As an older parent...

[Teley]

I'm asking because I'm interested in people's opinions on this for a course I'm doing:

Do you feel that being an older parent is part of who you are as an identity?

If there is anything you could change about the way you get treated or the sort of advantages/disadvantages you feel you have due to being an older parent, what would it be? Would you want to change some ways in which current society works?

If people could just answer those questions, I know they're really philosophical, but it would really help:smiliedance:! Tanks!

[DoubleDelight]

I have been both a younger parent and older parent. I really believe that we are judged no matter what our label. It is human nature to judge what we haven't experienced.

I choose to label myself a loving parent. The only difference in treatment I noticed was with medical professionals. I was automatically labelled high risk but the upside is that I had a clearer voice. I found that my opinion was taken more seriously this time around and I was more confident to be vocal in what I did and didn't want to happen.

[Ys_Woman]

I'm asking because I'm interested in people's opinions on this for a course I'm doing:

Do you feel that being an older parent is part of who you are as an identity?
I'm not really sure if you mean how I perceive myself or how others perceive me. If it is how I perceive myself then no. I am simply a person who has kids, my core being knows no age. I can't speak for how others see me, but I am treated as an equal with all age groups.


If there is anything you could change about the way you get treated or the sort of advantages/disadvantages you feel you have due to being an older parent, what would it be? Would you want to change some ways in which current society works?
I have been both a young mum and now an 'older mum' and I haven't noticed any difference frankly. I have been treated identically by the medical profession and friends/family in all the age brackets that I had children (20's/30's/40's). The only special treatment I received this last time was a more thorough 20wk scan but aside from that I didn't notice any difference. I don't feel there is any discrimination either as I notice most of the other mums at school are not far below me in age.
When I was a young mum and would wait outside my daughter's classroom there were only two of us mums in our 20's, the rest were in their late 30's/early 40's.
I guess being that I will be 50 when my last bub starts school it might be a different kettle of fish though.
Thankfully no-one has yet confused me as my children's grandmother (must be the sorbolene I use on my face..lol)..but perhaps in ten years time it could get confusing, who knows.

I think with the explosion of women in their late 30's and early 40's turning to IVF etc to have babies (due to late marriages or wanting another bub with their new partner)..it is going to become a lot more commonplace to see mums my age with babies.

Hope some of that helps.

Amy:)

[cathy40s]

I remember a friends mother turning 50 and saying to me I still feel 20! now I am nearing that age and with two small children I know what she means.

Not until someone is shocked at my age do I even think about it.. I think it is more an issue on paper than reality, though maybe after 50 it will be more of an issue.

As a first time mum at 42 I know no different Mums of all ages complain of lack of sleep, living in a fog and feeling isolated. The internet is a wonderful thing in many ways. Should I choose, no one need know I am an older mum but I am proud that we were able to do this and totally stunned at how wonderful it is.

I definitely regret not having more time with my children and wish I could have had them earlier. I did not marry until I was 40 but I always wanted children. I was not prepared to have children unless I had a partner who wanted to have a family as well.

How I am treated is totally up to me. When I was working people asked me about the glass ceiling and sexism in the workplace. My feeling was that yes it does exist but I choose to not make it an issue.. That is totally up to me how people treat and percieve me as a mum. I choose many times to blend in and just be another mum.. I think after 5 years out of the workforce I suffer from the same esteem issues as many women face on reentering the workforce.. I am just a decade older than most.

Never say never!