To ask if you'd spend time with your kids if you weren't related to them

Absolutely I would. We often did stuff together when they were teens and have continued to do so. They’re in their 40s now, but we still meet up at least weekly for walks, coffee etc and go on holiday together most years with their partners and children. I’m very lucky!

My adult children are great to be around , funny , kind generous yes I enjoy being with them

Yes I’m always chuffed to bits to be included in their plans. One of my oldest friends is taking her kids to a festival and asked me for tips. If you’d told us either would do that pre-kids we’d have laughed you out of town.

My eldest is a really interesting person and I really enjoy hanging out with him and his friends.

I have very little in common with the others. Occasionally go to the football together or have random chats over a drink but we are all very different.

My adult daughter and her friend are leaders alongside me in my Brownie unit so in that sense, yes. My son and I share a hobby (canoeing) so also yes, I guess so.

If you're asking whether I like my children beyond simply tolerating them because I have to, then yes. They're fabulous!

I love the company of my teenage / young adult children, but as a 50yo woman, no, I probably wouldn't hang out with random 16/20 year old boys, because that would be a bit odd...I enjoy their company because they are mine, so we have the fact that we are related in common, apart from incidental shared interests.

Yes, my three are adults between the ages of 22 and 35 and are great fun to be with. I also have a lot in common
re politics and current affairs with my son so we always have lots to talk about. As humans they are funny, intelligent and genuinely kind, so my kind of people to spend time with. I feel very privileged that I have good relationships with them as have friends who have difficult relationships with their children and it's very sad.

As an ex-nanny and someone who works in Early Years I don’t think it would be weird and creepy to spend time with a random toddler! Toddlers are great fun! More fun than my adult DC. I think it would be a bit weird and creepy if I wanted to hang around with young men in their early 20s. I’m not sure chatting about cars and motorbikes is really my thing.

I love them to death but in all honesty, no I wouldn't. I don't really have anything in common with them.

Yep! He’s so funny and we have a lot in common

Yes, I enjoy their company, but in different ways. One is very lively and vibrant and brings me out of my shell. The other is thoughtful and introspective and we have lots of shared interests, particularly art, music and books.

Yes absolutely. They are both fantastic, fun and interesting.

Yes! They make me laugh

Yeah love ‘em, they’re a good laugh.

My eldest-nope.
Twin one-small doses.
Twin 2-in bigger doses.
Dd- yep.

I wouldn't know them I guess, but they're absolutely delightful, and I reckon their dad must be a top fella!

Yes definitely, they're my favourite people in the whole world ☺️ two of our sons are coming over today, they're going to cook dinner for us all and we're going to watch the football. I love that they still want to hang out with us even though they're all adults with busy lives!

Definitely, she's really cool and we have a lot of similar interests.

I've thought this before. I've also thought it about my siblings.

My son, absolutely yes. I raised him to be polite and courteous. He literally helps elderly people across the road. He also teaches something I used to be very good at in my school years but would be awful at now, and I would definitely approach him for lessons.

Siblings, yes but in smaller doses! 😁

Very sadly, no i dont think so. She takes after her dad and i think my personality grates on her. (You'd have to ask him as to why he married someone he despised 🤷‍♀️).

I’m just not sure how a scenario like that would come about? I don’t spend time one on one with any teenagers that I’m not related to.

I would like to, but I'm not sure a teenager would want to spend time with a random middle aged woman.

Maybe not with ds - we don’t really have any interests in common. But if I saw him randomly chatting with his friends I’d wonder who he was and want to know him better, especially if I heard him laugh. He has the best, best laugh.

My kids are teenagers and young adults and they make me laugh in a way nobody else I know does.

I always told the kids "I'm your mother, not your friend" when they complained about some safety/ homework/ screen time etc. rule not being fun or whatever, and when she turned 18 DD asked if we could be friends now that she is an adult and I don't have to tell her what to do any more 😝😊

DD and I have been on weekends/ short breaks just the two of us since she's been an adult and have some interests in common - she doesn't live at ours any more but we meet up the same way friends do from time to time, as well as her coming here and just crashing on the sofa and asking what's for dinner in a kid way sometimes.

It's a little bit trickier with my boys - I love spending time with them, they're incredibly funny and knowledgeable about the things they're interested in, including nowadays knowing more than me about certain current affairs issues which it's really interesting to talk to them about - but I'm not sure they'd hang out with me if I wasn't their mum - after all there's no other context in which late teen boys hang out with women in their 50s 😂 unless we worked together I guess, but there are no employees under 25 in my department and they couldn't work there really so that's also hard to imagine atm - I think they'd be polite and friendly but I don't think they'd be socialising after work. That's just the demographic though - it's not a fair question really... I have found it trickier to move out of the parent -child dynamic with my young adult son than I did with DD at the same age, which I need to work on, but they're very different people.

Adult dd - almost certainly not. In terms of social interests and behaviours, seems the apple fell a very long way from the tree. In any other setting, I doubt we would engage at all.