To worry people won't want to be friends with me because of my age

Most of my friends are easily 10 - 15 years younger than me and I'm 76. It's been this way for a very long time.

I’m 42 and spent last night with my two close friends - both 51. Older friends have less drama. I hope to be friends for many years to come.

Hi,
I have many friends who are not the same age as me. We mostly met through work and clicked. Common ground and similar personalities matter more than age. I never think of their age when spending time with any of my friends and ages range from 30s-60s.

You have children the same age as these friends and you get along well. The friendship is already established. Go ahead and invite them round or organise a day out with the children.

Yes I think you're overthinking it - one of my best friends (ex colleague) is nine years younger than me. I have friends younger and older.

stop worrying about it!

im 55, I have a few friends around my age, a couple a bit younger and more that are older 12years, 15 years & 27. The one 27 is admittedly someone who feels 'older' but that's a lot to do with her personality, not just her age.

i doubt school mums even give it a thought.

You can be sure that you are thinking about this a lot more than they are.

I’m mid fifties. I have friends in their seventies and friends in their thirties. I have a handful of friends in their mid twenties and late eighties.

Age doesn’t affect the ability to be mates.

I’m 35. My three closest “mum friends” are 42, 46 and 54. They’re the ones I go out with all the time, without the kids, and even when our kids got a bit older and stopping hanging out together, I still go out with the mum (the 46 year old) every Friday morning for coffee and we go for drinks and dinner. So, I kept my “older friends” even when our kids drifted apart.

Don’t worry about it!

Don't worry about it!

I'm 53 and the youngest in my friendship group. Next oldest is 59 and the rest are late 60s and 70s.

People are people, not an age!

Having older friends gives you a great perspective on aging and then hopefully you also get to be the older friend who makes others realise that turning 50 is just another number

I honestly think the only person thinking this is yourself. Do you or have you struggled to keep friends? My only advice would be relax, it’s slight coming across a little bit OTT like a little bit desperate. Just relax be yourself and if you want to try and arrange something go for it 😊

Conversely, I’ve always been one of the younger ones and I would say the average age of my local friends is about five years older than me. That includes one who is 12 years older. I’ve only noticed the age gap for positive reasons - I’ve always valued their wisdom and maturity. I feel less scared of ageing.

I'm in my early 30s. My closest friends are 32, 43, and 63. I wouldn't worry.

Oh, absolutely yes. I wouldn't have seen it as an issue in the least

I really don't think anyone cares anymore when they get to 30/40 plus do they?

I'm 38 and youngest dc is 7. The parents in his class range from about 25 to 50. They're just people 🤷‍♀️

I have a group of friends where the youngest is mid thirties with a baby and the oldest is mid 50s with three adult children - we all get on. You are really overthinking the relevance of age - even more so given you are all parents of children of similar age so shared experiences there.

OP, I had ds at 45. I've gone through 12 years of ds' education and no-one has ever asked me my age. I don't even think about it.

I take the view that I still do everything any other parent does - work full time, raise ds, do parents evenings and host exchange students, exercise, hobbies, holidays etc so why would they differentiate?

Honestly, don't worry. No-one will even notice 🙂

I have good friends 25 years younger and 25 years older than me. It doesn't make any difference to anything

I met my husband and a number of life long friends (and their wives/husbands) when I joined a well known youth voluntary organisation as an instructor. We range from late 30s to mid 60s in age and regularly meet up and spend time together. Our children have grown up together. I really wouldn’t worry, I have many friends (and work colleagues) the same age as my parents and it doesn’t feel weird at all

I am 39 and I have genuine friends of all ages! One of my best friends is 50 - we had a weekend away together not long ago and she is wonderful, I don't even think about her age. Another very good friend is 75 - she was my mentor when I trained to teach many moons ago. She is also fabulous and my monthly coffee dates with her are a treat. Don't over think it

Are you normally the sort of person who has lots of friends and makes friends easily? I've never been any good at it.

I was at least 10 years older than my children's friends parents. It only became noticeable when they were at seconday school. I was never close friends with any of them, just enough to have contact over the DC, but that was nothing to do with ages.
All I would say is that these are not people you are likely to have a long connection with.
Having said that you already seem very friendly with them. I wouldn't consider an age gap among adults to be an issue

One of my very best friends is 15 years older than me - we met at work over 30 years ago and are still in touch, even though we live a long way apart these days.

I have good friends that are 15+ years older than me. To be honest it's not something I've ever really thought about. Makes no difference to our friendship.

I have 3 DC with large age gaps so I've been both the younger parent and the older parent.

I was friends with many of those who did the school pick up, including grandparents and childminders.

It really didn't matter.

There are two possibilities here. Either A) you look your age and they already know you are around 50ish or B) you look and act significantly younger.

In scenario A there is no problem as they are already aware you are older than them and accept you. In scenario B there is no problem because although you are technically older than them, you fit in because of how you look and act. All you’d get if you told them your age is an ‘you look amazing, please tell me your secret!’

So basically, there is absolutely no issue here at all.