Are you a good aunt? Or a bad aunt?

[pbray]

There are two kinds of aunts in this world. The kind that buys electronic toys that make annoying squeaking noises...

and the kind that buys those toys and remembers to buy the required batteries. In this case a double pack, to ensure hours of enjoyment.

Comments

[naomikritzer]

Many years ago, when my brother was about three years old, my then-childless Uncle Jeff and Aunt Sue gave him a firetruck. The firetruck required no intervention beyond being turned on and set loose: it would zoom off with a loud siren until it hit an obstacle, at which point it would back up two feet with a loud BEEP BEEP BEEP, spin around, and zoom off again.

My brother loved it. He got to keep it until the batteries died, at which point my parents pulled their "OMG, batteries are soooooooooooo expensive" song and dance and confiscated it as soon as he'd forgotten about it.

But they didn't throw it away, mind you. Some years later -- quite a few, actually -- Jeff and Sue had a child, also a little boy. And one day when he was about three years old and we went down to Chicago for a visit, my father had a present for him, alllllllllllll polished up and outfitted with a brand new set of Duracell alkaline batteries. My uncle looked at the firetruck and said, horrified, "You didn't."

"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh, I did," my father said. "Yes, I did."

This is the kind of clever revenge that can be easily foiled by aunts and uncles who never have children, but alas, the only uncle who remained childless failed to realize the potential for annoying his sister and never gave us that sort of toy.

[pbray.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the odds of me spawning are fairly low, so I should be safe from revenge. The trick is to choose toys that are just on the borderline of unforgivably annoying, so that they still let me sleep inside the house when I visit.

[janni.livejournal.com]

Good aunts uncap magic markers for their nephews.

Bad aunts teach their nephews how to uncap magic markers on their own. :-)

[pbray.livejournal.com]

Precisely.

I walk a fine line--I need to be suitably inspirational, yet ensure that when I visit I'm allowed to sleep in the house, as opposed to being staked out in the backyard....

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

as opposed to being staked out in the backyard....

And this is the Florida-based family? So, like, fire ants.

[pbray.livejournal.com]

Precisely. Fort Lauderdale, in summer heat/humidity. Need to stay on their good side so I can sleep in the bug-free A/C.

[janni.livejournal.com]

That's it exactly.

Fortunately, I like 2500 miles away, so there's time for them to forget between visits. (Which are in January usually. In Albany. Not a pleasant time to be staked out in the yard either!)

[allaboutm-e.livejournal.com]

It varies. Mostly I think I am a good aunt. Sometimes I am the sort of aunt who is secretly taking revenge on my sister for her bad aunt period... :)

[pbray.livejournal.com]

I just can't wait till the kids are old enough to figure out that they can call (or e-mail) Aunty Papisha to request things that the parents have said "No" to.

[jjschwabach.livejournal.com]

Isn't that the entire point of Aunthood?

[pbray.livejournal.com]

Really it is.