Toddler can’t identify dad from other black men 😭 shouts DADA at random men walking around. Any advice?

mine will see a white man that vaguely looks like his daddy in the distance and does the same thing, even though he sees his dad every day. toddlers are funny

that truly just made me feel so much better!! Thank you cuz I was like damn this is soooo sad 😭

Honestly, all 4 of my kids at some point in time has also yelled Daddy at a black man…..they are Caucasian 😂 trust me girl it gets easier. Just keep correcting and he will learn. Most of the time the men just laugh it off with me lol.

Honestly, that sounds like a him problem. It's normal for kids to get confused, but you shouldn't worry. My oldest did the same and would call his bio dad by his real name. My 2nd child would can me by my real name & his dad by babe.

For my toddler she thought any bald man she saw was dad 😂 we go shopping with my mom all the time and venture off when we’re looking for her she thinks any woman with brown hair is her. She starts screaming “I found nana! Nana girl we found you!!” Everyone thinks it’s hilarious. Just keep correcting in a fun way and they’ll stop at some point

I don’t think this is an abnormal behavior. My son sees his dad every day but when he was really young anytime he saw a tall skinny black man dressed in business wear he called them dada lol I always make a joke though to ease the other men reaction lol

My oldest did the same but with her uncle cause her dad was never around he’s a tall darker skinned man even when we watched tv she would point at like will smith and say it was him 🤣

My toddlers use to do that to when they seen a black man they thought that’s my husband their dad . It’s ok though it gets better with time .

My little one sees her lito often and everytime we were out somewhere and an old white man was wearing a cap shed shout "my lito!" 🤣🤣

You could show him a photo, regularly, of his father and that could help him recognize who his dad is.

my best friend suggested I just start asking them if they were at the club 2.5 years ago 🤣🤣🤣🤣

yes i started pulling up a pic when he does it to the guy on Ms Rachel 🤣 I can see him look at the pic then the tv and his brain is trying to make it click🤣

Both my daughters know perfectly well who their 'dada' is & both of them at some point or other have pointed at random guys, girls, lamp posts, trees, animals etc... & called them 'dada' so personally, I'd not worry about this too much.

Not quite the same, but my kids do the same thing with my dad. For about 6 months every dark skinned black man they see is “Poppop!”. 😂
It’s a normal stage of development.

Babies all do that I think. They do not have a word for man or boy or whatever. They just know dad. So all men are dada

My daughter did it and my husband works from home and is with us a ton. Has nothing to do with the actual father I don’t think.

My son who is 19 months old now will point at all the women and books and say mama and all the men in books and go dada! so I think it’s just like maybe identifying men and women to be similar to mama and dada even though he knows that they’re different.

Hahah I died when this happened with my daughter but the man was a good sport and laughed too. She wasn't calling him dad, it was her way of telling me he looks like dad being brown too. She was not trying to hug this stranger like she does her dad.

my daughter does it at the park if there’s another guy wearing a hat I think it’s just them understanding the difference of boy/girl dada/mama

I remember the photo of Queen Charlotte popping up on the tv as the Netflix screensaver and my daughter used to shout “mama!” every time…I’m very white 😂 I did make her a little photo book of family members and she used to love going through it and talking about them when she was younger, I think it’s helped her recognise family that she doesn’t see as often.

same

You need to be blaming your little boy's father for this, not your little boy. Tell him that maybe if he came around & saw his child more, then his son wouldn't be calling every other man he sees Dada.

who is blaming the child?! How would you get that from this post?. It’s obvious it’s the dad’s fault but there’s nothing I can do about that. Weird ass response.

Not really. You're asking how you stop your little boy from doing it, which is making it sound like you think it is his fault. You don't need to stop him from doing it. His Dad needs to stop him from doing it by actually being in his life & making it so that his son actually recognizes him.

girl the first half of this post is pointing out all his faults that have lead to this. I end by saying it’s sad but I understand. That’s not blaming my child at all. But would I like to hear advice twards not having my child call strangers dada? Yes. Not just because it’s awkward, but also bc him thinking random men are his father isn’t safe. I’m a single mother, I cannot force someone to be in someone else’s life. Now get off my post. All other 20+ responses were understanding and respectful. Good day.

Well, I've given you advice, which is what you asked for, so 🤷‍♀️

you sound dumb asf. Great advice, I’ll make sure to ask all the single moms if they’ve ever tried telling their deadbeat bds to come around more. Dumb.

This is a completely normal stage of language development!! Kids have a limited vocabulary so they sometimes generalize. It’s not baby not understanding who dad is, it’s baby generalizing! Don’t try to correct baby, instead model language: “I see that man! That man is a dada too! That man looks like your dada.”

It’s actually super cool to see little ones do this. It means they are understanding a concept and applying it in the real world. Their brain is braining!

Jesus Christ that is not what is going on lol

I’ll be the first single mother to back you up friend 😂 is happily married so she doesn’t understand our struggle babes. And that’s okay. Because no one here is blaming the baby. Of course it’s his dead beat daddy’s fault lol. But you can’t make a deadbeat be apart of his kids life. I’ve tried. You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make it drink babes. Girlfriend came here for advice, not to be told to make her sperm donor dead beat baby daddy be an actual father because trust and believe sweetie you can’t. Those men are going to do everything besides what they should. And also I was with my kids dad for 7 years and they still called strangers daddy, kids don’t see color, they see man and woman and that’s it. Everyone is mommy or daddy to them. 😂 what you gave wasn’t advice. I’m just gonna go on a whim and say you’ve never been a single mother or don’t know any single moms because you seem very ignorant to the topic of deadbeats and single parenting.

He wants to see him and hopes he'll see him again.

My 23 month old calls every baby toddler little person “baby” and everyone older dada regardless of skin color

@Tara I actually have 2 friends who are single mums. One whose son sees his Dad every weekend & one whose daughters' dad have nothing to do with them, so I actually have experience from all sides, hence my advice 😏

interesting! My son calls kids his age or smaller baby but the dada thing has never happened with any other races!

ok go tell your friend her child’s father “needs to actually be in his child’s life” then the next time she brings up single motherhood. You think we don’t all know that? You think we don’t all try? You’re not giving any advice, you’re stating the obvious. OBVIOUSLY ideally with a present father this could potentially be avoided. OBVIOUSLY that’s not an option here. My son’s father has keys to my house even though we haven’t been together since 2023. Just so he can come see his son at ANY moment without even having to give me notice & still doesn’t. There’s literally nothing else I can do. Imagine giving your ex 24/7 access to your home and how extreme that is. You got any other ideas? Should I follow him around and throw the baby at him?

My son called all men ‘dada’ for a few months but he wasn’t confused - he knew who his dad was. I think he meant ‘man’. And I bet that’s what’s happening in your situation too. I would just respond by saying that’s a man but not dada.

My daughter would see a man dressed in the orange work shirts and say daddy because she knows that daddy wears the orange shirts.

My son used to do this with any black man he saw, tv or in person 😂 and dad is present. He's stopped doing it now

As you said his father doesn’t come around much, if there’s personal reasons why he’s not coming around that cannot be helped and your okay with maybe you should show him pictures of his dad more and say “that’s not dada this is dada” so he can start visualizing it better.

My little sister (2) calls every male 25+ daddy. Her father is present lol. She called my husband dad once. I don’t think it matters that he’s calling other men dad, I think it’s a phase they grow out of. My baby is only 2 months old tho so idk

My husband has been away for 8 months now and my toddler would call "dad" to a few of our neighbors that have kids or when I take her to her gym class if a dad gives her attention she chases them and calls them dad. Even though we have FT calls with my husband often she still feels the need to call another man "dad" and I think is just part of their development. She's getting over that now thank goodness because it is awkward and as a mom you do feel sad but it will pass.