Someone asked me, from an auntie’s perspective, is there anything I would recommend or advice? Well yes… get a job, be fun, be prepared, learn to love & learn to forget!
A Job
I’d definitely recommend getting a job (if you don’t have one already) these little people are expensive, even when they’re not your own! It’s like going to a top restaurant and wondering how something so small could cost you so much.
Be Prepared
Be prepared for the phone calls from the 4-year old demanding you pick them up because their parents aren’t being kind, you often become personal security guards. Be prepared for the 35-missed facetime calls you get woken up to at 8am on the only day off you’ve had weeks. My advice? Ensure your phone is charged at all times. If you don’t, you create problems you could do without!
Learn To Love
Learn to love the park, (its either you learn to love it or be miserable) it’s likely you’ll spend almost every weekend there. Rain, snow, sleet, you name it. Oh, you thought the weather conditions stopped park trips? So did I. This is when it’s important to remember you’re in fact not in charge. Oh, and hope with all your might that there isn’t a shop near the park. The shopkeepers will know you on a first name basis (considering you won’t be passing it without entering and opening your purse, it would be a shock if they didn’t). That is unless your negotiations skills are better than the “little people”.
Learn To Forget
Forget the word no, it doesn’t exist. And even if it does, the little people don’t hear it. That also goes for “not right now”, “maybe”, “let me think about it”. In fact, all of these really actually mean “yes of course!”, if you didn’t already know.
Be Cool
You are now the cool person in the little person’s life, forget their parents, even if you want to side with the parents it’s against the rules of being an aunt!!
As a whole, I think it’s important to have as little as possible boundaries when you take on an aunty role, it creates a space within a safe relationship for them to explore and have fun. Plus, you develop lifelong best friends! Honestly, I can’t compare any love to it!
Written by my children’s aunt!
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