How do you call your children?
No, I am not talking about on the phone.
I am talking about when you want them all to come to you like if you have to leave the house or they are all running away from you in the store.
When Jeff and I were coming up with names for the kids, we praticed yelling each one we liked to see what was the easiest. If we could yell it without stumbling, then a child was given that name.
(Don’t worry that is not the only reason we picked the names we did but it was part of the process.)
Even though, we succeed in this mission but we didn’t take into account that their names should work together if we needed to call them all at once
I have 4 children to call and when I want them all at once, their names get all jumbled together.
“HAYDENQUINNJACOBCLAIRE” just doesn’t roll off the tongue as I try to say it loudly and quickly. This just causes confusion on their part because it usuallycome out “JAQUINCLAROBHAYKE”. And no one can understand me which means no one listens, I get mad and we just go round and round in circles.
There has got to be a better way.
At daycare, all the teachers use ‘friends’ when they want the whole group to pay attention to them.
I tried this at home but it just felt weird calling my children “friends”.
Then while watching a rerun of the show Dr 90210 that used to be on E!, I heard Dr Rey say, “Come here boys and girls,” when he called his children to him.
Ureeka!
I liked that.
So I began saying, “Come here boys and girl!” or if they were running away from me at the store, “Boys and Girl! Stop it.”
But when you are mad and you need to call the children quickly, “Boys and Girl” just doesn’t work.
I needed something short, something fast, something that included all genders.
Enter… “GUYS!”
‘Guys’ is perfect. It’s short, fast and just rolls off the tongue.
I had found my word.
Actually I go back and forth between calling all my children by saying, “Boys and Girl” or “Guys”.
I am not the only one in this house that has seen the beauty of yelling ‘guys’ to get everyone’s attention. No, it is not Jeff. He actually has a very limber tongue and can call them all by name quickly which of course, drives me crazy.
It is Claire that has followed in my footsteps.
To be honest, I am not really surprised by this. She, being the only girl, follows her natural instincts to mother and tries to help me rein in the boys or just tries to tell them what to do.
She learned rather quickly that there are just too many brothers and too many names to say so just yells ‘guys’.
If the kids are all in the basement playing, give it a few minutes and you will hear Claire start, “Guys, come on” or “Guys, listen here” or “No, guys!” or my personal favorite, “guys. Guys. GUYS! GUYS! GUYS!”
The boys are of course are totally immune to her ‘guy-ing’ which only leads to her yelling it more.
Which got me thinking, maybe George Foreman who named all his boys ‘George’ was onto something. Having just one name to call all your children…. that’s totally awesome.
So, how do you call your children?
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{ 23 comments… read them below or add one }
I call them by their names.. If I am angry then it’s their full name – Name + surname)
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BOYS!!!!!
at the top of my lungs, most of the time.
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Jen Reply:
March 6th, 2012 at 9:37 am
I have to admit that I say ‘BOYS’ a lot because the girl is usually under foot since she is my mini me.
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I still have a baby…so it would be weird if I called out her name
. But with monkey his name is easy. And when I say it with my evil voice he comes quickly. Hopefully it works with Diva, her name is longer.
Hmm….this comment is full of mystery. More than I wanted to put in
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Jen Reply:
March 6th, 2012 at 9:47 am
You are one mysterious lady.
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I haven’t really thought about it, but I’m pretty sure I use guys a lot too, or their names, or probably “y’all” sometimes too. I’ll have to pay attention more I guess.
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Love this post!
Too cute!
I have 2 girls, so I just yell “GIRLS!!”
Then they come running yelling back “coming!”
lub it
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I got off easy having three boys. I yell “BOOOYS!”. My husband is included in that
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I have always used boys. I have the same issue as you mixing up their names.. Doug Jesse and Devin oft turn into jevin, joug or desse.. yeah they crack up everytime I do it too
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Jen Reply:
March 6th, 2012 at 9:48 am
I don’t understand how mom’s call their kids when they have similar names or names with the same letter. It’s such a tongue twister.
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I just text them. Even the 2 year old.
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Jen Reply:
March 6th, 2012 at 9:48 am
Best answer ever!
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I’m know at school as *the child yeller*. This is similar to *the baby whisperer* except that apparently, my voice carries and other people’s children listen to me.
I call my kids DAMN IT. COME HERE DAMN IT.
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Jen Reply:
March 6th, 2012 at 9:48 am
I like that you are ‘the child yeller’ that is a good thing in my book.
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I call my kids: ding-dongs. I know… This will be bad when they are older. I also call them HEY! And that works pretty well. Sometimes I use EVERYONE STOP! If they are really out of control. Individual – I use first and middle names for attention. Unless it is Andrew – because his name is his middle name. Then I use middle and last name. Great post. Kristen.
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When it’s just me and the twinks I’ll say “Girls!” or “Ladies!” when I need the whole lot of them it’s “Guys!”
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I loved Dr Rey…he was such a snazzy dresser…
and I just number my kids off…they all know their number because I never call them by the right name…sad, I know
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Jen Reply:
March 6th, 2012 at 9:50 am
I was so obsessed with that show. Do you remember Dr Rey’s wife and her constant talk about how fat she was at like 80lbs? Then she got pregnant and was all I don’t want to eat because I will get fat.
She was crazy.
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“YOU HEATHENS!”
No, I’m kidding.
I say guys too.
Or, “Tommy and Natalie! You’re working Mommy’s last nerve!”
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Jen Reply:
March 6th, 2012 at 9:51 am
LOL! That is awesome.
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Fortunately, I just have boys. That means I can yell “boys” and get both of them. I have been known to accidentally yell at them and call them by my brothers’ names…oops. I think “boyzengirl” should cover your household.
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I go with “Kids!” if I need them all at once. We’ve got two with 3 syllable 1st names so there’s no way I’m gonna try to call them all by name at the same time
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Craig only got so far as to worry about what nicknames other kids could form based on their given name. But I totally like where you’re going with the yelling their names idea.
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I don’t have kids yet but when I was a kid and my mom wanted all 3 of us to come, she stuck her fingers in her mouth and whistled. It was loud and shrill and it worked every time. We, of course had to yell “Coming!” in response. She also stood on the porch and whistled when we were around the neighborhood.
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Jen Reply:
March 6th, 2012 at 9:52 am
So it looks like I need to learn to whistle.
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I can never remember my kid’s names so I just yell “YOU OVER THERE!” or “ONE WITH THE BLOND HAIR!” or “YOU THERE, THE SHORTEST ONE!”
So far it seems to work for me.
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Jen Reply:
March 6th, 2012 at 9:53 am
Yeah, I say… “Whatever your name is, come here!”
They sucked out our brains cell out when do they expect?!
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My daughter has adopted “guys” too and I don’t even have other kids. Yesterday we were leaving a party and she screamed over her shoulder as we were walking out the door, “BYE GUYS!!!!”
[WORDPRESS HASHCASH] The poster sent us ‘0 which is not a hashcash value.
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We also called names out loud to see how it would sound…and Audrey lost since my husband refused to call for a child “hey Aud!” bc he knew he’d shorten it and would give her a complex screaming odd at her all the time! So a new name was chosen. I babysat for sisters named Jenna and Talia…and a friend named her kids Sam and Ella. Those parents obviously didn’t try those out together!
I have 2 girls and a boy and we live in the Midwest where “guys” is common so that’s usually what I say when calling all 3.
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I just say “kids” a lot. But Katie does the same thing with my boys – she’ll yell down the hall, “C’mon GUYS!!!” to get them to come out of their room or “Stop Guys!” if they are rough-housing. It’s so funny!
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I have a friend who yells “Jellybeans” and they all come running. I tried this and once they figured out that there wasn’t any they stopped coming. I used to call them “Little People” as in Miss Piggie saying, “Hello, Little people!” until I said it in front of someone who’s son was a little person…. Now I call them “Little Women, and Man.” but I still struggle with the me being mad and them not responding moments. x
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But yes with George though what do you say, “George stop hitting George” , “George go get George for me.”
Yea– guys is better
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