:27:00

My MIL would have died on the spot if I'd used her first name. I didn't call them anything for many years but somehow I eventually called them Ma and Pa. I never used these terms with my own parents so it wasn't the same as using mum and dad but specific to the in-laws.

Esmay Tue 23-Apr-24 03:14:42

I had to call my mother in law Mrs and her surname .
I was told that it was disrespectful to call your elders anything else .
Initially , she was very warm and welcoming and she quickly cooled and developed a kind of genteel bullying .
I found her manipulative and yet when she died suddenly I was very sad .

nanna8 Tue 23-Apr-24 05:29:27

I only had the one and I can’t remember calling her anything. Certainly not her first name and certainly not, ‘Mum’. Looking back, she was a true and honest type but not easy to get on with, full of criticisms of her grandchildren. I think she was pretty lonely, her husband died when he was only 39.

dysongirl Wed 24-Apr-24 11:17:14

my mam and dad have both passed away.
i call my in laws by their first names.

HeavenLeigh Wed 24-Apr-24 11:20:31

I called my father in law by Christian name my husband called my parents mum n dad

lizzypopbottle Wed 24-Apr-24 11:23:06

I called my mother-in-law "Erm..." until one day she said, " For heaven's sake, Liz, call me Lilian! "
Just like you Marmight, I had my own mum and dad but also, here in the North East it's 'Mam' and I couldn't say that even though my husband called his mother Mam. It just wouldn't come out even though I was born in Liverpool, where 'Mam' is normal enough 🤔

So, Lilian and Harry.

RunaroundSue Wed 24-Apr-24 11:27:02

I didn't have any inlaws as my husband's dad died when my husband was 6 and his mum died shortly after I met him aged 47. My dad died shortly after we were married aged 57 and my husband always called my mum love. My husband had no other living family member on his parents side and our two sons only had one grandma. My husband died 10 years ago. I am the last woman standing from our family from the past. I am the Matriarch.

justanovice Wed 24-Apr-24 11:33:08

My mother in law requested that I call them Mr and Mrs........but swiftly changed her mind when my parents insisted that my husband addressed them by their first names.

Sheian62 Wed 24-Apr-24 11:36:17

First names for me and husband also called mine by first names

Anneeba Wed 24-Apr-24 11:40:19

My DH always used first names for my parents and I was a bit miffed that I had to call his DM Mrs xxx. His dad I called the same friendly nick name as my DH used. Eventually I called his mum Mrs X, which she didn't like at all 🤣so I was finally granted permission to use her first name!

maddyone Wed 24-Apr-24 11:45:23

I called them mum and dad as soon as we married. I felt very uncomfortable about it but thought it was the thing to do. They never batted an eyelid even though it wasn’t discussed. As soon as our children were born I reverted to Grandma and Grandad, even when speaking directly to them. I felt much more comfortable with that. I don’t recall my husband ever calling my parents anything. My son and daughter in law call us by our first names which is how we initially introduced ourselves. Our ex son in law probably has a few choice names for us but the feeling is absolutely mutual. He doesn’t like us despite everything we did for them when they were married and probably hates the support we give to our daughter now.

pen50 Wed 24-Apr-24 11:47:26

My husband's father had died before we met, and I called his mother by her Christian name. My mother called her in-laws Mum and Dad, but her own parents were Mother and Pa.

DamaskRose Wed 24-Apr-24 11:51:05

Mum and Dad, they were so lovely to me always. My DDiL and DSiL call DH and me by our first names.

Robin202 Wed 24-Apr-24 12:27:39

I called my in-laws by their Christian names. I could never call them mum and dad as those terms were unreservedly meant for my own parents.

ruthiek Wed 24-Apr-24 12:35:57

Marmight how sad for you -6 weeks apart , I lost my parents a month apart Dad died because my mum was in a home with dementia , and mum died - well not sure why . We always say Dad didn’t trust us to look after her as it was one month to date and time !!!

Lesley60 Wed 24-Apr-24 12:37:22

Like a lot of people on here I didn’t call them anything, probably just mumbled

Bluesmum Wed 24-Apr-24 12:42:51

My fil was called “Father” by everyone in the family, so I did the same, strangely enough, it didn’t seem formal at the time, I always regarded it as a term of endearment! My mil was known by her nickname “Nin”. We were very close, I became the daughter she never had, and when she asked me to call her “Mum”, I was really touched, even that my own Mum was still alive!

Nannashirlz Wed 24-Apr-24 13:22:42

My hubby was bought up with his gran his dad died by a drunk driver and he didn’t get on with his step dad he called them both by first names and a few in between lol I called them both first names but his gran i called gran

soos45 Wed 24-Apr-24 13:23:38

Initially I called them by their first names, but after a long period and my own Mum had passed, I started to call them both Mum & Dad. It felt right and we got along so well.

grannyactivist Wed 24-Apr-24 13:33:10

I’m ten years older than my husband and only 16/17 years younger than his parents, so I’ve only ever called them by their first names. This has now spread throughout the family so their sons and grandchildren also call or refer to them by name. As they both hated the prospect of being old enough to become grandparents this suits them very well.

jenpax Wed 24-Apr-24 13:43:00

I hated both my in-laws and avoided speaking to them or about them as much as possible. They were lousy parents to DH and awful grandparents! When I did speak to them I used their first names!

Mamardoit Wed 24-Apr-24 14:30:14

kittylester

Like Marmight, nothing at all. Maybe Grandma and Grandpa when the children were around.

We had a great relationship despite that. grin

That's what I did.

There was no way I would have called them mum and dad. They were the same age as my maternal grandparents and I don't think they would have wanted me to be on first name terms. DH did call my parents by their first names.