Why do you think Donnie has never called Splinter father?
 

Throughout the series, majority of the turtles have called Splinter by some paternal nickname. Leo and Raph have called Splinter father off and on throughout the series.

Mikey manages to choke out "Papa" when Splinter is murdered.

Donnie is the only turtle who has never called Splinter by any sort of paternal name or title ever. It's always been respectful, Sensei, Master, or Master Splinter.

I think the reason Donnie never called Splinter father or dad or whatever because he feels he needs a teacher figure more then he needs a parental figure.

What do you guys think?

I think he would've definetly called him Father, just off-screen. I don't think it made his relationship to Splinter different from any of the other turtles.

Assuming this is accurate, I would just think it's a matter of "chance" that he didn't. You know, like, the writers just so happened to never write it that way. I don't think it was meant to be some subtle nod to him having a different relationship with him or anything like that at all.

I doubt Donnie's relationship was different from the others. He knew and understood Splinter was their father as he does say "Sensei, we're your sons!" when they find him in a feral minded state.

But emotionally didn't really feel he required a parental figure in his life. It's kinda like children who refer to their parents by their given names like they would a friend rather than calling them by the parental sobriquet.

The way I see it, with Donatello being the smartest of the bunch, he knows that Splinter isn't his actual father because they all were hatched in a Turtle Breeding center and that his actual parents were two Diamondback Terrapin turtles.
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Related to that, he also knows that there is a distinct possibility that the others aren't from the same badge of eggs, so they aren't technically brothers for real.

But he's also smart enough to know not to mention that to Splinter or the other turtles because you never should jeopardize a good thing if you have it.

Oh, so this is a Headcanon thread.

As I stated, it's just the way I see it.

It's probably just an oversight.

Well he was the adoptive father to the Ninja Turtles and they referred to him as master.

Some kids don't refer to their parents as mom or dad but by their real name, I don't think there's any deeper explanation needed then that.

Is this common?

I've personally never witnessed any person addressing their parents by name. Even some adults would affectionately call their dad "my old man" or something like that, but I never knew people would use their real names.

My second youngest brother calls my dad by his first name, and lead singer in Ninja Sex Party Danny Sexbang calls his parents by first name and his grandma is called mom

I've called my parents by their first names since I was a kid.

For some reason, I'm not surprised. A 4 year old referring to his parents by their first name may be the one of the most CyberCubed things a 4 year old can do.

Along with insisting "I swear I was 3 just like yesterday, this is crazy."

As well as "Supergirl makes my wee wee feel funny."

I actually know someone who did that. I'm not going to say too much about him but he is a bit of an oddball in general.

To be fair, I almost certainly said the same damn thing at that age.

I also don't know anyone who calls their parents by their names either. Maybe some people out there do, but not the majority. Now, step-parents, I'm gonna guess most people that have step-parents call them by their names.

I can't help but think of Bart Simpson just calling his dad "Homer", always.