Last summer, our son went off to stay with his Gran for the holidays. Hed been counting down the days and packed his suitcase way ahead of time, ready to escape to the country for as long as possible.
His Gran honestly spoilt him rotten. She doted on him completely and let him do pretty much whatever he fanciedthe sort of total freedom you dream about when youre a kid. It was all countryside air, no rules, and endless treats. No wonder he looked forward to visiting her so much. At our house, theres always rules and routines, but with Gran, he could just be himself. Or so he thought, anyway.
As luck would have it, his aunt, Grans other daughter, turned up at the same time. Shes a bit of a wandereralways dashing up and down the country for work since she doesnt have a husband or children of her own. Shes hardly ever home, so my son mostly just sees her popping up on video calls. To him, shes always been a bit like a fairy godmother, dropping by every now and then with a pressie, but not actually getting involved in his day-to-day.
But this time, because they had to live under the same roof for a few days, things changed pretty sharpish. His aunt didnt take too kindly to him banging doors, chucking his clothes about, and spending all day glued to his phone. She started picking him up on every little thing. Naturally, he was fuming. He stomped off to Gran and moaned, Gran, Auntie Sarahs so mean! When is she leaving?
Gran just chuckled and explained to him that his aunt wasnt being nastyshe just wanted him to behave well. That was her way of showing care, and he really ought to listen and show her a bit of respect. But he wasnt having any of it at the time. When Sarah told him off again, he tried to stand his ground and told her, quite bravely, that she wasnt in chargeonly the grandparents were the bosses round there.
Auntie Sarah just laughed and calmly explained that she also lived there, so she had every right to lay down some ground rules. After that, he realised maybe hed been a bit out of order, and apologised. They got on fine after thatno arguments. I suppose it opened his eyes a bit. Hed gone away expecting a holiday with no rules, but it turned into another lesson in behaving himselfexactly like at home.
We still chuckle about that whole episode now. And we keep telling Sarah she ought to come round to ours more often.
