I know it is said affectionately, but I just didn't like it. In fact, I don't even start to like it. I mean those parents who call their daughters "chochete" and their sons "pichilla", or some variant that comes to say the same.
Last year I said goodbye to Aran at the door of the school and the father of a girl in his class, a 3-year-old girl, told him as he left, turning, and in front of other parents and the teacher "See you later, little pussy ! " No one said anything, obviously, but honestly, I felt a little bad for the girl, for being affectionately reduced to that, to be a little pig.
A matter of integrity and respect
If you saw a couple in the street call to the shout of "Chocho, come, look at this!" or "Picha (or dick, even worse), come!", surely everyone around would feel uncomfortable. If I called my wife like that in public, I would surely say anything but pretty, and if I called her in private ... well, it depends on the moment, of course, but it doesn't come out in intimate moments either because It seems to me little to value a person reducing it to their genitals, Miriam is much more than that.
It is a matter of integrity, of valuing children for something more than for their vulva or their penis, of calling them by name, that for that we put it, or for a kinder substitute such as love, heart or life, that can be used for a lifetime without suddenly being offensive.
Even when?
Because, how long is it done? At what age does it stop making sense to call them that? It may seem more or less normal, or better to say that I can understand it as usual, that a 3-year-old girl is called chochito or chochete, but when she is 10, 14 or 17 years old, for example, what would we think of her father If he called her the same way? "Goodbye chochete!" Is that I don't think it was funny or even the girl herself.
So, I don't know why we do it, why boys are pigeons and girls are chochetes. Men are much more than our penis, women are much more than their vulva and when it comes down to that we ask for more respectOr do we not criticize the absurdity of advertisements with women making vicious faces with ridiculous poses? Because if they were still announcing something related to sex, it could be understood that they were used as sexual objects, but when they are sitting on the hood of a car or defending a brand of clothing or a drink, the relationship cannot be seen.
That's why I think we should treat our children in a more respectful way, so they feel valued for who they are and not because of what they have between their legs, valued for what they do, for what we love them, for how happy we are with them, ... and for being our "affection", our "lives", our "hearts", or for simply being Laura, María, Miguel, Juan, Paula, Laura, Angel, David, Claudia, Marcos, ...
UPGRADE: Thanks to the comments I have learned that adults are also called that way and that it is not something that is done only with children. This is for me a sign that it is something more harmless than I thought, which is done especially in southern Spain. I still don't like it, but my level of tolerance towards it is now higher. Thank you all for your comments, because that way we all enrich ourselves.
