Like Jane Fallon, I’m childfree by choice – but being an aunt is one of the great joys of my life
At 48, I am childfree by choice – I’ll never be able to say I’m a mum or relate to the discussions all my mum friends or colleagues have about ‘the juggle’ or stresses of raising kids. And that’s a choice I’ve actively made – just like Jane Fallon, who spoke about her experience on the Second Act podcast. But I do have a title I am fiercely proud of, a parenting duty of sorts that I take very seriously, too. I’m a PANK – a ‘Professional Aunt, No Kids’. Just like Fallon, I am that adult in the lives of my nephews and nieces (both on my side of the family and my husband’s) who plays the role of ‘not parent’ but still someone to guide and influence the young people around her. Jenny loves spending time with her “niblings” I am Aunty to Nancy, 13, and Cole, 10, through my brother and sister. Then, when I met my husband in 2016, I ‘inherited’ two more nieces and a nephew. At the time they …
