5 days ago
She Cringed at Couples Calling Each Other ‘Mom' and ‘Dad' Until Her Toddler Made Her Understand Why
Before having kids, Analiese Maldonado always found it a little strange when couples addressed each other as 'Mom' and 'Dad.'
'I couldn't imagine talking to my husband and saying, 'Daddy, what should we do for dinner tonight?'' Maldonado, 31, tells with a mock shudder.
Then her 14-month-old son, Anthony, began wandering through their South Carolina house, calling for 'Babe,' otherwise known as his father, Roberto — and suddenly Maldonado got it. Once your toddler starts repeating everything you say, Maldonado realized it's only natural to start referring to your partner by the name your child knows.
'Babe! Babe! Babe!' Anthony says in a now-viral TikTok video, as he looks around for his dad.
It seems toddlers calling their parents by affectionate nicknames is a charming and common milestone.
"My daughter called me babe before she called me mom lol."
"Our daughter called her dad Honey for 3 yrs."
"my cousin is in his 40s and still calls his mom darling because that how his dad called her."
"My son calls my husband 'baby' full time."
"My sister's son calls his dad 'sugar.'"
"My kids call my husband babe even in the most serious situations and it's really funny."
As a physical therapist who often works with elderly clients, Maldonado often asks routine questions only to hear a patient call out, 'Hey, Mom, what's the name of my primary care physician?
Perhaps they, too, learned early on the power of pet names around little ones.
"It makes sense to me now!" she says, with a laugh.
This article was originally published on
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