I have been trying to figure out why my 3-year-old nephew would want to hang out with me even when his beloved mother and grandmother are around. "Xiaoyi (auntie), you read out the Bear's Night Out story and I'll act it out," said the smart and sometimes unruly child on a Friday evening shortly after dinner. He had just learned the word biaoyan (act) the last time I visited. 

We played the same story again and again, jumping onto the bed, crawling on the floor, climbing a hill of piled cushions and pillows, all to repeat the same, simple story of a bear who is scared out of bed because of an unknown, whirring sound from a ghostly vulture in the forest.

Then after 90 minutes of exercise (good for me indeed!), I was required to sit on the carpet to play with his toy buses together. We, as drivers, transported his stuffed animal friends back and forth from his home to the greenery of Olympic Park for a picnic. The outings lasted until 12:30 that night. Both exhausted, we fell asleep in his bed. 

Coming from a family of four children (thanks to the family planing policy loopholes in the early 1980s), I'm aware of the importance of playing with your siblings. You rival with each other, you also get the fair share of responsibility and sense of sharing, and the bond among the siblings only seems to grow stronger when you are into your adulthood, especially when you have your own families.

I am concerned my nephew, as the only child of the family, would see the adults in the house as his only source of fun, and growing up - before he goes to nursery and mingles with other children - to be selfish and taking up the air many spoiled Chinese "little emperors" have.

While his parents discipline him when he does something wrong, when I am with him, I pretend to be innocent and act like his peer: fighting amicably over the last of the chocolate-flavored ice cream, arguing over who hit whom first and shouting hilariously in the house as we spot all the hidden panda images in his I Spy picture book.

But I also try to talk to him as an adult since 3-year-olds have this amazing capability of understanding complex issues once they're made clear to them.

He now knows my job is to talk to interesting people and write about them. He knows his auntie has skills that his parents do not have - like speaking fluent English and primary French - and he looks up to me. He knows I recently talked to an adventurous motorcyclist who circumnavigated China on an epic voyage where he rode horses on the grasslands of Inner Mongolia.

Though entertaining the little one for a whole evening can be exhausting, being with him is also rewarding. You get a clear mind taking pleasure in the simple joys, even though you know you'll be loaded with work and deadlines ahead.

Despite the fun facts, there are annoying occasions as well, such as when the child became restless and sprawled on the floor because I took his turn of driving the bus.

The most annoying one lately? "Xiaoyi you are so old. Why are you still single?" Gee, I thought to myself, that is exactly what your grandmother asked me just the day before.