Is it really that common to be a grandparent in your late 40s?

Common in my family - other than me, yes.

I'd absolutely be erring on the side of caution if I saw someone in their late 40s with a young child though as clearly it's still possible to be a mum. So I'd assume mum unless corrected!

47 is that ambiguous age where you could be either so I wouldn’t assume either way.

Where I live I am often closer in age to the grandparents of some of my children’s friends than I am to their parents. I was in my mid 30s when I had my children. Some of my friends from school could be grandparents as their children are old enough.

I'm 42 with an 18 and 20 year old so it's not a completely odd assumption. It's that middle ground where you could potentially be the parent or grand parent.

I know lots of grandparents in their 40's. I don't know anyone who has had a child past 40.

If you saw a 47 year old with a 3 year old, would you assume that's the grandmother without it crossing your mind that she could be the mother?

I would think that she could be either mum, grandma, auntie, step mum etc. Safest assumption to make would be that she is the mum. I wouldn't presume that she's the grandma or comment about it, as if I was wrong then I'd want the ground to swallow me up.

I know a guy who is 47, he has a 5 year old son and a 6 year old grandson.

I would love to become a grandparent in my late 40s or early 50s.

I can't understand how tactless people can be. You could be either mum or gran I would make no assumptions either way and expect it to come out in conversation one way or the other.

I dont even ask anymore as i dont know if its nan or mum.

People just assume all sorts. We all do it all the time. Up until a couple of years ago (when my pregnancy with DD really did a number on me 😂) people often (genuinely) asked me if I was the nanny to my 2 boys.

When I actually was a nanny, aged 19, people assumed the 6 year old I was looking after was my own child.

See, people just do it all the time, doesn't matter which way.

My grandma was 42 when I was born. Both her and my mom had their first kid at 21.

I would be shocked to be an IRL grandmother in her late 40s.

my bubble definitely skews older.

Each person was 14 years of age when they gave birth! No lessons learnt in that family then!

I'm 47 too! And a grandma to a 3 year old. I think both are normal.

People usually assume I'm his mum if they just see the two of us together. Maybe we should just all team up and go on a guess the generation docudrama or something.

Perfectly normal to become a mum in your 40s, perfectly normal to become a mum in your 20s and therefore normal to become a grandparent in your 40s if one of your children does the same. My school mum friends range from my age or a bit younger to mid 60s depending on when they become parents.

I am a little bit older than the OP and have a 36 year old (no DGC yet).

Where I work there are 3 of us aged 44-49. We're all grandparents with a total of 7 GC between us!

My nan was 42 when I was born. My mum was 49 when DS was born. If DS has a DC at the same age DH was when DS was born then DH will be 48.

Well you could be regardless of your friendship circle. Most people, I know had children mid thirties to 40 there is no getting away from the fact that though women obviously have children at 40 plus overall the numbers are smaller.

Common enough to be unremarkable, I should think.

But in your 40s, if you're with a small child you could feasibly be either parent or grandparent. So people take a punt. Most probably you remember the grandparent ones more than the parent ones, because they're inaccurate.

My mum had me (her first child) at 24 and I had my son at 23 so it would be about right for my family. I'd never assume though and call someone granny instead of mum if I wasn't sure!

At that age a woman could be an older mother or younger grandmother, I'd say it's still not really common to have a child at 44.
I became a grandmother at 50, my mother was 52, so not that much older than you. My mum, my child and I are all degree educated and have/had professional careers but had children in our mid 20s, that's probably quite young these days but certainly wasn't when my mum and I had children. Nearly all the grandparents I know became grandparents in their 50s, not 40s though.

My mum was 48 when she became a grandmother. It's fairly unusual to have a 3 year old at 47, but I think it does clearly by where you live, it certainly an outlier age wise to have a 3 year old child or grandchild at 47 to be honest.

I work in a nursery I a deprived area and yeah, we have loads of grandparents on their fourties' dropping off and collecting. We've had quite a few in their thirties over the years.

in my family it's not the norm and always makes me feel very old haha

I wouldn't be sure at 47 as it is an age when you could be mum or gran! I would say Mum to be polite but might think gran.

My mum became a grandmother at 44 when I had my first at 26. My friend became a grandmother at 40. I don’t think it’s massively uncommon. I don’t think I’ll be a grandmother in my 40s unless my son has a child before age 24.

In my children's school (N London), it would be 50-50 whether you were a parent or grandparent I think. I was 26 when I had my son, my mum was 46 when he was born. Most parents at the school probably fell somewhere between this range when having kids!