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Original poster

Aunties and Uncles...

13 replies

charliecat · 21/12/2006 13:03

How much do your kids have to do with them?
My kids are 9 and 6....my sister(24) took them out for a walk with the dog yesterday, thats the first time, ever, shes took them out, or spent any time with them without me being there..
Before I fell out with my oldest sister I used to look after my nephew all the time, loved him to pieces.
My brother is mentally ill, and has trouble working out why his little sister (me) is so big and my kids are the same age as he remembers me at So they just say Hi to him and not much else really..
Id like to think when my sister has kids I will be able to ravish them often
What about you?

OP posts:

GhostOfMumsnet · 21/12/2006 13:31

My kids love my sister and BIL to bits. They are always round at our house or my kids will sometimes go to them after school. My dc are 3 and 5. We are a very close family and all live within a 5 min walk of each other. BIL is great with the girls, dd2 loves him sooooo much. My sisters will shout up stairs to them when she gets to my house, dd1 will run down to get her dd2 will wait til she says Uncle * is here too.

colditz · 21/12/2006 13:32

Well, they only have my brother nd sister, and they are 21 and 16 respectively, so not much. But I am the oldest by 5 years, and really the only adult, so I have no qualms aabout ringing them up and saying "I need you to come to my house and play with the boys for a couple of hours. I need to clean up. I will give you £5, come at 2pm." And she does. But she only lives a 20 minute walk away.

liquidclocks · 21/12/2006 13:36

My brothers live quite far away but when they do see DS they love him to bits and he adores them - thinks they're the funniest people in the world!

Of course you'll be able to ravish her kids - I'll be doing the same to my nieces/nephews when they come along!

ISawTortoiseKissingSantaClaus · 21/12/2006 13:38

I haven't seen my nephew for a year! He lives with my Sister about 8 miles away. She can drive but we don't really have any contact with each other.She lives a different life to me. I wish i had a better relationship with him.
I don't really think my Sister is bothered about my 4 DC.
I also have a neice in the same town as me but she doesn't know me.My Brother(her Dad) split up with her mum and she stopped him seeing her.

My DC have 2 uncles (my brothers) One is 21 and lives close by now but we very rarely see him and the other one is 12 and lives in Turkey with my Parents.

I'd love a close family.

LieselVonGiftwrapp · 21/12/2006 13:55

My sister and her kids live about 45 mins away, but my BIL and his kids live 5mins down the road and we never see them. DD is much closer to my sister and her kids. My sisters husband is also a lot more attentive to DD than BIL

petunia · 21/12/2006 14:02

DH has a sister and BIL, they have chosen not to have children. We don't see them very often and BIL doesn't like children anyway (always remember how he referred to the children of one of SILs friends who had triplets, that she had "a litter" of children). SIL and BIL don't do anything for DDs but then they don't do anything for anyone if it involves having to make an effort.

My brother isn't married so no children there either. Although I can't call on him to babysit, he loves DDs to bits and will make an effort to talk and play with them when we get together.

REIDnotREEDorREAD · 21/12/2006 14:09

my brother doesnt drive and lives 8 miles away.so i only see him once or twice a week. when ds was first born i was a little upset that he didnt want to hold ds, however ds is now 4 months old and much stronger, my brother now has him all the time!! picks himup and walks around the house with him, ds loves him. not sure why but when ds cries in th car as soon as he sees my brother he is all smiles!

hope they stay close! i dont really have any aunties or uncles that i am close to.

wannaBeOnTopOfTheChristmasTree · 21/12/2006 14:12

My sister lives about a 10 minute walk from my house but we never see each other, not on bad terms or anything we just don?t really see each other. Her kids go to a private nursery that?s a 15 mile drive away so the kids don?t really see each other either. Either of us would look after the other?s kids if required though. My sill ?

Has absolutely no interest in my ds IMO. She?s seen him maybe 10 times since he was born (he?s 4). When he was 10 months old we went to ILs and she was there but paid him no attention. The next day she tried to pick him up and shortly after he started crying (was tired) so I took him upstairs for his nap. After we?d a left a huge row broke out in which we were accused of trying to stop her getting close to him because we ?snatched him away every time she tried to pick him up?, dh pointed out that she had previously shown no interest in him (had seen him twice since his birth and never asked about him on phone etc) and fil accused me of being a bad mother. All good fun ha ha .

Since then she?s seen him a couple of times a year, and when she?s with him she bosses him about ?don?t do that, say please, what?s the magic word ?. Shhhh grown-ups are talking? ? so she annoys me intently. And ds just doesn?t like her, won?t go to her, won?t give her kisses/cuddles if she asks for them when leaving etc, just not interested, so IMO you get back what you put in iykwim. My bil on the other hand (the sil mentioned above?s dh) is fantastic with ds and ds loves him even though he sees him at the same time as he sees sil. Maybe it?s that bil is on the same wavelength as ds but he?s definitely very good with him and will be very good with his own children if they ever have any, but tbh I can?t see it as sil isn?t at all maternal and is too busy focussing on her career.

LoveMyGirls · 21/12/2006 14:14

i see my neices at family do's but dont often see them outside that - (they are officially my step neices if that makes a difference)

my sister see's my kids quite regularly, sometimes takes them out or babysits.

JustUsTwoTurtleDoves · 21/12/2006 14:19

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Troutpout · 21/12/2006 14:21

my kids don't see them much (about 3 times a year)They live down south...we live North
They barely know their Aunties and Uncles

LazycowLyinginaManger · 21/12/2006 14:26

Older sister has no children (won't now as she is nearly 50). My younger sister died when her kids were 6 (niece) and 4 (nephew).

As a result of this, I or my older sister have spent every summer holiday and every Christmas since then flying to Italy (where the they live with their dad) to collect them and fly back to the UK with them. Between us we then spend a good proportion of our holidays with them (they usually stayed with my parents) either in the UK or by flying back to Italy with them and spending time with them there - having them stay with us.

All in all my alder sister and I see ourselves as surroogate mums (in as much as we can be living in another country). We are all incredibly close and now that I have ds (2 years old) my niece (now 15 years old) and nephew (13 years old) are absolutely fantastic with him - it's just a pity they can't see more of him.

clairemow · 21/12/2006 14:34

my brother is great with both DSs, but he lives in Spain, so doesn't see them v. often - but sends presents often and calls to speak to DS on the phone. We have been to visit him on holiday and they love him! DH's bro and sister also live abroad (S Africa and Australia), so the DSs don't see them or their cousins very often either, which is a real shame. We are all here this Xmas though... Carnage approaches.

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