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At the store the other day, a toddler walked by and called me おじさん. I know
this is a generic "mister" for children toward middle-aged adults. I'm
wondering if there's an equivalent generic word for adults toward children?
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2015-06-08T02:09:34.207
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2015-06-08T16:41:07.027
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question
names
Generic title for children?
There are several generic word for children, and we can call toddlers like:

`ぼく (Only for boys, popular)`

`わたし (Not only but especially for girls)`

Example:

> ぼくはどこからきたの? (Where did you come from?)
>
> ぼく/わたしのおなまえは? (What's your name?)

Additionally, for schoolchildren (older than toddlers), we can call them
`[君]{きみ}`. Usage of `君` is really wide. With `君`, you can call persons younger
than you.

Example:

> [君]{きみ}はどこから[来]{き}たの? (Where did you come from?)

## EDIT

### Robert's question

Q. `ぼく would sound as if I was referring to myself.`

Why Japanese people call toddler boy `ぼく` is that, the usage of original `僕`,
a FIRST person pronoun, had been varied in long Japanese history.

Some SECOND person pronouns are imported from first person pronouns. Examples
are: `お[前]{まえ}`, `[手前]{てまえ} (てめえ)`. Case of `ぼく` can also be applied to this,
but this is a special case anyway. You can say `ぼく` only for toddler boys.

### Some additional suggestion

As you can read in comments, `お[兄]{にい}ちゃん` and `お[姉]{ねえ}ちゃん` can be used in
some case but it can't be used for toddlers. `[坊]{ぼう}や` is more suitable for
this _toddler_ case. `[坊主]{ぼうず}` sounds funny and can also be used but it
sounds rough.

## See also

[Wikipedia -
日本語の一人称代名詞](http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%97%A5%E6%9C%AC%E8%AA%9E%E3%81%AE%E4%B8%80%E4%BA%BA%E7%A7%B0%E4%BB%A3%E5%90%8D%E8%A9%9E)

[Wikipedia -
日本語の二人称代名詞](http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%97%A5%E6%9C%AC%E8%AA%9E%E3%81%AE%E4%BA%8C%E4%BA%BA%E7%A7%B0%E4%BB%A3%E5%90%8D%E8%A9%9E)
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2015-06-08T02:45:16.903
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2015-06-08T15:42:19.870
2020-06-17T08:18:27.500
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answer