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I get to see my niece next weekend and am so excited!!! This comic is by the wonderful Grace Farris.
P.S. Weekend lady and pillows for aunts.
Types of Aunts
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Youngest of 5 and in my 40s, I’m the wild child single aunt who loves all 16 of my siblings’ kids but gush over my 6 nieces. We recently took a large family photo and did breakout photos of each family. I was like, yeah I don’t need a picture of me standing alone in a field thanks. So I asked the photographer for a family photo of me and all my nieces instead. Guess which photo got blown up the same size as the whole family photo and hung up in my parents house? Me and the girls. I love it so much! (It’s in my house too)
Oh my gosh I love this! I totally relate. I’m the lone child free person in my family. I have 5 nieces and nephews (all 6 and under!) and I love them all but I am especially close to my nieces.
I was gifted a photo of me and all of the kids a few years ago, in a nice frame, and it’s one of my most prized possessions! I look at it every day. Being an aunt is such a fun job.
I just have to comment to say that I bought a calendar illustrated by Grace Farris today! So exciting. It’s one of the “mom organiser” ones where you write in your family members across the top. I usually get that type but it’s never been as beautiful and fun as this one! Grace, I LOVE it 💓
Being an aunt is my favorite role and Auntie is my favorite word! I am not a rich auntie but I will show up for you and love you big. My email address auntietruck is from when my nephew, Eli called me by his favorite toy (and one of the few words he could say at the time)… a TRUCK! Although at 1-year old, it sounded more like “tah-ruck” and hearing him say it to call me brought me such joy!
Can we add a “I’ll be there!” aunt? I am a combination of all the aunts in the drawing but the thing I’m most proud of is that I’m around. Mini-mite hockey tournament? I’m at the boards cheering. Preschool Christmas concert? Yep! Need something from Target drive up? No problem.
Amy, what a GEM of a human -and aunt- you are! It sounds like you really show up for your people in a meaningful way – I know they appreciate it so much <3
This made me tear up. I hope my kiddos somehow have an aunt like you!!
This is so cute!!
I wish I was an aunt! I wish my kids had an aunt! I didn’t mind being an only child as a child, but honestly this part kinda sucks now. My husband has an unmarried brother, but there are no aunts or cousins.
I can’t have kids – luckily my nieces and nephew are the Absolute Best Kids Ever. Sadly they live 10,248 miles away so I only get to see them every 18 months or so. I have therefore determined that, when I visit, I am Aunty That Will Always Say YES!!! To Trips To Get Ice Cream as I’m pretty sure that’s the fastest way to their little hearts. I will also hug the heck out of them, with their permission.
I’m just back from a trip to see them and, inspired by this blog, took Uno along with me. We played almost every day and I taught my nieces important life skills, like how to shuffle a deck of cards like a pro, and how to congratulate the winner in the manner of an 18th century gentleman. I miss them already!
I became an aunt of three kids when I married my husband two years ago, and so have been easing in to the relationship since we only see them 1-2 times a year. This Christmas, though, the youngest (7) spent hours and hours asking me questions about science and history, which I delighted in answering, and at the end of the week he declared that we were twins and I was his favorite because I’m “nice and smart and make funny jokes.” Be still, my heart!
I am all of them. We are child free and I have one 8yo niece who just left after having a sleepover here last night. We got her into sushi, so we always go out for that when she stays over. The. We have random conversations about whether turtles have belly buttons, the concept of brain plasticity and imagine a gas station which is really a store for farts and burps. I’m so sad when she leaves
My sis is the curator aunt AND an actual curator! I love how even though she has a busy career when I stop by the museum with my kiddos she always comes down to see us or even brings the horde into her office and lets them rearrange her cool arty magnets on a bank of file cabinets. They love art and are comfortable in an art museum at 6, 3, and 1 thanks to their lovely aunt!
My sister (and only sibling) is pregnant and I’m going to be an Aunt! I mean, technically I’m already an aunt, and I have five kids of my own. But my sister is having her first baby!! And I’m so excited to have a baby, not mine, that I will get to love and cuddle and see all the time :-) and then give back!
I’m the trying to play it cool with gifs and emojis while texting tween niece with new phone aunt. Also the “oh books again?!?” at Christmas time aunt.
Trying to live up to my favorite aunt who made me biscuits with jam every summer and floated with me on the raft one summer at the lake house when I’d had too much of my mom and listened to me talk. She and my uncle divorced a few years later and then she died of pancreatic cancer, but she’s still my fav relative. Never doubt the power of being an aunt!
I’m the curator aunt. My niece will be 10 months old in three days (wow), and I have a painting she made for Thanksgiving framed (though I have not hung it up).
I became an aunt at 17 (I’m the youngest of six kids). I absolutely love it!! I had 10 more niblings before I had my own kids. I am so happy that I got to be an aunt for so long before having my own. I created wonderful relationships with them & it is very helpful to have my siblings be experienced parents for when I need advice- especially with the teen years closing in!!
where’s the low energy aunt?? love to be around my nephew but I can’t fake or match that kid energy for the life of me lol.
hahaha this. I totally expected to see that type of aunt up there. I prefer couch aunt – bring the activities to me and we can hang out on the couch and do them
New Year’s Eve I was the aunt to coach my young adult niece through her first alcohol binge and make sure her choices were wise-ish and that she slept it off in a safe place. Her live-texts rating the likability of various concoctions was a little bit comical and a little bit concerning. Happy to receive her sharing, though. I felt trusted. She got home in one piece the next day. Win-win.
I really love this. Congrats on being awesome.
I had multiple children, including a mentally handicapped child, before I became an aunt. The sad result is that I win “least favorite aunt”. I’m so swamped with caring for my own kids, I can’t spare any time or money for my adorable nieces and nephews. I can only handle being a mom.
Rachel, someday when they are faced with their own adult responsibilities, they will recall you and your fortitude. That right there is a huge gift.
I bet they love you so much. We are always so hard on ourselves!
Hey Rachel, I’m sure that’s hard. I’m a mom and an aunt and feel like I don’t have any resources left for my siblings kids. BUT as I read the comic I thought of my favorite aunt who has five of her own kids including one with Down syndrome. She didn’t have a lot of time or money to spend on nieces or nephews when we were growing up but she made me feel special in the way she praised me, asked questions, acted interested in me and made me feel important. And I think the confidence and love she gave me were even better than gifts or trips to the mall, etc. Having someone besides your parents rooting for you feels awesome when you’re an insecure kid/teenager. This is inspiring me to be a better aunt even if it doesn’t include sending gifts, paying for activities and doing all the things I would like to do.
I bet they adore you, though! you don’t have to do much to be a great aunt, just love them. :) three of my aunts lived an ocean away when I was growing up, but when I did see them, their big smiles and hugs made me feel so loved, like I was part of this safe network. it meant so much to me. we never did anything one-on-one, but that didn’t matter.
Thank you Joanna and everyone! I really appreciate your words. I’m going to keep thinking about them as I try to re-frame my thinking around myself as an aunt.
I needed this question and all the answers – thank you. I don’t have kids but my partner has a debilitating chronic illness that needs a lot of care, and that plus working means I have very little capacity to be the cool aunt for my nieces and nephews. I do try to shower them with approval and acceptance whenever I see them. Thank you all for the reminder that that’s enough.
I’m the aunt with all sons who swoons over my nieces doing all the things my boys wan’t do with me! A trip to the mall? Those crazy nails your mom won’t pay for? See the Eras movie 6 times? Auntie is there for all of it.
I think I’m all of these, plus “getting chocolate milk” aunt and “watching nephew play video games” aunt.
Best ever!
I’m an ‘I’ve Got You Auntie’! For all the childfree aunties out there, highly recommend checking out Rachel Cargle’s “Rich Auntie Supreme” community on Instagram. Part of what I love about being childfree is having emotional and financial abundance to take care of the babies and parents in my life. My husband and I are setting up a high-yield savings account for our nephew’s first birthday, in which we’ll make deposits for his birthdays and celebrations. When I’m in town his mother (my sister) never pays. We’re already excited to sponsor his music lessons and flights to visit us in California. Being an auntie is the best!
This is amazing! Growing up, my parents had very little money, but I had a “rich aunt” who paid for all of my very expensive dance classes, and my life would be sooo different if I didn’t have that outlet. I think of her as my fairy godmother.
Thanks for sharing, Laura! Following now. It really helped reading Motherhood to help with the decision, and this community will help keep it alive.
I’m definitely the woo aunt who regularly gifts her niblings crystals and Tarot decks :-)
Right on; I’m Orb Oprah for these kids. “YOU get a sphere, and YOU get a sphere, and YOU get a sphere!”
I love when aunties who have their own kids still strive to have a personal intimate bond with their nieces/nephews! I have some aunts that do this and some that view their nieces and nephews as competition to their own children 😭
Being an aunt–best job in the world!
BLESS the high energy aunties. My SIL will run for hours with my energetic boys. My fav is a photo of her competing “ninja warrior style” on the jungle gym playground.
I never sought motherhood but I COULD.NOT. WAIT. TO.BE.AN.AUNT. Life has gifted me with two nieces and I can’t get enough! It’s so rewarding to feel a special connection with a little person with a growing personality. Hearing their little voice when they unexpectedly call you, having them ask you questions about the world because they are shy to ask their parents, or being emotionally vulnerable in ways that only a child can. I don’t think any of my other relationships feel this tender.
I became an aunt for the first time TODAY! I’ve read Cup of Jo on Fridays since 2018, so the happy coincidence of this post feels extra special. Thanks for sharing your talents, Grace!
Congrats! Hope it is as wonderful for you as it is for me (only 4 years in!)
Aww, congrats! I’m not quite two years in to being an aunt, and it’s the best, most fulfilling part of my life.
I’m Croons David Bowie to the Babies and Makes Sure Everyone Has Matching Skeleton Suits Aunt. Skeleton is the new neutral!
YES! Never too young to be exposed to the classics. :)
Auntie – best job in the world!
The feeling of wanting to eat the nibling is called cute aggression! In Tagalog the word is gigil and it’s considered a love language especially for great-aunts and grandmas.
Our Lola always does this ❤️
It’s called kashi in Telugu and I am deeply familiar with it, on both the giving and receiving end haha :)
Aww. I am the first three. But have literally never wanted to eat a baby, lol.
agree, I don’t get that at all.
Oh this is so cute. One of my three sisters had a baby last year (first in the family) and now my other sisters and I are going crazy aunting 😂 we are all very different and I feel like my niece got three awesome fun aunts! I am as excited for me as I am for the little one.
This reminds me of this classic Onion article that came out right when my bestie had a baby :) “Aunt Threatens To Devour Helpless Newborn’s Toes”
https://www.theonion.com/aunt-threatens-to-devour-helpless-newborns-toes-1819569387
Hahahahaha!
Haha
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