May 6, 2014 | When my nephew was a toddler, he was determined to help his grandfather assemble his new ride-on toy. Of course, the small parts and tools were not child-friendly and the little boy was frustrated that the grownups wouldn’t let him help.

As his Auntie, it broke my heart. I grabbed my purse and ran to the local toy store to find an age-appropriate toy tool set so that my nephew could “help” his Grandpa. I can’t tell you how much the set cost because it didn’t matter. I can’t tell you if my nephew ever played with it again after that day because it didn’t matter. All that mattered to me was bringing the joy of his very own tool set to my nephew. When he saw the gift, his eyes lit up and he smiled wide. We opened the box and went right to work.

We worked on his motor skills. We worked on his language skills (hammer, screws, saw). We worked on his helping skills. We worked on his sharing skills. We worked at play. It was what I call “QualAuntie Time,” the playtime a PANK® - or Professional Aunt No Kids - can offer the children in her life. And my nephew offered me more insight into what would become Savvy Auntie, the lifestyle brand I launched in 2008 for the tens of millions of women like myself who are marrying later and having children later than our mothers did, while leveraging our generous hearts and wallets for our nieces and nephews....

More at ToyAssociation.org