A heartbroken mother is in a state of distress as her adult son chooses to forego the word ‘mum’ and instead refer to her by her first name.
Building a loving relationship since his birth, the 60-year-old said she feels hurt by her son’s “disrespectful” decision.
Reaching out for help via The Marin Independent Journal’s advice column Ask Amy, the heartbroken mum explained she has been brought to tears by the 40-year-old’s behaviour towards her.
“My son, who I’ve always felt very close to, has started to call me by my first name,” she wrote. “He loves to tease me, so I didn’t say anything about it for a while, because I knew he would run with it, but I figured he wasn’t going to stop so I asked him to please stop calling me by my first name.”
“I told him it hurt me and that I felt it was disrespectful.”
Sadly, the mum said her son has not listened and unfortunately continued on with the teasing behaviour which in turn has had a terrible effect on her mental state. Confused as to why he no longer wants to call her ‘mum’, the woman asked why her son would do such a thing.
“I don’t know what to do anymore. After I’m around him, I usually end up having a good cry,” she explained. “Is this the new thing? My friends tell me their children don’t call them by their first name. They say they wouldn’t like it either.”
Describing the man as “a mean tease”, ‘Amy’ suggested the mother express her emotions to her son so he can truly understand the pain he is causing.
“You will have to carefully examine your feelings to decide how tolerable this is, longer term, but I suggest that the next time you feel like crying about this teasing, you should not save your tears for your private time,” the respondent replied.
“Don’t protect your son from your emotions. Go ahead and cry, or — the next time this happens, if you’re feeling more anger than sadness, then get your coat and leave his presence.”