Sometimes aunties get a bad rap. They’re the ones we moms blame for buying noisy gifts and filling the kids with sugar before swanning off to their child-free life and leaving us to deal with the consequences. But are they really all that bad? We asked our #RealityMoms about the childless aunts in their lives…and we found out that they actually are pretty important members of the family.
My dad’s aunt never had any kids (whether that was by choice or not, I’ll never know), but even before my grandfather’s death when my dad and his sister were fourteen, she was an integral member of the family. And it continued when my dad and his sister had kids. She’d come babysit, and she was the first one my parents went to when one of us was sick on a school/work day. I spent many a day on her couch watching game shows and eating ice cream. And I’m just as lucky to have my youngest sister in my life—although she likely won’t be childless forever—I hope that she’ll have a similar impact on my kids’ lives. (Lola, Editor RealityMoms)
My dad has seven sisters. Several of them helped with my siblings and I growing up—either before they had their own kids or a few never did. I am still close to most of them. (Britt Burleigh LeBough, These Boys of Mine)
I have three good friends who don’t have children. They always show up for my kids: with gifts, time and love. One of them came along on our first international trip with a kid—our son was four months old and she spent hours rocking him to sleep. Suzette Widdison Iverson, Travel with Monsters)
Funny story, I was in a Five Below the other day and I saw a mom and a dad looking for their little boy. They found him with a woman they obviously knew. She had placed several items in his hands that she was clearly going to get him. His parents remarked, “What are you getting all that for?” I took one look at her and said “You must be the auntie?” she laughed and said “Yes!” They were still laughing as I walked away I heard the parents say to one another “How did she KNOW?!” (Aunties LOVE to spoil!) (Tonia L. Clark, Why Not Mom)
