To be crying at this

😂😂 it still got me and others a bit over-emotional! We had it pinned to the staff room wall as a reminder!

Maybe you are not old enough then

So rude!!!!

That is such a terrible poem that I think nurses are clearly incredibly forbearing not to have risen up en masse and revolted!

Are there really people who skip pages in books?!

It's brought tears to my eyes too OP! It also reminds me of a poem we were taught when I was a student nurse called "Crabbit Old Woman" ....it was to remind us to see the elderly with dementia as people ....I had to leave the room I was crying so much 🙈😄

Nearly made me cry too. I'm 45, I still have one little one but my older two are late teens and I do wish I'd made more of the time when they were little. I'm trying to make the most of the present though. And I'd love to be able to speak to my mum again

It bought tears to my eyes because I am older. Not sure what I’d have thought in my thirties. I remember Toni Morrison in her book Beloved talking of slave mothers not knowing the feeling of their small children’s hands..I remember reading that and cherishing my son’s small hand in mine as we walked to nursery.

I read a quote that I think put it better and less gushingly "Instead of wishing you were 20 again, just imagine you were actually 80 and suddenly woke up at the age you are now"

I hate this kinda thing. Yes We should be more in the moment but life’s not like this. We’ve got stuff to do and trying our best doesn’t mean we don’t love and appreciate our families

Yeah it’s just ick.

No point harping for time gone by; we know our lives are short so enjoy every moment!

All the more reason not to be miserable and negative like the other post was about yesterday! We don’t need soppy nonsense about ‘yesterday’. Never understood the wanting to hold on to childhood - we grow up, deal with it! 🙄

You can say I have a heart of stone (many have) but I think this is awful. It seems to me that sentimentality is rife everywhere & I wish it would stop. I also know I'm on a hiding to nothing.

I am sorry you feel that way as it wasn't intended as anything other than fact. You do not know what others are thinking. Like it or not, it is equally as likely people are gazing into middle distance thinking about their own shit as that they are adoring on other people's kids. It is great if having little kids makes you happy, it doesn't change that not all of us are enthralled by other people's toddlers. I love my own, utterly indifferent to others.

It is also not nasty to feel sad for people that they believe after the childrearing years are done, that their best years are over. The idea of the next 30-40 years after that being for looking backwards is so depressing to me. You cannot know for certain how your life may look or change in future. My kids are older now and I guarantee you, I am much, much happier and more fulfilled now than I ever was when mine were young. Life keeps getting better.

It is no more than a different perspective from someone who has got further through life.

Sounds sentimental guff to me. Don't get the wrong, I look back fondly on all different stages of my life: newlyweds getting our first house set up, pregnancy, babies etc. We're all often too busy in the moments to appreciate it but it's ok to love those moments or find them tough and hope the next phase is easier.

its sweet but reads like AI wrote it-its a little overboard on the sappiness.

However its always good to remember our time on earth is fleeting and we must strive to enjoy our lives even most bad moments have value.

Don't get caught up in the weeds and miss out on experiencing life!

Yeah, @PInkyStarfish thinks purely in terms of particularly unimaginative clichés, like those leaflets about Alzheimer's which depict some silver-haired old dear surrounded by stagily-arranged grandchildren straight from central casting, and bear no resemblance to actual life, with or without children.

This is bollocks.

When I'm 75, what I'll be saying is, "I wish I had spent more time being venomous to perfect strangers on Mumsnet."

Soooo, those of us without kids or with abusive parents are failures?

How nasty!

The ones that are thanking the gods they're not in that stage of life anymore won't be gazing wistfully at mums with young children will they 🙄

As for your closing sentence, I don't understand the MN take that raising children is miserable drudgery and if you enjoy it there's something wrong with you. I have a wonderful life and did before I had my daughter but all the time I spend with my toddler who is my favourite person in the world I always think these are the best days of my life. I'm just so happy! All the older people I know of both sexes tell me the happiest years of their lives were when their kids were young. You don't have to grit your teeth and tell yourself it gets better you know! And enjoying having young children more than anything else doesn't make you boring or the rest of your life shit either.

I think it’s only sad if you reach that age and you haven’t achieved having a wonderful and loving family.

It made me cry 😢 Sometimes I think back to when I’ve wished time away especially when the kids were little and I found things a struggle and then boom it’s happened and you want to step back in time (although not to the whingy shitty times)

Yes i do think it will be actually.Its all I ever wanted so I'm at the peak of that.

We don't have much money so we won't be retiring early and able to indulge ourselves in holidays away together etc.I've never had an interest in building up a career, and i'm not very academic.I enjoy meals out, trips to the cinema or gigs etc with friends, but my children fulfil me and life before them always felt abit boring, so I don't look forward to going back to that one day to be honest.They will always be my life focus, although I won't hold them back from spreading their wings when the time comes of course.

But it's fine if you don't share that opinion though...each to their own, everybody has different focuses, priorities and interests.

I'm sure there are probably middle aged l
people with viewpoints similar to each of us.The posts i've seen on this site reflect that as some can't wait for their children to grow up and 'get their lives back' others are in bits emotionally as their children go off to Uni or move out or say they desperately miss the 'little years'

A lot of them are probably thinking thank fuck they are out of that stage to be fair. Peri menopause usually gets rid of those pesky hormones that make you wistful about little children.

Well exactly. Everybody’s life and experiences are different.

What is the alternative to your kids leaving home and growing older and less dependent?

I consider myself fortunate that so far, my kids have not had health issues or special needs that have held them back. They have managed to progress through the educational system and have exciting futures and plans ahead, socially and at work. For that I am very grateful.

I am sure none of us want our children to not to develop at all beyond early childhood. That’s why I have always celebrated each new milestone and stage of life. I think it’s a real privilege to see your kids grow up like this, not something to be too upset about.