Calling one's parents "mom" or "dad" may become a thing of the past for students at one Manhattan private school, after it issued a guide to its students asking them to use inclusive terms instead.

In its bid to foster inclusivity, Grace Church School, a school that offers courses from junior kindergarten to 12th grade in NoHo, issued a 12-page guide to its students and staff, which explains the school's mission of inclusivity.

The guide discourages the use of traditional terms to refer to one's parents but promotes the use of more inclusive terms. Some of the terms that are discouraged from being used include, "parents," "dad," or "mom." What they promote is the use of terms like "family," "folks," "grown-ups" or even "guardians," New York Post reported.

It also defined the acceptable term that would be used to refer to a nanny or a babysitter. One must refer to them as "caregiver." For husband, wife, boyfriend, or girlfriend, the guide recommends using "spouse," "partner," and "significant other."

The new guide also explained that families are structured in so many ways such that at school, they use inclusive language in order to reflect the diversity.

"Families are formed and structured in many ways. At Grace Church School, we use inclusive language that reflects this diversity. It's important to refrain from making assumptions about who kids live with, who cares for them, whether they sleep in the same place every night, whether they see their parents, etc.," an excerpt from the guide reads.

Aside from recommending terms to refer to parents, the school guide also advised on how to approach subjects relating to race, gender, sexual orientation and ethnicity.

It recommends asking "What is your cultural/ethnic background?" instead of asking "What are you?" Rather than asking "Where are you from?" it recommends asking "Where are your ancestors/is your family from?"

Mom and child Mom and child
Coronavirus outbreak stay-at-home orders may be difficult for kids. Photo: Valeria Ushakova - Pexels

It also included preferred terms or phrases to use for those who are coming out, or for someone who is in a relationship with the same sex. One example is finding oneself in a situation where somebody says, "a boy can't marry a boy" or "a girl can't marry a girl," the ideal response according to the school's guide is to say that people can love and commit to whomever they please.