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Daddy, Daddy...

Does your child refer to strangers as 'mommy' or 'daddy'? It seems that children between the ages of 2-4 sometimes refer to strangers in this way. What could be the cause? What is the solution?

Daddy Daddy

I think they use these words to refer a 'man' and a 'woman', I do think they know who mommy and daddy are, they just need to keep reminded of 'man' and 'woman'. Is something they will learn with time.

Daddy, Daddy... Reviews Consumer & Travel Family Culture

The cause is pretty obvious as for the "solution"....A solution would require a problem and I really think this one is not (except for the ego of the parents) The child will realize who is mom and dad(you will never see a 7 year old having still this isue)

Daddy Daddy

Maciman, that last post made no sense to me. Maybe it is just me alone, but giving an opinion by stating that it is 'obvious' leaves much to be desired and how does one find a solution by looking for a problem? Please elaborate.

As for my view on this I believe it is as LDS said, 'daddy' represents 'man' and 'mommy' woman. Although I hear kids doing it more with the use of 'daddy' then 'mommy'.

With regards to solution I believe two things can happen; you give more object lessons to the child so they know there are other words they can use to represent a stranger that is a man or woman, also, they can simply out grow it.

Daddy Daddy

Maybe a bit offtopic but here goes. When I first started dating my present wife, her daughter (now mine through adoption) was almost 2. It did not take a long time before she started referring to me as daddy, without any coaxing from me or her mother. We decided to let it be, and figured that she was doing this because of 2 things:

1) she did not have a central father figure in her life until this point because her real father was either nonchalant or in jail

2) her father's family kept pressuring her to refer to her real father as daddy, and because of this, and her rejection for her real father, decided to call me daddy instead

Not so sure about #2 but it was a speculation we both had. Kids may feel like they need to refer to someone as daddy or mommy, especially when other kids have daddies and mommies all the time. I know that when I was growing up, I did not have my biological father with me, and instead chose to call my uncle who I lived with, dad.
This only discusses the situations where a child does not have a father and/or mother, but it doesn't explain why those children who have both would choose to call other men or women daddy or mommy, which is why I wondered if my ramblings would be offtopic. Just thought I'd share my perspective.