The other day my dad and I were watching the episode where Beaver gets the monster sweatshirt and wears it to school. Well, my dad kept repeating "yes, sir" every time Beaver or Wally said it and he commented how when Ward tells them to do something they obey RIGHT AWAY. I mean wouldn't most kids argue a little?! Well, it's only a TV show, but it's just how they say SIR all the time. If I said "Yes, sir" to my dad he'd probably start laughing! Nowadays I never hear kids say sir to their dads. I guess it was just a thing back then.

My friend's father, in his fifties, when I mentioned Ward Cleaver said "Is he that overcontrolling father who made his kids call him "sir"? My father, nor any other fathers from that time, made their kids do that!"

Well in my opinion it should have never ended. Maybe if that tradition went on we wouldn't have so many disrespectful and rotten kids today. I thought that Ward was a little too easy going for that time period as it is.

Originally posted by desilu #1
Well in my opinion it should have never ended. Maybe if that tradition went on we wouldn't have so many disrespectful and rotten kids today. I thought that Ward was a little too easy going for that time period as it is.

Kind of agree with you. Yes Sir or Yes Dad is a reply that indicates respect. Something that is surely lacking in many of today's children which is a result of many causes.

I don't think the issue is really saying "sir" or not, its how often they automatically comply. I've noticed especially with Wally when he gets older, its kind of unbelievable. He should be thinking for himself instead of automatically saying "yes" all the time. I think that's the unrealistic part.

There were indeed quite a number of kids I knew in hte 70's and 80's who called their dads "sir." It seems like in every case I knew about the father involved had a military background. So since Ward had 'warred' in WWII, it seems realistic enough that he would have required that of his boys when they were very young and expected it to continue as they matured; he was always the 'superior officer' in the Cleaver battalion.

BTW, I don't remember even one time that they said "Yes ma'am" to June.

I'm from about the era of the show and never called my Dad "sir." The only time I did say it was for very old and "proper" relatives like uncles or great-grandparents.

When I was in elementary school we had to call our teachers sirs and maams.

I am from the era of the show and i never called my parents ma'am or sir, but i was not allowed to speak back to them either. If my mother told me to do something and i spoke back to her or challenged her i was told not to backtalk and not to be fresh. Adults were respected MUCH MUCH more than they are today. Adults were not trying to be friends with their children. I was also taught never to refer to my parents as simply he or she, i had to say My mother said so, not she said so.

Originally posted by frani
I am from the era of the show and i never called my parents ma'am or sir, but i was not allowed to speak back to them either. If my mother told me to do something and i spoke back to her or challenged her i was told not to backtalk and not to be fresh. Adults were respected MUCH MUCH more than they are today. Adults were not trying to be friends with their children. I was also taught never to refer to my parents as simply he or she, i had to say My mother said so, not she said so.


That's really interesting, becaue I remember an episode of The New Leave it to Beaver (which I haven't seen 15 years, so I might be remembering this wrong) where Wally got mad at his daughter Kelly, because she called Mary Ellen "She" instead of "Mom", when she was angry at her.

Also, I noticed that the only kids on that show who call their father "sir" are Eddie's kids. Wally and Beaver's kids don't call their fathers "sir", at least not very often. And Lumpy's daughter calls her parents both by their first names ("Clarence", not "Lumpy";) )

While I never called my father 'sir,' I do remember calling adult neighbors by either Mister so and so or Mrs. so and so.

Oh, i absolutely agree with the friend's parents thing. I always called my friends parents either by their last name. Other adults that my parents knew were aunt or uncle so and so. Never called an adult by just their name.

Even now, i don't always assume i can call a person by their first name and often wait until i am invited to do so.

Wally and Beaver usually said, "Yes, Sir" to Ward, but they'd sometimes say, "Yes, Dad." However, they'd always say "Yes, Mom", to June, never "Yes, Ma'am."

I don't think they ever said yes ma'am to June because like it was mentioned before Ward was ahead of the house and mom was mom or mother but I also know that they didn't dare disrespect her in any manner either. Any guesses on what would happen to the lads if they did? LOL!! A trip to the shed?;)

Originally posted by desilu #1
I don't think they ever said yes ma'am to June because like it was mentioned before Ward was ahead of the house and mom was mom or mother but I also know that they didn't dare disrespect her in any manner either. Any guesses on what would happen to the lads if they did? LOL!! A trip to the shed?;)


Actually, there was a later episode when Beaver was very disrespectful to June. Although the issue of the "woodshed" was mentioned, in true Cleaver fashion, they worked it out non-violently.

I always thought that ""Mom" and "Ma'am" sounded so similar, it wasn't worth making a distinction.

Originally posted by desilu #1
I don't think they ever said yes ma'am to June because like it was mentioned before Ward was ahead of the house and mom was mom or mother but I also know that they didn't dare disrespect her in any manner either. Any guesses on what would happen to the lads if they did? LOL!! A trip to the shed?;)


Actually, there was a later episode when Beaver was very disrespectful to June. Although the issue of the "woodshed" was mentioned, in true Cleaver fashion, they worked it out non-violently.

June had a lot of influence over certain issues like appropriate movies for the boys to watch, making them sign a "peace treaty", and insisting that Ward's parenting style was wrong when he let Beaver run away.

I think "Yes, Dad" was reserved for lighter discussions and "Yes, Sir" was for the heavy stuff.

I agree with you. It did seem when they were in some hot water it was more"yes sir". I'm 31 yrs.old so I wasn't from that era but my dad was a Marine and it was the same for me. I would say yes daddy to answer questions and it was yes sir to disciplinary discussions. In response to your mention about Beaver once disrespecting June I do recall that episode where he gives her the silent treatment. I did like it because it was a very realistice episode because it showed a teenage boy rebelling which we don't see much of in LITB,they always come off as "perfect" boys. But I was disappointed by the way they wrote Ward's reaction, yes he mentioned the shed but he spoke a little too nicely to Beaver when he should have been more firm.

At least the boys didn't call Ward "Pop" like Bud on Father Knows Best did.

:lol: :lol: I don't think Ward looked like the "pop" type.