The Forgotten Kin
Aunts and Uncles

In this book, Milardo demonstrates how aunts and uncles contribute to the daily lives of parents and their children.

Robert M. Milardo (Author)

9781107531543, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 2 July 2015

248 pages, 12 tables
22.8 x 15.2 x 1.5 cm, 0.38 kg

"....Bob Milardo has written what is the most thorough, comprehensive family studies analysis to date of the relationships between aunts, uncles, nieces and nephews. He has richly described ANUN relations and answered key, basic questions about them. He is a scholar with a deep knowledge of research on the family yet his text will be enjoyed by a broad audience. He is trailblazer whose book widens and extends the path into ANUN relations. I recommend it for its depiction of those relations and for the possibility that you will be among those who further develop scholarship on this topic."
--Dan Perlman, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, IARR’s “Relationship News”

Although much is written about contemporary families, the focus is typically limited to marriage and parenting. In this path-breaking assessment of families sociologist Robert M. Milardo demonstrates how aunts and uncles contribute to the daily lives of parents and their children. Aunts and uncles complement the work of parents, sometimes act as second parents, and sometimes form entirely unique brands of intimacy grounded in a lifetime of shared experiences. The Forgotten Kin explores how aunts and uncles support parents, buffer the relationships of parents and children, act as family historians, and develop lifelong friendships with parents and their children. The book details the routine activities of aunts and uncles, the features of families that encourage closeness, how aunts and uncles go about mentoring nieces and nephews, and how adults are mentored by the very children for whom they are responsible. This book aims to change the public discourse on families and the involvement of the forgotten kin across generations and households.

Preface
1. Relational landscapes
2. The study
3. Describing the relationships
4. Essential aunting and uncling
5. Mentoring
6. Family work
7. Friendship
8. The social reproduction of aunts and uncles
9. Balancing the composition
Appendices.

Subject Areas: Family psychology [JMF], Child & developmental psychology [JMC], Sociology: family & relationships [JHBK], Sociology [JHB]