“Being a good aunt taught me to be a good person, there will never be any other lesson important enough than that,” said Mary Flores, an aunt of more than 10 niblings – a gender neutral term for a person’s niece or nephew – who has helped raise all of them into the good people they are today. Flores uses her knowledge of having her own children to raise and teach her siblings and cousins children.
In this day in age, aunts and uncles aren’t credited enough. Whether they babysit their niblings for free or they raise them themselves, piblings – a gender neutral term for parents siblings – have become very important in the family tree. There are many aspects to benign a good nibbling, but the most important one is to have patience. Be patient whenever your niece throws a tantrum in public or, when your nephew breaks your favorite vase. With patience, you teach them to be calm and understand whether what they did or are doing is needed at that moment. Another important step is to create boundaries for them. Having boundaries not only teaches your niblings responsibility, it teaches them to create boundaries outside of your own family, preparing them for future relationships.
“I notice that the babies are always watching what you do, and when they watch they copy. I remember your brother fell and I started to laugh and Darleidy (my niece), she started to laugh with me instead of running around like she usually did. It’s important to watch what you do with them around, they are always watching and copying everything,” said Flores, recalling the skills she had to remember to become a good aunt.
It’s important to know how to talk to or be a role model for the new generation, especially if you’re family. It helps them grow into empathetic men and women who can say they were raised right. These steps can be used for every occasion; niblings need to be taught lessons every step of their way to help them remember and be better. The new generation can be a handful, but we can always support them by just being there for them and teaching them a couple of lessons. A present family member will always leave a mark on a child or adolescent no matter what the reason was. Follow these steps and your niblings will forever appreciate how awesome you are!