{"id":20617,"date":"2020-05-14T20:01:45","date_gmt":"2020-05-14T20:01:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/?p=20617"},"modified":"2020-05-15T14:13:48","modified_gmt":"2020-05-15T14:13:48","slug":"why-do-kids-call-their-parents-mom-and-dad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/why-do-kids-call-their-parents-mom-and-dad\/","title":{"rendered":"Why do kids call their parents ‘Mom’ and ‘Dad’?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bethany Van Vleet<\/a>, Arizona State University<\/a><\/em> and Denise Bodman<\/a>, Arizona State University<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

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Curious Kids<\/a> is a series for children of all ages. If you have a question you\u2019d like an expert to answer, send it to curiouskidsus@theconversation.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

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Why do most kids call their parents \u201cMom\u201d and \u201cDad\u201d? \u2013 Henry E., age 9, Somerville, Massachusetts<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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Once, a long time ago, one of us, Bethany, fell behind at the grocery store and was trying to catch up. She called out her mom\u2019s name, \u201cMom!,\u201d and to her frustration, half the women there turned around and the other half ignored Bethany, assuming it was someone else\u2019s child.<\/p>\n

How was Bethany going to get her mom\u2019s attention? She knew a secret trick that would work for sure: Her mom had another name. She called \u201cDenise!\u201d and magically, just her mom (the other one of us) turned around.<\/p>\n

But why do almost all kids use the same name for their parents? This is the kind of question we enjoy investigating as<\/a> scientists who study<\/a> families and human development.<\/p>\n

The sounds heard \u2018round the world<\/h2>\n

All around the world, the words for \u201cmom,\u201d \u201cdad,\u201d \u201cgrandma\u201d and \u201cgrandpa\u201d are almost the same. Other words<\/a> aren\u2019t nearly as similar.<\/p>\n

Take \u201cdog,\u201d for example. In French, \u201cdog\u201d is \u201cchien\u201d; in Dutch, it is \u201chond\u201d; and in Hungarian, it is \u201ckutya.\u201d But if you needed to get your mother\u2019s attention in France, the Netherlands or Hungary, you\u2019d call \u201cMaman,\u201d \u201cMama\u201d or \u201cMamma.\u201d<\/p>\n