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I didn't read the article but we use Mr/Mrs FirstName. At daycare it's up to the teacher and we respect that. But they are all Ms something of their choosing.

There are certain people that I would want my child to use Mr/Mrs LastName, but universally no.

Hm. I should probably figure that out lol. My LO isn't talking yet but will be any day now. She doesn't see non-family members all that terribly often so it hasn't really come up but I guess I should sort that out.

FWIW I would guess that a big part of the change from Mrs. Lastname to Ms. Firstname came from the rise of daycare? I think most daycares have the kids say Ms.Firstname because it is a lot easier to pronounce a first name than a last name usually and they are working with very tiny kids to start. If I was a SAHM forever I think it would be easier to teach my kid Mrs. Lastname because she probably wouldn't have to learn people's names that much out of our family until she was older and had an easier time with names than she would now at 16 months.

We do Mr & Ms First Name though not all the time. That is what I did growing up too.

Also am I the only one that thinks "Ms." is sort of weird anyways...? At least for close friends. I mean I guess maybe we'll do it because thats what you do, apparently. I don't want my kid to be rude. But I actually did not grow up calling everyone Mrs. Teachers, strangers/acquaintances, and parents of friends I didn't know well were Mrs. The rule was to default to "Mrs. Last name". But my mom's best friends I just called Patti and Flo. And most of my good friends' parents told me to call them by their first names so I did. Maybe we were just an informal bunch.

we do Mr./Mrs. FirstName!

Close friends are Aunt/Uncle (first name). Daycare goes by Ms./Miss/Mrs (First Name). Haven't interacted with people outside of that realm, but I'm guessing we'll go with Mr/Mrs (Last name) unless we decide otherwise?

I don't think there was anything wrong about the article nor did I think she was judging. I was actually thinking the other day that it's weird we teach our kids to refer to or friends by their first name. However, we say "auntie/emo" or "uncle" first name.

At DD's Montessori, she calls her teachers mrs. Last name, and in turn I call them "mrs last name" as well. I agree with @mediagirl: no one I know does it so it feels weird to be the only ones to do so!

So to answer the actual question, my LO will call adults in her life whatever they wish to be called. Is it really so hard to just ask?

@Torchwood: Agreed! What LOs call adults will ultimately depend on the preferences of those adults!

@Mrs. Champagne: agree. It would be so awkward to have my LOs address my friends as Mr./Mrs. First name! When I was a kid, I addressed all of my parents' friends by their first names. I think the only people we would use the naming convention for are elderly people we don't know (and we don't really know any IRL!)

ETA: we were recently visiting people (who live in the south/are fairly conservative) who had a 12 yo who called me ma'am. I told him it was very polite that he said that, but that he could call me by my first name. His dad was really uncomfortable with that idea, but I really didn't want to be called ma'am and insisted that it was ok.

I actually think a lot of this is regional. In my area, kids typically call adults Mr/Mrs last name. However, the kids that I used to nanny for were from another part of the country. Where they originally grew up, it was always first name or Mr/Mrs first name. They thought anything different was odd. In the end, I don't think it really matters. It's cultural.

About half of the moms I know didn't take their husband's last name, so they are not Mr. & Mrs. X - and that just gets confusing for small kids.
Usually it's Mr./Ms. first name for people we don't know well and First Name for our friends and neighbors.

I agree with others that I think this is a sign of the times we live in. With the divorce rate being so high, unmarried couples having children, and women not taking their husband's last names, it just gets too confusing to try to call people Mr/Mrs. Lastname. I also have 2 sets of friends who's husbands took the wife's last name!

I grew up calling adults by Mr/Mrs. Lastname, unless we were expressly told to call them something (which pretty much only included our babysitter and friends' step-parents). We called my mom's best friend Aunt So-and-so.

D calls all adults Ms/Mr. Firstname. We don't really use Aunt/Uncle for close friends, and I've noticed that's kind of fallen out of favor within our circles of friends. The only people he calls by their first name is my BILs' girlfriends.

ETA: Teachers and other "authority" figures were always Mr/Ms. Lastname, and I would expect the same from our children. I would be shocked to hear D refer to a teacher (not a daycare teacher, but a school teacher) by Mr/Ms. Fristname