The Forever Tita

"Mahirap maging batang ina pero mas mahirap maging batang tita."

The quote above is so funny, yet true. I mean, I can't tell the hardship of being a single mom or being a young mom but i'm the aunt. And what I know is the hardships and the sacrifices of an aunt.

I am the youngest in the family. I have such a huge age gap between my siblings. Actually, we are seven children in the family and all the six of them already have their own family. And that leaves me to be the forever tita.

All in all I have 13 nephews and nieces. And those are just the children of my siblings. The children of my cousins are not included yet.

I grew up having my nephews and nieces as my playmate. I was four years old when my first nephew was born. And since then, at such a young age, I became responsible of them.

My siblings have to work and that left me with the children. I basically grew up with them while taking care of them. I learned how to properly carry them, when to feed them and even to change their diapers. I teach them nursery rhymes and when they became toddler, I teach them shapes and colors. I teach them the alphabet and I teach them how to read and write. I am basically substituting for their parents, doing everything that a parent will do to their children.

I won't say I didn't enjoy my entire childhood because I did enjoy it. It's just that it's not the typical childhood where I get to play with children my age all the time. At such a young age I have the responsibility to take good care of my nephews and nieces.

Having others as your responsibility is really hard. Specially that you weren't even supposed to be on that situation. As a young individual, I should be getting along with people my age. I should be going out with them, doing silly things together but there's a tie that is keeping me to do that. But despite the hardship, I enjoy being the tita and there's no memory that can replace all the good times I have with my kiddos. I watched them grow, like a parent and I am so proud of them.

I'm 20 years old right now. Still young right? But like what I've said, no memory can replace all the times that I spent growing up with my nephews and nieces. Also, being the tita has a lot of advantages. As much as I don't want to accept it, I happen to think maturely. More than my age. But there are also times that I happen to act so childish (well, it's maybe because I am spending too much time with the kids).

So in my 16 years of experience of being the tita, I am sharing to you some of my unforgettable memories I have with my siblings children.

• This is my experience with the youngest child of my eldest sister. If I remember correctly, my niece was just months old back then and i'm around 13-14 years old.

My sister is a teacher and she left my niece to me all day because she have some errands to finish at the school where she was teaching. During the whole morning that day, everything is running smoothly. My niece is such a nice baby and she loves me so she is not even crying. But then, real challenge came when her nap time comes. I remember her being a fat baby and she will only sleep if I am carrying her and carrying her is really a struggle for me.

When I know that she is already sleeping in my arms, I always attempt to put her in bed but then, when she feels it, she will cry again. So I spend whole afternoon back then carrying that chubby baby.

Night came and my sister was still not at home, my niece started crying and I don't know anymore how to stop her. I already feed her, her diaper is dry and I am carrying her. And because of the tiredness the whole day maybe, I end up crying with her. And that's the situation that my sister found me into when she went home.

• This is the latest experience I have with my nephew that i'll never forget. This happened when he's still moths old and now that he's 2 years old.

Since I started Senior High School I started to live with my other sister and her family. And that is the time also that my nephew was born. My sister and her husband is always busy running their business and in their responsibility as one of the primary leaders in our church so I am used to taking care of my nephew ever since he was born.

So yeah, one time he is just so cute and I want to take a picture of him. He was just months old back then and he wasn't allowed to sit on his own but I did sit him on the sofa alone just so I could take a picture of him. There are also times that i'll feed him chocolate even though he's still so young and still not allowed to eat it. And it's my mistake because now he only wants to eat something that is sweet.

There is also a time where he is sleeping at my room. I go out my room and leave him alone in there and then after a few minutes I heard him crying and when I go to my room, I found him lying on the floor already. Good thing he wasn't hurt bad that's why I was able to keep that secret from my sister until now.

• I have so many unforgettable memories with them that I really cherish and I really want to share everything to you but it will take me forever to share all of them. So just leave a comment at this article and why not share your experience with your child, niece, nephew or your younger sibling which you can't also forget.

Time flies so fast and look at them all grown up now. So, to all the tita's out there. Let's enjoy every moment we have with our nephews and nieces and take all the learning that we can learn in our experience as their parent.