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No, its not common here and I"m not a fan. I will teach her to be polite, and call people by appropriate terms like Ms/Mr for teachers, etc. We are a medical family, so I will teach her to use Dr. for people as well, until she is instructed otherwise by that person. Those are things I do to show respect.
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@Littlebit: must be a RVA thing...friends from there got me doing it
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Yes. It's the norm for where we live and we were both raised to say it.
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Nope! They are not commonly used in our area. Like others, we will teach manners and respect but not those particular terms.
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@Silva: Out of curiosity, who are you going to have your LO address by "Dr. so-and-so"? (and are you using "Dr. LastName" or "Dr. FirstName"?)
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@Lozza: Last name, unless they specify otherwise. But thats mostly just for my husband's superiors- for his colleagues (fellow residents), we've just been using first names.
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no, it isn't common where I live (northeast) and I didn't grow up using those terms in the midwest (though interestingly, my parents and extended family [grandparents, aunts/uncles, cousins, etc] are from Texas and a bunch of people here have said it's a Texas thing--none of my family ever corrected me for not saying it). LO will definitely learn to be polite and respectful, using "please" and "thank you," and saying things "have a good day" when saying goodbye.
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Yes ma'am. We live in the south. I wasn't raised doing it and its still hard for me to remember and I think it highlights that I'm not from round here.
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No, it's not common in our area.
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It's very common here. I'll definitely teach him to say sir and ma'am!
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No, it's not common in my area.
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@wonderstruck: where in Michigan are you from?
I'd like them to say it but I don't see myself really enforcing it because I don't use it myself and it is uncommon here.
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nope. it's not common around here. respect to elders, most definitely! saying sir or madam? nope.
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Reviving an old thread - just curious where folks fall on this a year or so later.
We are teaching LO to say "yes ma'am/sir" and "no ma'am/sir" though she says, "yes please" and "no thanks/thank you" more. I feel like "please" and "thank you" are more important than the titles.
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Nope. It's not common here.
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@daniellemybelle: I hadn't thought of this... but I like the idea of my son saying "yes please" or "no thank you" - still adds respect (vs just yes or no) without the maam and the sir.
At the moment, I'm just trying to get to "yes" vs. "uh huh."
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No. It would sound really odd here in CA. And I hate being called ma'am!!
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The only people I know who use these terms are in the military (or are retired military). I've never lived in a place where people say sir or ma'am regularly, nor am I likely to. So, nope -- won't be pushing it on DD. If we ever do move to a place where it's the norm, we'll reassess at that point.
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@AggieDaze: My LO is pretty horribly behaved in many ways so I am pleased with our small victory that she is usually polite!
It sucks but the most important thing is modeling. I say "yeah" so that's what LO learned first. I switched to "yes please" basically all the time and she picked it up!
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We won't teach them ma'am and sir because we simply don't say it unless we're being playful. However, I say "no, thank you" and "yes, thank you" and " yes, please" and will teach it to my LOs. They will also learn to say "excuse me" instead of huh or move or a bunch of other nonsense I hear.
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@Mrs. Lemon-Lime: Oh, "excuse me" is one we need to work on. She does say "move."
Maybe I'm not giving her enough credit but I feel like it's hard to learn that you say "excuse me" when you burp/fart AND to move past someone...? Like the former is kind of, "I'm sorry," and the latter is not at all.
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@daniellemybelle: the English language has a ton of words and phrases that do double & triple duty- she'll pick up on it!
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We won't. I just don't like it, and don't think it's necessary. We won't force please or thank you either, but will be sure to use them a lot ourselves, and explain why. Teaching by example and all. With thank you especially, I want her to say it because she means it, not because we force her to.
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I live in Texas but I'm from NY. I'm not a fan of it except to strangers. Then I think it's polite. But I think it's weird to say to family and friends. Luckily my born and bred Texan DH agrees that he isn't a fan either. So we certainly won't force the issue. Please, thank you and excuse me are much more important to me. He's pretty good with those. It melts everyone when he says them too.
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No, but I live near Boston and rarely ever hear people use those terms. I feel weird when people refer to me as "ma'am"
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I'm still in the same camp as last year - NO. Honestly, there is something that really bothers me about the learned/forced "ma'am/sir". It's so disingenuous, I don't find it respectful and it bugs me when I hear littles parrot it. But, I know it's the routine in much of the country. Not my part, thankfully.
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@Torchwood: My LO is only two but she says "thank you" when she means it and it is adorable
I just melt when she is all over the top, "THANK YOU, Mommy!" But "no thanks" is pretty much what she knows as how to say no to something. She says "no thanks" rather than "no" probably 75% of the time. We just modeled it and reminded her about it when she didn't use it. It's important to us for her to polite and respectful. Honestly, it covers a multitude of toddler sins in public. 
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No. We say it to him just being funny and he has started using it sometimes (also to be funny), but since we didn't teach it, he often gets it wrong and says sir to me or ma'am to DH. It's pretty cute.
He uses yes, please and no thank you very well. In fact, during his rescue swim lessons he occasionally is upset and will yell "no thank you!" over and over.
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Nope, not common around our parts at all. She's taught to use first names (we live abroad) and its reinforced by preschool.
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No, New Yorkers don't use those terms. Please and thank you will suffice.
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Of course!! We're in the south
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No, we won't teach it as it is never used here.
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Nope! Not common where I live in california. I feel like ma'am is more of an insult, women take it like you're calling them old
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@Purpledaisy: Same here. Whenever I hear someone say ma'am the receiver tends to look a little offended unless they are over 70.
I hadn't thought of this really as something I'd teach my kids because no one seems to anymore and I think it would come off a little weird.
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We aim for, "Please/Thank you, Mr./Ms. First Name."
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Definitely not. I find it overly formal and kinda creepy. We will teach: please, thank you, yes please, and no thank you.
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Growing up in California I didn't realize people actually used those sayings. But now that I live in Louisiana it's a little different. Dh always tells me I'll need to remember to correct our kids once they're talking, so it's a yes here.
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Yes we will! DH is from Louisiana and raised in Texas. It isn't super common were we live now but I love hearing it come out of my toddlers mouth
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Yes we are! When we ask her to do something she'll reply "yes ma'am!" and do it (though she often still says sir to me haha). It took some getting used but it's important to my husband so I've rolled with it. I've found it actually helps her do what she's told, it's like she knows once she replies respectfully that she'd better follow through. I've been pretty I happy with it!
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At 2 we are learning Please and Thank You first and going from there.
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