The gauntlet has been thrown…

by Lori

My husband and I were the first couple on both sides of the family to have children. Our siblings were either still in high school or beginning college. When our kids began celebrating birthdays one Auntie (not mentioning names here) thought it would be funny to buy the loudest, most obnoxious toys around. Let’s see the first thing that comes to mind is a big Star Wars alarm clock that was VERY LOUD. Not to mention I did not know how to TURN IT OFF!

It would for some unknown reason go off in the middle of the night, so I would awake suddenly to the sound of a star ship taking off accompanied by LOUD laser sounds. The only way to turn it off was to rip the batteries out of it.

By morning a son would want to “play” with it (because obviously he slept through the whole Incom T-65 X-Wing Space Superiority Fighter invasion), because you know a 3 year old really knows what to do with an alarm clock so I would foolishly place the batteries back in so he could listen to the cool sounds of nails on a chalk board an X-Wing taking off. Hey I was a young Mom learning. And I guess the noise only bothered ME because the rest of the males in this household could sleep through the late night X-Wing invasion!

Anyways back to what I was saying, these oh so young Aunties thought this was funny. There was another Auntie who thought it would be FUN to send Birthday Boy TONS OF CANDY! Even after we screamed ‘what where you thinking’ kindly mentioned that Birthday Boy is young and ONE piece of candy would keep him hyper for a week! “Thank you for his toy, but the candy is not necessary…REALLY.”

And remember I said I was YOUNG so I did the foolish thing like open the box in FONT of my son so once the candy was spied, he made a mental count of how many piece there were and how many he has eaten. (should be an accountant).

Now my boys are older and when they are hyper from candy I can send them out to play and tell them not to return until they are dead-dog-tired. Then I go on my merry way ignoring the fact they are running wild around the neighborhood(in reality I have them in my line of site, but OUTSIDE). I can now handle (for the most part on rare occasions) my boys pigging out on candy.

In fact our tradition for Halloween is the very next day I empty their bags on the kitchen table and tell them to eat themselves sick. I figure if it makes them sick, they won’t want it as much (this has mostly worked). The remaining candy is tossed by the end of the week. (just a side note, I do not recommend this due to the lack of nutritional value. I am not a nutritionist and I don’t play one on TV either. Kay?)

But you know what they say about PAYBACK?

IT IS FUN!

(hey what did you think I was going to say?)

Now don’t tell, but this is just a SMALL sample of what my 2 year old niece will be receiving. (minus the candle =) This Auntie does not read my blog, so I can share it y’all.

Ah yes, payback is fun. This is how we “older” Auntie’s get our entertainment.

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  • I am SO PROUD OF YOU!!! Way to go Auntie Laurel!
    Now, as soon as the opportunity arises...one of those "pushin' poppin' loud noise makin' thingy's will be a nice addition to little niece's toy collection!
    Love you girl! Glad to see you are feelin' better---I can hear it in your "blog-words"!!!
  • Laurel,

    You crack me up. I giggled all through this post. Hope you are feeling better today. Hugs, my friend.
  • LOL!! Auntie will understand now!
  • ahhh yes, I was one of those aunties.. but never tried to be mean lol have fun!!!
  • Way to go Laurel...payback big time! I can just say from the auntie side of things though, it's really lots of fun to spoil and indulge nieces and nephews.
  • Too funny! I have a rule that my kids can have as much candy, soda, and junk food as they want- as long as they are staying the night at grandma's. If they are coming home with me, then I am mean and limit them. It's funny how grandma's rules change when they have to deal with the consequences. :)
  • LOL! That's hilarious!
  • Thanks for the laugh today! I can't tell you how many gifts I buy for the grandson that his mother judges "a good toy to leave at grandma's house"... the talking monkey, the kazoo, the whistle that sounds like a train. He's only two so the REALLY noisy toys are yet to come. Can't wait! (Of course, the drum set is actually mine so he HAS to play that one here. ;-) )
  • Woo-hoo! I am the youngest of five and got early on that paybacks are "fun". One of my siblings did not get that and gave a nephew a drumset for Christmas one year. Oh.... that payback was a really fun one!
  • That is simply stinkin' hillarious! SERIOUSLY. We have the same situation with the younger aunts around here. I am so stealing this idea when they start having kiddos.

    Thanks for the tip!
  • Oh, just wait until you have grandbabies. Talk about payback!
  • Oh, yes. Paybacks. I've enjoyed a few of those myself. My favorites? Finger paint and Play D@h.

    OH, sweetness.
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