Non blood related Aunts/Uncles

trinakb

How many of you plan on having friends be "aunt and uncle" to LO? I know some really disagree with having anyone not blood related be considered an Aunt or Uncle.

I am "Auntie" to my best friends 5 year old and I plan on her and her husband being Auntie and Uncle to my LO. I personally think that you can't choose your family and they are people you are stuck with, but you can choose your friends and my friends are so great I think they would be such positive people in my LO's life I would want to give them that title.

Oh and on a different note, do any of you have friends or anyone else in your life who are calling themselves Auntie or Uncle without your permission? There is a lady at work I just recently got friendly with in the last couple of months, we have only hung out once outside of work. She has become so clingy and when i annoucned my pg she started calling herself Auntie Steph, VERY uncomfortable!!!!

LCB34

Several of our good friends will be referred to as Aunt/ Uncle.  No one has given themselves the title though - that would freak me out a bit

koat

A couple friends are "auntie" but mostly we all stick to our names.

sandraanddrew

My best friend will be an aunt to our baby, I've known her since I was 2 (went to daycare together).  I have no sibling and DH only has his twin brother so she will be his only aunt for now.

Brookie-Cookie

I will be Brookie or Mrs.Cookie to friends' kids and I they will be First Name or Mr and Mrs Last Name depending on who it is.

JhawkCE

We never referred to anyone other than our actual aunt's and uncle's as Aunt or Uncle "so and so".   I don't like it, but my friends who have all had kids already call me that to their children.  I'm not really comfortable with it, but I let it slide because I don't want to hurt feelings. 

People have also started calling themselves Aunt and Uncle in reference to my children as well (I've even gotten some of my friend's parents claiming Grandpa and Grandma status.  Again...not really comfortable with it, but I don't want to hurt feelings.  

I was raised on and prefer "Mr./Ms. last name", but as I live in the south now I will concede to Mr/Ms first name.

mysticporter

I'm not a big fan of using aunt/uncle for non-relatives.  We don't with our friends for DD, and haven't had anyone start calling themselves that.  Actually, I can't think of any of our friends that have their children call us Aunt/Uncle, but we don't have a ton of friends nearby with kids.

AmandaAndTj

Our best friends (a gay couple) will be called "Uncle ..." They are really more like family anyway tho. They are actually picking up their lives and trying to move to our city just to be close to LO. They also bought all of our nursery furniture. SO yeah, we're close.

Wendy525

I'm Chinese and our kids call everyone who is older and non-related Auntie or Uncle as a sign of respect for elders. Those who are older than yourself but younger than "Aunt/Uncle" status are called big sister or big brother in chinese. Direct relatives have very specific Aunt or Uncle names, depending on how they are related and in what order they were born in the family.

renc9828

Just my best friend. She is an only child so this is her moment to be "Auntie"! Plus she is so supportive, I don't know what I would do without her!

JillAly

Sounds like my family is a lot like yours.  I'm "stuck" with certain relatives I'd rather not have and who ds will never or rarely see. On the other hand, we have 5 family friends who see my son all the time, buy him holiday/birthday gifts and are much more like family.  They are all being called aunt/uncle.  I wouldn't do it for random friends but for people who are like family- absolutely.

As for it being confusing, kids don't understand family trees at young ages.  They're not looking at bloodlines.  They just know when certain people show up, they're people who are so important to us that they get "aunt" or "uncle" in front of their name.  The rest can be explained at an older age.

LovinLife10

My DH and I share the same BF (guy) his fiance and him will be Auntie and Uncle but no other non blood person will be. They are as close to blood as it gets and we never thought about not having them be anything else. DH nor I never ahd non blood aunts and uncles though

CityGirl07

Personally I am not a fan, probably because I didn't grow up with that. One of DHs friends refers to us as aunt & uncle when talking to his kid, but kid can't talk yet.

I have one friend who was a real peach when I got married and has pretty much been a terrible friend ever since then. When I told her I was expecting she said "I can't wait to be Auntie G!" Um, not a chance.

Karibride

We have 3 sets of friends that are Auntie and Uncle. DD is not confused by it at all. She knows all of their names and sometimes says, "Auntie So and So" and other times she just uses their first name. We don't push it either way and figure she will call them what she wants when she is older. My parent's best friends are Auntie and Uncle to me and I was never confused growing up. I still call their kids my cousins even though we are all grown up.

PubStar09

CityGirl07:

Personally I am not a fan, probably because I didn't grow up with that. One of DHs friends refers to us as aunt & uncle when talking to his kid, but kid can't talk yet.

I have one friend who was a real peach when I got married and has pretty much been a terrible friend ever since then. When I told her I was expecting she said "I can't wait to be Auntie G!" Um, not a chance.

This. It weirds me out when people call non-related people Aunt/Uncle.

MarknCalsMommy

My BFF is Auntie Amber...not really sure yet if we call her husband Uncle Joey or not...we're not quite as close to him.  But we are close enough that I think they will be godparents to this one, so I guess he'd have earned it.

The rest of my friends it's just first name basis.  If someone gets really close and begins acting like an Aunt or Uncle, maybe, but they'd have had to have been in our lives (DH and mine) for a really long time first.

giaM28

3ppl will be aunts/uncles. one ive known since i was born (she was my neighbor growing up) and the other is my BFF from JHS and his wife.

i have one friend that INSISTS she be called Aunt...but shes crazy if she thinks that is happening.