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Auntie Tech for the win!
Apr. 13th, 2019 08:06 pmTo my nephews and niece, I am known as Auntie Tech.
For awhile, I was just Auntie and my sister was Auntie Evil. When her hair is pulled back, it looks similar to the colorations and hairline of Syndrome from The Incredibles. Two-year olds are amazing at picking up on those similarities but they also don't remember names. Syndrome was evil so that meant my sister was dubbed "evil", as well. When they were two and three and four, it was a fine name and was a decent distinction.
Then the boys got older and realized we had names outside of Auntie but they couldn't remember them. Their mom and dad have long since tired of the "no, not that one. the other one" conversation and realized that our names weren't going to stick so they decided to give me a lengthened moniker. I'm the aunt that spends hours on FaceTime with them, playing Minecraft or discussing the ramifications of the new Spiderman suit on how well Peter Parker does his job or convincing two little boys (who are rapidly aging) that girls can be the strongest of the superheroes SO THERE! I think my brother-in-law was leery of calling me Auntie Geek so he came up with Auntie Tech.
I have spent the last nine years laying the groundwork of geekdom for the kids. It all started with convincing my rather straight-laced sister that being a geek wasn't all that bad. Instead of hiding my geekdom, I let it all hang out to the public eye. I took the boys to MegaCon when they were three and four, even though they don't remember it. They do both remember seeing Nightwing... he held the door open for us when we first entered the building and the boys were FLABBERGASTED to meet one of their early heroes. We mostly just wandered the main floor of the convention, soaking it all in.
Last summer, the boys came with me to a smaller, local comic con. The then 8 and 7 year olds were in their element. My geeky heart was overflowing. They also went to a smaller con in Florida as a family and the kids dressed up. My niece wanted to be Wonder Woman instead of sticking to the boys' Batman leanings (they wanted a theme!) so settled for Girl!Robin. Not Robin, she insisted. Girl!Robin. You could hear the exclamation point in her voice.
I have my geeks. I was pretty happy.
And then my oldest nephew decided he wanted to write an RP with me. "Do you know about RPs, Auntie?" he asked me one day as we were playing Minecraft. I did know about RPs but how did he know about RPs? They have a version on Minecraft that he sort of plays with some of his friends. Instead of playing make believe stories, they call it RPing now. My writing heart was bursting with joy.
"Let's play one," I exclaimed and we starting setting down the rules. It was a Minecraft world and it was very similar to the world of the Minecraft Story Mode. I thought I would have to guide the story but NO. My 9 year old nephew is a STORYTELLER to the core of his little being. And he's good!
Well, except for setting limits on his characters but, to tell the truth, both his character and the evil character are both pretty exceptional. So exceptional that we're confounded about how to defeat him. So that story is on the back burner.
And he's now writing Gravity Falls fanfic.
I want to nurture this but I'm so afraid of squelching the creativity. I want to train him without ruining him. It's lovely and nervewrecking, all at the same time.
My 4 year old niece loves Minnie Mouse and the Disney princesses... and she can name just about every Marvel character when shown a picture. There's nothing more lovely than playing Go Fish with the Marvel playing cards and hear her say, "Um... Auntie, you have Cappin Marble?" "I yike Yoki. He cute."
I have laid the groundwork for three wonderful human beings. I feel like this might be a mike drop moment.
For awhile, I was just Auntie and my sister was Auntie Evil. When her hair is pulled back, it looks similar to the colorations and hairline of Syndrome from The Incredibles. Two-year olds are amazing at picking up on those similarities but they also don't remember names. Syndrome was evil so that meant my sister was dubbed "evil", as well. When they were two and three and four, it was a fine name and was a decent distinction.
Then the boys got older and realized we had names outside of Auntie but they couldn't remember them. Their mom and dad have long since tired of the "no, not that one. the other one" conversation and realized that our names weren't going to stick so they decided to give me a lengthened moniker. I'm the aunt that spends hours on FaceTime with them, playing Minecraft or discussing the ramifications of the new Spiderman suit on how well Peter Parker does his job or convincing two little boys (who are rapidly aging) that girls can be the strongest of the superheroes SO THERE! I think my brother-in-law was leery of calling me Auntie Geek so he came up with Auntie Tech.
I have spent the last nine years laying the groundwork of geekdom for the kids. It all started with convincing my rather straight-laced sister that being a geek wasn't all that bad. Instead of hiding my geekdom, I let it all hang out to the public eye. I took the boys to MegaCon when they were three and four, even though they don't remember it. They do both remember seeing Nightwing... he held the door open for us when we first entered the building and the boys were FLABBERGASTED to meet one of their early heroes. We mostly just wandered the main floor of the convention, soaking it all in.
Last summer, the boys came with me to a smaller, local comic con. The then 8 and 7 year olds were in their element. My geeky heart was overflowing. They also went to a smaller con in Florida as a family and the kids dressed up. My niece wanted to be Wonder Woman instead of sticking to the boys' Batman leanings (they wanted a theme!) so settled for Girl!Robin. Not Robin, she insisted. Girl!Robin. You could hear the exclamation point in her voice.
I have my geeks. I was pretty happy.
And then my oldest nephew decided he wanted to write an RP with me. "Do you know about RPs, Auntie?" he asked me one day as we were playing Minecraft. I did know about RPs but how did he know about RPs? They have a version on Minecraft that he sort of plays with some of his friends. Instead of playing make believe stories, they call it RPing now. My writing heart was bursting with joy.
"Let's play one," I exclaimed and we starting setting down the rules. It was a Minecraft world and it was very similar to the world of the Minecraft Story Mode. I thought I would have to guide the story but NO. My 9 year old nephew is a STORYTELLER to the core of his little being. And he's good!
Well, except for setting limits on his characters but, to tell the truth, both his character and the evil character are both pretty exceptional. So exceptional that we're confounded about how to defeat him. So that story is on the back burner.
And he's now writing Gravity Falls fanfic.
I want to nurture this but I'm so afraid of squelching the creativity. I want to train him without ruining him. It's lovely and nervewrecking, all at the same time.
My 4 year old niece loves Minnie Mouse and the Disney princesses... and she can name just about every Marvel character when shown a picture. There's nothing more lovely than playing Go Fish with the Marvel playing cards and hear her say, "Um... Auntie, you have Cappin Marble?" "I yike Yoki. He cute."
I have laid the groundwork for three wonderful human beings. I feel like this might be a mike drop moment.
