You're the best – Have a fabulous week.

Yes, if your story is in first person, then of course your narrator would refer to his or her parents as Mom and Dad. I.e. "I couldn't believe it. Mom was being such a pain, and Dad still wouldn't let me borrow the car."

But if your story is in third, you need to define "Mom" and "Dad". Again: "Jenny couldn't believe it. Her mom was being such a pain, and her dad still wouldn't let her borrow the car."

If you have an incredibly close third person, you might be able to get away with it more, but my recollection of the entry in question was that it was more like "Jenny couldn't believe it. Mom was being such a pain, and Dad still wouldn't let her borrow the car." Mom is not a proper name, like Martha.

To take an example from a published story, Maureen Johnson's SUITE SCARLETT is written in third person. Even though we're very close to Scarlett, sentences about her parents are written like this: "'I hope that's the one you wanted,' her dad said."

While in Josie Bloss' BAND GEEKED OUT, where Ellie is the narrator of the story, she narrate "Dad would be home soon, too, and then it would be all over."

Does that make sense?

[This may be a personal pet peeve, but "Mom" and "Dad" are not proper names. That is, your narrator is not Michaela, and so the parents are not the narrator's parents, therefore they're not just Mom and Dad.]

So, are you saying that if I'm writing a story in first person then it's fine to have, Mom and Dad like proper names? See, these are the things that keep me up at night, and while they may be little things, it could be something to turn someone off of my novel/query/summary.

Thanks!