Reply To: Things people in the CR find offensive

The first time a child (approximately four years old) called me by my first name and the parents* didn’t say anything. I was quite taken aback. I thought, here I am, more than 20 years older than this kid, and he’s treating me as if I’m his peer, and it seems to be accepted. That was my introduction to the frum community. I got used to it, but I’ve never liked it.

I always thought it was strange that my friends’ children would call me by my first name, yet they would call their friends’ parents (who were my age) Mrs. So-and-so.

*For what it’s worth, many, many years later the mother of that kid told me she didn’t like when Plonit came over because Plonit always called her by her first name. Plonit, at that time, was probably 18 or 19.