{"id":433,"date":"2025-07-26T11:12:11","date_gmt":"2025-07-26T18:12:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.babyoftheyear.org\/?p=433"},"modified":"2025-07-28T14:20:41","modified_gmt":"2025-07-28T21:20:41","slug":"5-things-ive-learned-about-being-a-new-aunt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.babyoftheyear.org\/5-things-ive-learned-about-being-a-new-aunt\/","title":{"rendered":"Guest Post: 5 Things I\u2019ve Learned Being a New Aunt"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Baby <\/span><\/p>\n

New aunt here! Well, not exactly. My oldest niece is a teenager and my youngest is a toddler, but I only recently moved to the same city and came into their lives. While I used to see them once a year, now I see them once a week. Here are five things I\u2019ve learned about being an aunt.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Be a good example<\/span><\/h3>\n

Alright, this is a little obvious, right? But I didn\u2019t realize kids are total copycats. Even though it seems like they only copy the bad things (hello, that one time I accidentally cursed in front of my two-year-old niece and she repeated it for weeks), they see the good things too. They see when you help with the dishes without being asked, or on an even more basic level, how you treat other people. I nearly died the first time my toddler niece thanked me with no prompt whatsoever.<\/span><\/p>\n

Be Mindful of Yeses and Nos\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

I sure have to say no an awful lot, so whenever I can say yes to something, I do it. You want to wear a tutu? It\u2019s thirty degrees outside, but sure. Wear it. And then we can change into pants when you get cold. Who cares? But on that same note, I try to respect the heck out of their nos. When kids learn early on that their no doesn\u2019t carry any weight, it has big people-pleasing ramifications later in life. So I\u2019m working on respecting their boundaries, even if it means I don\u2019t get a hug from the cutest little human around.<\/span><\/p>\n

Give Compliments<\/span><\/h3>\n

This one is really cool. I\u2019ve seen it happen: giving my nephew a compliment and watching him embody that quality even more. Even just little things. Give a kid a compliment, give them the courage to be a good person, and watch them rise up.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Google modern slang<\/span><\/h3>\n

I personally cannot keep up with youth lingo these days, and I have to legitimately look up what a word means to see if someone needs to be grounded. These little dudes either lie about it when asked or don\u2019t know what it actually means; I haven\u2019t decided which. When in doubt, Google modern slang<\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Allow them time and space to be heard<\/span><\/h3>\n

I\u2019ve learned to just sit and listen, allowing them space to express themselves without being dismissed. That\u2019s how you get to their hearts. I admit it takes a lot of patience, especially when my nephew wants to explain the difference between his identical baseball cards, but it\u2019s worth it. It\u2019s a really special thing to be received by someone, really truly heard.<\/span><\/p>\n

By: Emily Miller<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

New aunt here! Well, not exactly. My oldest niece is a teenager and my youngest is a toddler, but I only recently moved to the same city and came into…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":436,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"powerkit_post_featured":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-433","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-uncategorized"},"yoast_head":"\nGuest Post: 5 Things I\u2019ve Learned Being a New Aunt<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A new aunt shares lessons on being an aunt: setting examples, respecting boundaries, and truly listening to nieces and nephews.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Guest Post: 5 Things I\u2019ve Learned Being a New Aunt\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A new aunt shares lessons on being an aunt: setting examples, respecting boundaries, and truly listening to nieces and nephews.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/blog.babyoftheyear.org\/5-things-ive-learned-about-being-a-new-aunt\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Baby of the Year Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-07-26T18:12:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-07-28T21:20:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/blog.babyoftheyear.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/omar-lopez-_H1ZmUzwp9w-unsplash-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1707\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"AMP\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"AMP\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.babyoftheyear.org\/5-things-ive-learned-about-being-a-new-aunt\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/blog.babyoftheyear.org\/5-things-ive-learned-about-being-a-new-aunt\/\",\"name\":\"Guest Post: 5 Things I\u2019ve Learned Being a New Aunt\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.babyoftheyear.org\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.babyoftheyear.org\/5-things-ive-learned-about-being-a-new-aunt\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.babyoftheyear.org\/5-things-ive-learned-about-being-a-new-aunt\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/blog.babyoftheyear.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/omar-lopez-_H1ZmUzwp9w-unsplash-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-07-26T18:12:11+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-07-28T21:20:41+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.babyoftheyear.org\/#\/schema\/person\/61df0b892dcc85074c7ea9160412fc4b\"},\"description\":\"A new aunt shares lessons on being an aunt: setting examples, respecting boundaries, and truly listening to nieces and nephews.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.babyoftheyear.org\/5-things-ive-learned-about-being-a-new-aunt\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/blog.babyoftheyear.org\/5-things-ive-learned-about-being-a-new-aunt\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.babyoftheyear.org\/5-things-ive-learned-about-being-a-new-aunt\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/blog.babyoftheyear.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/omar-lopez-_H1ZmUzwp9w-unsplash-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/blog.babyoftheyear.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/omar-lopez-_H1ZmUzwp9w-unsplash-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1707,\"caption\":\"Baby of the Year - 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