kids

The age kids need to stop calling their parents 'mummy' and 'daddy'.

There’s something about the relationship between Donald Trump and his daughter, Ivanka, that just doesn’t sit right with people.

Maybe it was that time he said he would date Ivanka if she wasn’t, you know… his daughter.

Mmmmmm. Interesting.

Only adding to those heebie-jeebies was Trump’s declaration a few weeks ago that his daughter still calls him ‘daddy’.

After wanting to go on a trip with the President to North Dakota, Ivanka begged her father by saying ‘daddy’, according to Trump.

“She said, ‘Dad, can I come with you,’ Trump told a rally of people in September. “Actually she said ‘Daddy, can I go with you?’ I like that,” he said. “I said, ‘Yes, you can.'”

Riiiight.

I wasn’t the only one who found this ‘daddy’ business a bit creepy, with both co-hosts of our podcast for imperfect parents, This Glorious Mess, Andrew and Holly, feeling something was a bit off.

Listen: Andrew Daddo and Holly Wainwright discuss when ‘mummy’ and ‘daddy’ just needs to stop. (Post continues after audio.)

“They shouldn’t say ‘mummy’ or ‘daddy’ from puberty, 12 or 13,” Andrew said.

“It’s kind of cute [when they’re younger]. I remember walking to school with Felix when he was in grade five or six, he held my hand, and I knew it was the last time.

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“My daughters only call me when they want something.  ‘Daddy, can I have $20 because the market’s on?'”

Being born in Manchester in England, Holly said that it was normal in some families for this ‘mummy’ and ‘daddy’ name-calling to stick.

“In England, posh people call their parents mummy and daddy all their lives,” Holly said. “Prince Charles would call the Queen ‘mummy’. Whereas, more common people like me, stop calling their mum ‘mummy’ at eight.”

Are we just too jaded about the world? Have we let adult behaviours, like sugar daddies or ‘call me Daddy’ to pollute our children?

Maybe so.

But, when thinking just about Trump and Ivanka, there was still something that didn’t feel right to Andrew.

“There’s something interesting when Trump talks about that… I’m not suggesting anything. There’s just…”

Something. There’s just something icky about it all.

You can listen to the full episode of This Glorious Mess, below.