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Dana Gutkowski
I am the mother of none, but the very proud Aunt to four beautiful children. I did absolutely no work to create them, but I will do everything in my power to help raise them.
Latest posts by Dana Gutkowski (see all)
- How can I be a good aunt? - May 19, 2021
- Aunt Quotes - March 19, 2021
- End Your Silence. Support Black Lives Matter - June 29, 2020
Hello there fellow Aunts and Aunties! Welcome back to Auntieviews. I recently had the pleasure of virtually meeting Aunt Micky Reed through a social media blogging networking. She’s a fun, caring, and active Pizza Aunt and a perfect candidate for this series. What’s so special about Micky? Continue reading and find out!
Background
Micky lives in Woodstock, Illinois and runs a blog called Three Snackateers. She works full time in Marketing, but for fun, you’ll often find her blogging, baking, reading, playing with her daughter, or watching Netflix. Her blog is focused on snacks! She writes reviews of new snack products as well as posts about our interesting and unique snacks – like Bakeable Ice Cream Kit Kats from Japan! Yum! As if that wasn’t awesome enough, she also goes one step further and creates easy recipes that use snacks as an ingredient like circus animal cookie truffles!
I asked her what inspired her to start her blog, and she responded with “ As far back as I can remember, I’ve always been drawn to snacks and in particular, sweets. I remember obsessing over the food in cartoons and my sticker book was filled with scratch n’ sniff cakes! I just love the smells, the colors, the flavors, the textures, the creativity, the beauty, the possibilities! I can spend hours in the grocery store looking at all the new products. Starting a blog that combines my personal interest (snacks) with my professional skills (marketing) seemed like a no-brainer!
Her blog is cool enough on its own. I mean, who doesn’t love snacks? But also, Micky might be one of the coolest Aunts in Illinois. Notice how her blog is titled, the THREE snackateers…well that’s cause her niece is one of them. There’s no snack that can match that sweetness. So let’s get on with her interview.
The Interview:
What is your background as an Aunt?
I have 1 older sister, 2 younger brothers. My sister has 3 kids. Her oldest daughter is 11 and one of The Three Snackateers. Also an 8-year-old boy and a 5-year-old girl. My youngest brother has a 2-year-old. My middle brother has 2-year-old and another on the way!
How old were you when you first became one?
I was in my late 20’s when I became an Aunt.
Which one did you become first, a Mother or an Aunt?
Aunt first.
If you can think back to when you were first told you were going to be an Aunt, what were some of the emotions that you felt? For example, pure excitement? Anxiety? Disconnected because it wasn’t real yet?
Marcella was adopted from Guatemala when she was about 6 months old, so there was a lot of excitement, but also nervous anticipation during the long adoption process.
It doesn’t matter how your niblings have come into your life, either by choice or relation, but most children refer to us as Aunts or Aunties, and some have their own unique nicknames for us. What do your nieces or nephews call you?
When they were very little they called me Mimi, but the older ones mostly transitioned to Micky now. We’ll have to wait and see what the 2-year-old decide to call me!
Do you live close to your nieces and nephews or are you a long-distance Aunt?
Sister is about 30 min drive. Brother is about 1.5 hr drive. My other brother is in Alabama and we’re in Illinois.
As an Aunt, what do you consider to be the biggest value you feel you bring to the family?
Being able to communicate with my siblings about issues and experiences we have with our kids at all the different ages and stages is really helpful.
What are some of your favorite activities to do with your niblings?
Birthday parties, making up goofy games, telling funny stories, having sleepovers, eating snacks, baking, and working on The Three Snackateers with Marcella.
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How do you compare your role as a Mother to your role as an Aunt? If you can, describe some similarities and some differences.
As a mom, I feel more responsibility and there is a lot more ‘hard’ stuff to deal with on a daily basis. When I see my nieces and nephews, it’s usually to have fun and forget about the daily grind. The biggest similarity is that I love them all unconditionally. I’m proud of each one of them and am honored that I get to be a positive shaping influence in their lives.
How well do your children get along with your niblings?
My 2-yr-old daughter loves her cousins and talks about them all the time.
When they argue or disagree, do you feel yourself ever taking sides with your own children? Or is it ever the opposite where you feel the need to protect your nibling more?
It goes both ways. All the cousins are at slightly different stages of development (ages 2-11), so everyone has something to learn from the others at times.
Even though your niblings needs have evolved from when they were very young until now, is there anything that has remained a constant in your relationship with them?
I think the constant is that they know I’ll always be there for them no matter what.
What is one good piece of advice that you would give it to any new Aunt?
It’s a special relationship. You have to figure it out as you go because each child and how you interact with them will be different. Also, it comes with responsibility – you are a fun, trusted adult that is not their parent, but they will still look at you as a role model, so you have the opportunity to help teach and guide them. I try to keep my guidance in line with my own life experiences, but also respectful to my sibling’s parenting plans.
What is one of the biggest difficulties you’ve experienced as an Aunt? How did you overcome it if at all?
I’d say the biggest challenge I’ve had is hearing about struggles one of my siblings is having with their kids and not really knowing how to help.
What’s your proudest moment as an Aunt?
Watching all the kids achieve milestones – whether developmental, like first steps, or their personal goals and interests, like sports and music. It’s so awesome watching them learn and grow and find the things in life they love and are good at.
If you go back in time and give your younger and self a piece of advice but would it be? And why?
Self-care and awareness are so important. Get to know yourself, your limits, what makes you thrive and respect those things. I especially hope to pass along this insight to my daughter and nieces.
I was once told that being a Mom is all cake and being an Aunt is like icing on the cake. How do you feel about that comparison?
I can see where that phrase comes from. The icing is the fun part of a cake and as an Aunt, you don’t have all the less glamorous responsibilities of a parent, so you can focus more on the fun parts of your relationship with your nieces/nephews. But at the same time, I know being a parent can be hard, so I do try to help enforce my siblings’ rules with their kids.
If you had to compare your relationship as an Aunt to a food what would it be and why?
Pizza – because being an Aunt is awesome and I love it. 🙂
Final Thoughts:
I hope you enjoyed Micky’s story of Aunthood as much as I did. I love hearing from all these Aunties!! If you ‘d like to join the Auntieview crew and be interviewed to share you story, please contact me using the form below!! I can’t wait to hear from you!
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