What do you call your in-laws?

lyndausvi

We call our in-laws by their first names.    

My sister's in-laws wanted mom and dad.   My sister didn't like that option so she called them nothing until kids came.  Then they became "grammy and poppy".   BIL doesn't call my parents anything.   My parents said whatever you are comfortable with except Mr/Mrs (too formal for them).   He isn't comfortable anything other than Mr/Mrs, so he avoids calling them anything.   It's worked for over 20 years.  LOL

Brother#1 and SIL call their respective in-laws by their first names. 

Brother#2 calls his by their first names.  SIL call my parents mom and dad.   Honestly it sounds so weird since none of the other in-laws do that.  Again my parents do not care.

LadyCatherineDB

My future mother-in-law introduced herself to me as Mrs. Lastname, so that's what I call her. I would love to call her by her first name because it's so confusing during family gatherings when I say "Mrs. Lastname" and 10 women turn around, or I say "Mrs. Lastname is looking for you," and people don't know whom I mean.

OurWildKingdom

I call FMIL "Mama FirstName." FW calls my parents by their first names, but when she first met them, she called them "Sir" and "Ma'am." (A military and/or Southern thing; I don't think my Dad minded, but it drove my Mom crazy.) She calls my grandmothers "Grandma" and "Oma." ("Oma" is a German/Dutch term that loosely translates to "Nana" or "Granny.")

OurWildKingdom

ShesSoCold said:

I call H's grandparents "grandma and grandpa". I feel like once you're someone's grandma, everyone calls your grandma.

I call his parents by their first names, but I do avoid addressing them at all like that. H has stepparents that he calls by their first names so it's easy with them for me. MIL really wants H to address SD as some sort of "dad" - she signs cards with "JoeDad" or "Dad Smith". Maybe if our relationship continues to get better, she'll want me to call her mom. Not going to happen.

To the bolded: That's my philosophy too. Even my brother's and my friends call our grandmothers "Grandma" and "Oma," and when our grandfather was alive, they called him "Grandpa." 

MairePoppy

Knottie1456707943 said:

My future mother-in-law introduced herself to me as Mrs. Lastname, so that's what I call her. I would love to call her by her first name because it's so confusing during family gatherings when I say "Mrs. Lastname" and 10 women turn around, or I say "Mrs. Lastname is looking for you," and people don't know whom I mean.

Are you the only one at family events using Mrs. Lastname? Do you address any of the other women by their first names? It's strange that no one has suggested a more familiar form of address, since you're going to be a family member.

charlottesmom0626

I call mine by their first names. We don't really speak to FIL often. When we have kids I'll probably call MIL whatever grandmother-type name she wants to be called in front of them, and her first name when its just us.

My dad's parents died when he was young and newly married, so he called my mom's mother "mom" because he felt like she was filling that role.

emmaaa

I call(ed) mine by their first names. I've known DH practically my whole life so up until we started dating in high school they were always Mr./Mrs. FirstName. I think it's a Southern thing maybe? When we got married they told me I could call them mom and dad if I wanted and sometimes I will call MIL mom and before FIL passed away, I would call him dad.

I get the concept that I already have parents and fortunately am close with each of them. To me the difference is I call my parents "Momma" and "Daddy" so it's less personal and intimate to call MIL "mom."

RedneckBride2017

I was introduced to mine as mom and dad when my fiancé and I were just really good friends. Unfortunately my father in-law passed before we started dating, however I have always called my mother-in-law "ma." This helps me differentiate from my "mom". I actually didn't learn her first name until we were dating for about 2 or 3 years. She seems to like "ma" better from me, as I was told she considers me a daughter a long time ago.

LadyCatherineDB

MairePoppy said:

Knottie1456707943 said:

My future mother-in-law introduced herself to me as Mrs. Lastname, so that's what I call her. I would love to call her by her first name because it's so confusing during family gatherings when I say "Mrs. Lastname" and 10 women turn around, or I say "Mrs. Lastname is looking for you," and people don't know whom I mean.

Are you the only one at family events using Mrs. Lastname? Do you address any of the other women by their first names? It's strange that no one has suggested a more familiar form of address, since you're going to be a family member.

Right? I am the only one using Mrs. Lastname, but I'm also the only significant. My fiance is the oldest child/grandchild, so everyone else uses "Mom" or "Aunt Firstname," and the other women have asked me to call them "Aunt Firstname" or "Grandma Firstname," so that's what I do.

pinupbride6189

I call mine mom and dad. It's still a little odd, but calling them anything else would feel equally as odd because they never actually indicated to me what they'd prefer. I just kind of picked mom and dad because they call each other that in front of me, "Do you want to run to the store with me while dad finishes setting up the tiki torches?" etc.  And as soon as H and I were engaged, they started referring to BIL as my brother and to me as his sister. "Timmy, will you pass your sister the mashed potatoes?"  I have to say I don't mind at all, I love that I've been so lovingly and graciously accepted into this new part of my family, but part of my brain just wishes that they'd said, "Ok! From wedding date on, we're mom and dad!"

H just calls my parents by their first names, occasionally dropping mom or dad. BIL (my sister's husband) calls them mom and pops.

Silly tidbit: Last time we visited, MIL was leaving work the day we were flying in and said, "Yeah, PinUp and PinUp's H are flying in today, FIL is going to pick them up." And on of her co-workers said, "Oh, the oil is in town?" MIL asked her what she meant, and she said, "Oil, O.I.L. Offspring in law."  MIL thought it was hilarious and called me that once or twice the when we first got there.

SP29

pinupbride6189 said:

I call mine mom and dad. It's still a little odd, but calling them anything else would feel equally as odd because they never actually indicated to me what they'd prefer. I just kind of picked mom and dad because they call each other that in front of me, "Do you want to run to the store with me while dad finishes setting up the tiki torches?" etc.  And as soon as H and I were engaged, they started referring to BIL as my brother and to me as his sister. "Timmy, will you pass your sister the mashed potatoes?"  I have to say I don't mind at all, I love that I've been so lovingly and graciously accepted into this new part of my family, but part of my brain just wishes that they'd said, "Ok! From wedding date on, we're mom and dad!"

This is very true. I should consider myself lucky I have in-laws who want me as part of the family .

MissKittyDanger

I call my in-laws as first names, and H did same for my parents {now it's currently just my mum} and that's how they were introduced as. I'd go based on that personally

bridetobe26-2

I call my FFIL "dad" or his first name, depending on the type of conversation and if FI leads to that. Everyone calls his step-mom by her first name, so I do as well.

When it comes to FMIL, it gets a little more complicated. I either call her by her first name or sometimes "mother" in a cute way. Neither her or her husband (FI's step-dad) have indicated what they prefer, so I just make it up as I go.

FI calls my mom "mom" or by her first name. Either works for them. As for my dad, he is slightly estranged so when they have to interact FI calls him by his first name and nothing more. I don't think I have called my dad "daddy" since I was in elementary school. My grandaddy was more of my father figure so he always got the more personal name.

We call each others grandparents by their grandparent names and always have. That has never been an issue. His are like my own grandparents!

I'll agree with PP about the dance teacher/southern thing about calling adults "Ms. Cheryl" or "Mr. Bob." That's how I was raised. Anything more formal would be for a teacher or doctor, probably. My friends all call each others moms "Momma First Name" or something like that.