The greatest perk of being the youngest child of the family (aside from arguably being the most spoiled) is having older siblings who give you some of the greatest gifts in the world! No, not the handmedowns, but those tiny humans we call our nieces and nephews. The simple fact that these children are not actually yours makes them five times cooler.
1. No permanent responsibilities with the baby but they’re still yours to show off.
Every time they visit, the child is all over your Snapchat story for your friends to drool over. It’s the first rule of Being An Aunt 101 t hat you must take pictures and videos with your nieces and nephews to grace the world with all of their sleepy faces and adorable giggles. This is also prime time for teaching them how to take awesome selfies. Fair warning: your friends will be jealous.
2. Being an aunt is all adventure.
You get to take your nieces and nephews to do all the fun stuff like seeing elephants at the zoo, swinging at the park, and swimming in the pool. You get to leave all the boring things such as naps and doctors visits to the real adults to take care of.
3. You become one of the favorites.
Yes, they’re always going to want their mom or dad, but you’re the super cool one who doesn’t put them in timeout. You probably let them get away with more than their parents, because let’s be honest, who can be mad when they look up at you with those big baby eyes? They’ll also look up to you to teach them things. Whether you realize it or not, they’re always absorbing what you’re doing. Drop the F-bomb once, and it’s the only word they’ll say the rest of the day.
4. Having nieces and nephews means endless hugs and kisses.
It’s a fact that kids give the best hugs because they always make you smile. Not only do you get to squeeze and smooch the little ones, but you can also chase them and tickle them and they ask you to kiss their booboos when they fall down.
5. Practice for your own children.
Sure it’s all fun and games, but practicing a diaper change or a bottle-feeding every now and then never hurt anyone. Having nieces and nephews is practice for taking care of your own children in the future – the very, very distant future. Learning a couple things before having your own baby could only be beneficial.
Although waiting nine months seems like torture, and hours in a hospital waiting room seem like days, those little bundles of joy are worth every bit of it. If you’re not careful, they’ll steal your heart.
