Pet peeve, sister's kids call niece aunt

[Anonymous]

I just find it weird. My sister has her kids call my niece Aunt So and so. My kids always give me the look and ask why thier cousins call,their other cousin Aunt.

Do other families do this?

[Anonymous]

Have you asked your sister why she does this? That's probably the best place to get an answer for your kids about why your sister does this.

.

[Anonymous]

What age are the kids and the niece?

[Anonymous]

How old is your niece?

[Anonymous]

Is the niece older? Your sister may think it seems more respectful. What does your niece say about it?

[Anonymous]

I have a cousin who is the same generation as my parents and I call her Aunt L, but she has informed my parents that she finds this highly insulting. So I try to remember to call her Cousin L.

[Anonymous]

Niece is thirty, younger nieces and nephews are 7-11. I have a thirteen year old. It is just wierd. I think my sister wants to feel young.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Niece is thirty, younger nieces and nephews are 7-11. I have a thirteen year old. It is just wierd. I think my sister wants to feel young.

I think it sounds fine to call a 30 year old niece "Aunt" when you are 7-13. Does the niece mind, or just your children?

[Anonymous]

My father was raised with his cousins. I call them Aunt/Uncle, and I call their parents (my great aunt and uncle) grandma and grandpa.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Niece is thirty, younger nieces and nephews are 7-11. I have a thirteen year old. It is just wierd. I think my sister wants to feel young.

I think it sounds fine to call a 30 year old niece "Aunt" when you are 7-13. Does the niece mind, or just your children?

I think it's just the OP that minds. Honestly, OP, there are tons of cultures that refer to older adults as aunts or uncles regardless if they're even related. Just let it go. (And get over whatever resentments you have stewing against your sister.)

[Anonymous]

Given that niece is 30, they're probably doing it as a respect thing.

Our house rules are that adults need to be addressed by a title of some sort, not just first name. "Cousin Jane" is not really something common to actually call someone in this country (cousin is not really a title that is spoken in the same way grandma/grandpa, aunt/uncle are) but "Ms. firstname" or "Ms. lastname" seems too formal if they have a close relationship. For us, "Aunt" is a kind of all-purpose title for an adult with whom my kids have a close relationship and no other title that would be more appropriate, in addition to being a title for the actual blood/legal relationship.

If I became aware that one of my DD's aunts was offended by this usage, however, I would instruct the girls to address fictive-aunts as "auntie" instead in order to differentiate between the two and honor our true blood or legal kin with the distinction.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Niece is thirty, younger nieces and nephews are 7-11. I have a thirteen year old. It is just wierd. I think my sister wants to feel young.

Meow.

Get over it. Worry about if they have a close and loving relationship, not what they call each other.

[Anonymous]

Lol, my dh does this sort of thing and it bugs me too! Yesterday he told ds that my cousin was ds' nephew... How he came to this conclusion is beyond me. All it did was confuse ds, so I said the boy (who is close in age to ds) was my cousin, but he could be his cousin too. But nephew? Come on....

[Anonymous]

Hmmm. On my side of the family, everyone that is an "adult' is an aunt or uncle (even if the technical relationship is cousin or second cousin once removed or whatever). So a 7 year old would definitely call a 30 year old cousin "aunt."
(We are Chinese, FWIW).

On my husband's side, they definitely don't do that. So he has adult cousins that I would prefer my kids call "aunt/uncle" but that doesn't appear to be what they do. It seems strange to call someone "Cousin Jane," though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hmmm. On my side of the family, everyone that is an "adult' is an aunt or uncle (even if the technical relationship is cousin or second cousin once removed or whatever). So a 7 year old would definitely call a 30 year old cousin "aunt."
(We are Chinese, FWIW).

On my husband's side, they definitely don't do that. So he has adult cousins that I would prefer my kids call "aunt/uncle" but that doesn't appear to be what they do. It seems strange to call someone "Cousin Jane," though.

We are Irish-English and all adults are Aunt/Uncle, no matter what the actual relationship is. We've always done it that way. The kids just don't call adults by their first names without some sort of respectful title.