In my world, Aunt’s and Uncles are direct family members. They are my dad and mom’s brothers and sisters…bottom line. Captain Awesome on the other hand uses Aunt and Uncle much more liberally. A good family friend could be called Aunt. For him it’s a way to express a closeness to a friend, and now that we have a son he wants to call pretty much everyone in our lives Aunt and Uncle…What do we do about that?

We are blessed to have close friends. Most of them are his close friends who have, over time, become my close friends, and their spouses are now both of our friends. We are definitely lucky to have them in our life. Soon enough our son will be getting to know who they are, and their names, and soon enough we have to decide what to refer to them as.

Captain Awesome wants almost everyone to be Aunt and Uncle. I honestly don’t mind it…but does our son refer to them as Aunt/Uncle when they don’t use the same terms with us? A friend that he grew up with since 10 years old may be an uncle to him, but can he be an uncle in my book?

Is it just a word or does someone have to EARN the title of uncle/aunt? Should it be used liberally, or be a term set aside for family. Sometimes friends can closer than our family….who wins out? Or do both?