Every family has its quirks

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My immediate family (that's the Riversdale's to you guv) is made up by the joining of the Boyle's and the Eggleston's - and if you still don't know why we're Riversdales and not Eggleston-Boyle's/Boyle-Eggleston's then please pay attention.

From this we get some interesting family dynamics one of which is that the Eggleston's tend to use the parents first name when talking to them, such as, "Carol, can you get me ..." from Liz instead of, "Mum, can you get me ..." which happens with the Boyles.

Now, I've been reading The Oxford Muse and in particular a self portrait by Christopher Whalen where he says
My parents are quite liberal. For example, I call them Moira and Sandy, rather than mum and dad. Why should I call them that? It’s not their name, is it? It’s just a role; one facet of their life. I don’t call my brother, “brother”, do I? As a result, I have felt close to my parents.

There are two things that happen to me when, for instance, I call Mum "Betty" (for that is her name):
  • I feel odd and slightly uncomfortable
  • I feel closer to her and on her level

And so, as I've been attempting on a small scale, I am no longer going to use the labels 'Mum' and 'Dad' when I talk with/to/about them but will use their actual names, Betty and Derek.

I'll let you know how I get on.

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