Question: daughter, son or…?

Chase asks…

I want to tell my parents to stop calling me their son, but I don’t want to be their daughter, either. I could just be their “child,” but I don’t like how that word often implies being a certain age. What is a good gender-neutral word?

Please post your response in the comments below.

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Posted by on August 6th, 2010 at 08:00 am

Category: questions 27 comments »

27 Responses to “Question: daughter, son or…?”

  1. BamBam

    I wish my parents would introduce me as ‘our pride and joy’.

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  2. Ryan/Rachel

    My flesh and blood?

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  3. Regen

    My dad always calls me his “offspring”

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  4. Quince

    Their spawn?

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  5. Torolf

    Pride and joy is what I want them to call me.

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  6. Anonymous

    the fruit of their loins.

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  7. ElegantAndrogyne

    Daughterson? :)

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  8. Anonymous

    the diploid of their haploids :)Could they just use your name? I try not to gender my kids and kids of my friends, so when we are meeting new people, I usually just say “This is Syd. Syd’s parents are so and so…” If your folks are comfortable gendering themselves, they can refer to themselves as your parents, rather than to you and thier son/daughter/etc…

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  9. Sean

    Offspring. My uncle doesn’t call us children or kids, he calls us all offspring. Always has, even when we were little kids.

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  10. Charles

    Quince beat me to it.

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  11. Sofia

    I absolutely love the word “progeny”, but I’m a fan of fancy-sounding words in general.

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  12. Chuck

    I’ve always liked “My kid” but I can understand how that may not work in formal situations.

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  13. Gib

    I’d happily be called my parents’ spawn, if only for the hilarity of the situation.

    I get the feeling that “pride and joy” may be a problem if one isn’t an only child, however. “Yes… these are our daughters, our son, and -here- is our Pride and Joy. :D”
    [Insert sibling rivalry issues]

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  14. Nox

    progeny works for me i like it..i use kid for my progeny alot too, but thier still little, i also use son sometimes just cuz it’s simpler when talking to certain people and he was born with the standard male anatomy but if a day comes where he corrects me i will stand happily corrected. it’s just after a lifetime of saying things in a certain way it’s hard to change and not revert to form even when you(i) feel the binary is an outdated system.

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  15. Dale

    I like it best when my parents just use my name. But when it’s necessary, I like “kid”, even tho I’m not legally a “kid” anymore.

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  16. Claudius Maximus

    My parents are not big on affection or praise. It would be so cool to be introduced as ” This is Claudius our pride and joy”. My favorite is daughterson, I feel that it describes me best as not male or female but a perfect balance of both.

    Gib to avoid the sibiling rivalry the parent could say this is ______ our pride and joy, _________ our pride and joy……

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  17. Frankie

    as much as it drives me insane that my mom still constantly treats me like a child, even though i moved out like 4 years ago, I totally love the fact that she introduces me as her kid.
    when i was young she would constantly introduce me as her daughter just to clarify any misunderstanding my andro/tomboy appearance may have caused… she only hated 2 things that i can remember, people giving me nicknames and people calling me a boy, I had a perfectly suitable very girly name and she wouldn’t stand for anyone’s mistakes.
    She may have given up on making me look and act like a girl, but she still insists on calling me by me girl name. and I’m willing to let just because she’s my mom.

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  18. Sean

    I recently asked my parents to stop doing the same thing. I’m the oldest of three kids, so my dad has started just calling me ‘our eldest’. It looks weird on paper, but it works just fine out loud.

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  19. Haydo

    our only
    our second
    our eldest

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  20. Cole

    Well, I’m personally fond of “child,” and I don’t think it at all implies age (my grandparents call my mom their child), but there are lots of alternatives, like nicknames or your actual name. “Spawn” is a great one, as is “sprog.” :)

    Personally, my parents call me their monkey, imp, crazy one, monster, young one, elf, soul-sucking leech, beloved one, beastling… usually instead of my actual name, funnily enough, and even when introducing me. It’s always been that way. And if you’re of a certain age and live at home, having them call you their “resident squatter” can be rather humourous.

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  21. Polo

    I love the word “offspring”…unfortunately there isn’t a good French translation for it, so I don’t know what I’m going to ask my parents to call me…

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  22. Kira

    I don’t have any suggestions but I do want to thank everyone who did, because I’ve been wondering this too :)

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  23. Kashka

    I second “progeny.” It is a word with a certain je ne sais quois. Offspring and spawn are good as well. My parent calls my sibling and I ‘squids’ and ‘pot-pies,’ but I don’t think those endearments really make sense to anyone other than her.

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  24. Jak

    I am often referred to as Spawn by my mother. Sometimes I am also ‘wee beastie’

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  25. Aaron

    My dad calls me his “oldest” when he’s not in a situation where he can call me his son. I’m grateful to him for not giving in to the pressure and calling me his daughter.

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  26. Jay

    My father jokingly calls me his ‘by-product’ at times. xP Other than that, nothing serious to offer, I’m afraid, although there looks to be some good suggestions!

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  27. Keanan

    I’m having this problem too. I want them to call me their kid because I am one and always will be. I like the other ideas though. I’ll be my parents’ offspring or spawn. I can be their pride and joy because I’m an only child.

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