[lynz_jena]

Im a single parent and the last time my son saw his dad was at a week old, and resently every time he see's an adult male he calls him dad, and I'm not sure how to put a stop to it. Myself and p-group think he might off picked it up when children have called dad when their dads picked them up from p-group. How do I stop him from doing this? He is four years old.

[JudyKayTee]

You tell him just what you've posted here - at 4 he is old enough to understand that all men are not his dad.

What have you told him about his father? Can he connect a face/story with the person who is his "dad"?

I don't know if it's the same thing but a neighbor's child calls every woman over the age of about 35 "Grandma." Some neighbors are amused; some are not. We think he'll just grow out of it.

[Synnen]

Lots of kids do this.

The best thing you can do is give him a name/face/information about his biological father, and remind him when he calls someone else "dad" that that person isn't his dad--his dad is "x", remember?

You will eventually need to give him information about his biological father anyway--age appropriate, of course. If nothing else, he has the right to have his medical history.

[Jake2008]

My son did that to me when he was little. We were in a long bank lineup, and I was holding him so he was looking over my shoulder. All of a sudden he called a middle-aged East Indian man dad, and I started laughing so hard, he just kept it up. After that, everybody was dad, just to get a rise out of me.

It eventually passed, but it was one of those 'moments' I wish I could re-live.