Why do many parents need to identify themselves as a "Dad" or "Mom"?

[Jara sang]

[reyd reid reed]

1. Procreation itself is a no-brainer...

God knows, I've done it often enough. Where it gets tough is trying to turn that spawn into viable, living, caring and responsible human beings. THAT takes work and it's easy to lose yourself in the task.

That said...drives me nuts when I hear husbands and wives refer to each other as 'Mom' and 'Dad'. Unless there's something bizarre going on, a man's wife is not his mom.

[FuzzySlippers]

2. Dunno. Must be on some sort of ego trip or sumpthin'.

:popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn:

[Jara sang]

3. Yeah, I want some sort of extra-personal monicker, too.

I just start adressing myself as "Citizen"__________.

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

5. Woah, five buckets of popcorn?

You in for the long haul or something? Really, only select GD threads need five buckets of popcorn.

[FuzzySlippers]

9. What can I say. I just really, really, really like popcorn.

:popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn:

[C_eh_N_eh_D_eh]

4. Because they're proud of being parents?

No offense to the people who don't want kids, but the desire to procreate is one of our strongest biological and societal imperatives. Being able to say "I had a hand in bringing a new life into the world" is a very big deal.

[reyd reid reed]

7. Turning that life into a person is a big deal...

And I'll agree with you on that. But it doesn't have to, nor should it, consume you; become who and what you are. I let that happen to me for too long...lost myself in the process and it scared me. I'm trying to find my way back but it's tough.

I'll always BE a parent...but it's not who and what I am exclusively. I have to be me, first and foremost. And face it...eventually the kids grow and move out and move on and, if you've done your job well, they'll be self-sufficient. Sure, they'll always need you for something but they won't need you for Everything. And if you've let yourself vanish into the role of 'Mommy', what's left?

That scares the shit out of me.

[Jara sang]

8. In reality, it's not that big of a deal.

Procreating in the modern world is irresponsible.

[xmas74]

6. Because you hear your kid yell it so much

that you sometimes forget that you were born with a different name.

[1monster]

10. Maybe because it's such a damned hard job with few rewards at points

along the way. And when the kids get to be teenagers, the parents need some sympathy and understanding. The kids might live to make it through the teen years, but the parents aren't very sure that they will survive long after that...

I'm not worried about my teen running away from home. I'm more concerned that I might!

[qnr]

11. Interestingly, we have no kids, but when we spoke to the dogs, lots of

time we'd refer to each other as "mom" or "da"

[ScreamingMeemie]

12. I am Mom to my kids and MrG...he is Dad to my kids and me most times.

Why should anyone really have a problem with it? I'm not "losing myself" or any of that new age psycho shit. I'm pretty self confident, and if it doesn't bother me I don't see why it should really bother anyone else.

~Mom

[rug]

13. Because "My wife loves you." doesn't hack it.