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UNCLE WORDLE
Notes on Being a Good Uncle
Like parents, but with better cake!
Being an uncle is awesome! You get to spend time with the kids, take them to do fun things, and then give them back when they get tired, cranky, sleepy, or covered with blue icing. I’m an uncle several times over, and I think I’ve done a pretty good job.
There was a time when I got to be in charge of birthday cakes for my nieces and nephews. They were small at the time and these cakes were important. I would call and ask them for their ice cream cake order, carefully discussing candy and fruit additions, icing colors, and decorations. If you’ve never had a conversation with an eight year old about their dream ice cream cake then I suggest you go find one right now and ask.
I often left my sisters completely out of these decisions and surprised them with the results on the day of the birthday.
“Why is it so… so… BLUE?”
“That’s what he wanted. Ooh! and there are Reese’s cups inside!”
“Do you… have ANY idea… what blue icing does to…”
She couldn’t even finish that sentence because she was already triaging the amount of hand, clothes, household and diaper clean up that this was going to require (8 year old had a very young brother who would most certainly not be deterred from consuming/playing with a bright blue birthday cake).
Side note: If you have never been admonished by a young mother raising four boys then I suggest you count yourself among the lucky and watch your P’s and Q’s from here on out.
I chuckled a bit, shrugged my shoulders, and tried to wonder if I had pushed the envelope just a bit too far this time. Nearly 25 years later, she still brings up the “blue cake” and the days-long fallout, most of which happened after I had driven 200 miles away.
That’s when I was single and had plenty of disposable income. I would take my nieces and nephews to the movies, wrap the latest video games for Christmas, and generally try to provide an excess of fun whenever I visited. My sisters understood the relationship and loved watching their kids having so much fun. Being a good uncle allowed them to retain the parent-level of fun and to model financial…
