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Angry strict father scolding stubborn daughter. Family conflicts and punishment concept

Source: Djordje Krstic / Getty

Should you be teaching your kids to say ‘Sir” and Ma’am’?

A writer from  https://lifehacker.com/  believes you should stop teaching your kids to use those terms.

From the article https://lifehacker.com/stop-teaching-kids-to-say-sir-and-maam-1850130701

Some reasons to stop teaching “sir” and “ma’am”

  • It comes with tremendous risk of misgendering trans, nonbinary, and gender-nonconforming people.
  • It often offends people who feel young but associate the word with age.
  • According to psychology professor Sheri Levy, “ma’am” is not intrinsically age-based, but it is generally used with older women and can be offensive. On the other hand, she says, infantilizing older women with labels and terms of endearment (“sweetie,” “dear,” “honey”) is a form of gendered ageism that is also often patronizing.
  • Kids who are growing up in an environment of implied mutual respect among everyone they encounter are confused by the special rules for some people based on their age, gender, or geography.
  • The expectation is an unsettling throwback to requiring people of color to say “sir” and “ma’am” to the white people they served.