Member-only story
Someday I hope all of the kids read this post and know that I think of them every day, both in a personal “how are they doing?” way and in the context of my advocacy work, knowing that many of the issues I work on now will have massive ramifications for their generations.
Last night, our friends and their kids had dinner with us then came over to hang out with the kittens. During our meal, the elder nibling asked me why and how we are their aunts because we aren’t related to them. That opened a conversation about choosing family and that we chose to be involved in their lives because we loved their moms. Both of the boys are adopted so they were talking about a legal relationship, not a biological one.
Nibling is gender neutral term to reference the nieces and nephews aka the children of your own sibling (or sibings-in-law.) N (iece/ephew) +(s) ibling = nibling. It is a nice way to be inclusive of all of the kids withone fell swoop of a word.
It was a perfectly ordinary conversation because we encourage them to talk with us about anything that is on their mind. But it got me thinking about my own family.
