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QUESTION:
"I have 2 adult children.. my son married a single mum... they went on to have a baby, my first grandchild.. I had always had my heart set on being called Grandma like my sisters, but daughter in laws mum was already Grandma to the grand kids.... and as my life was a bit of a mess at the time... recent ( fingers crossed) survivor of breast cancer... and on the verge of losing my mum... I just went with being called nannie .. grandbaby boy is now almost 10... co parenting arrangement as they split up before he was 3... now my daughter is expecting her 1st baby... ( after much heartache) ... I thought this may be my chance to be a grandma... but 1st I broached the subject with my grandson ... slowly & gently ... and he at 9yrs old spun me out with the ideal solution... nannie to him for 9yrs... wanting to be grandma... he suggested grandma nannie.... it was so perfect as my daughters mil also plans to be grandma.... anyway... my son has gone off big time... said I was selfish... how dare I put what I want first... & to top it off... he has stopped speaking to me."
RELATED: 30 Other Names for Grandma
TOP ANSWERS (AS SELECTED BY MODERATOR):
The following top answers have been selected by a moderator from hundreds of responses to the original question.
"My mom just let the kids call her what they have wanted as they grew up. Nobody made a fuss. There is 8 of them. The 3 of my own call her different names. My oldest calls her “nan” My middle calls her “nana” My youngest calls her nanny. The others call her grandma, nana Michelle I would just leave it be. Kids sometimes even comes up with their own names for grandparents… My oldest has a nana, a memaw, a grandma, a grandma bk, a grandma Becker, and a grandma bonnie. She came up with all of it…we just let her be. She is now a teenager and has called them this since she was younger."
"Why is this an issue? Lol both can be called Grandma. The only reason I had a Grandma and a Nonna was because one was Italian. My Mom and nephew’s other grandmother are both called Grandma"
"Kind of a weird thing to stop speaking to someone over. Is there more to the story?"
"Just to make you feel better I always wanted to be called “Gigi”, my mom was Nannie to all her grandchildren. I had to fight for the title. I choose to let my daughter choose what my grandchildren call me. I am now Mimi, it’s only a name. Don’t sweat the small stuff embrace the title. That’s all that matters. They will love you no matter your name."
"My kids call their grandmothers’ grandma and when they are telling a story or something they say “grandma Beth or grandma Jane” so we know which grandma they are talking about"
"Why can you both not be grandma? Simple solution."
"Um, I have 5 sets of grandparents and they’re all grandma and grandpa. Why do they need different titles? It’s not like the child isn’t going to be aware that they’re different people. I think the son is being ridiculous."
"My mom is literally called something different by almost all of her grandchildren. And she has A LOT! If you want to be called something then refer to yourself as that! They will only repeat what they hear. As for your oldest grandchild, they may be stuck calling you Nannie because it has become habit but that doesn’t mean one of them won’t call out grandma! My mom has a grandchild that is very close in age to me, (he’s my nephew) and he calls my mom, maw maw. But she is also called, GG and MoMo by other grandchildren. Nobody made it that way, that’s just how it is."
"My MIL wanted to be called memaw my daughter chose Grammy and she was perfectly fine with that because it doesn’t matter what they call you just know they love you"
"It’s silly to put so much on what a grandchild calls one. Who cares as long as it’s what the child wants. Shouldn’t matter if fifteen are called the same name as long as the love is there"
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