Last night Jeff told the kids they had to call his brothers and their wives "Aunt" and "Uncle." Delaney was flabbergasted. "Why do we need to start calling them Aunt and Uncle now? We never did before!" she protested. Jeff acknowledged he should've made them call his family members by their titles out of respect...and now that we've got two baby nieces in the family who are talking up a storm, we want them to call us "Aunt Cat" and "Uncle Jeff." Jeff encouraged the kids to set a good example for their baby cousins...Laney's still not buying it, but those are the rules!
On the morning show we discussed how this generation of children are getting relaxed about showing respect...A lot of kids call adults by their first names without the title of Ms. and Mr. and I was always surprised when Max and Delaney referred to their aunts and uncles on a first-name basis. A lot of our listeners were, too! So, that's a habit no longer! Hopefully...
1 comment:
I have to disagree with you. I'm 37 years old and we never called our aunts and uncles "Aunt" and "Uncle." We also used more "familiar" names with our grandparents. I do not expect my children to call my parents or their aunts and uncles by formal names. I respected all of my family elders greatly, particularly my grandparents and my children do as well.
It has absolutely nothing to do with respect. Respect is shown with actions, not with culturally imposed labels. If culturally imposed labels are the only way we are teaching our children to show respect, respect will become a meaningless concept. THIS is causing the lack of respect you see in the younger generation - forced behavior with no logical reason.
Post a Comment