Please or to access all these features

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To think a 7 year gap isn’t close in age

28 replies

1010777y · 23/09/2026 18:30

Personally I don’t think so

OP posts:
New posts on this thread. Refresh page
Newname71 · 23/09/2026 20:19

DH is 7 years older than me. We were 27 and 34 when we got together. Would I have got with him when I were 23 and he were 30? Probably not

CopiedMyBlottingBook · 23/09/2026 18:58

Boreded · 23/09/2026 18:45

If you are talking about kids ages then no…but in a relationship yes, especially after 30, and it’s practically the same after 60.

23 and 30 is fine in a relationship - there was 7 years gap in my parents relationship and they were together happily until my dad passed in his 70s.

Exactly this. It's a gap which will effectively narrow as you age. When I was a teenager, my now husband was twice my age. We met when I was in my 30s. Now we are in our 50s and 60s, the gap doesn't seem much at all - we have very similar frames of reference.

Amsylou · 23/09/2026 18:53

There’s a 6 year age gap between me and my husband. We met when I was 22 and he was 28. Nobody cares, and honestly we are more or less the same age maturity wise and started working full time at the same age too. Both consenting adults.

TotaleclipseinFrance · 23/09/2026 18:48

AutumnAllTheWay · 23/09/2026 18:41

Between 23 and 30 is in the realms of acceptable and noone else's business

Totally agree. Nobody's being exploited in terms of being too young here.
16 and 23 would be obviously different.

It never fails to amaze me about how people cannot see how the number of years alone means nothing in itself.

Heck a 35-year-old woman could marry a 70-year-old man, and while she may end up looking after him which may be cause for concern, there's nothing sinister in it!

StarPyjamas · 23/09/2026 18:48

arethereanyleftatall · 23/09/2026 18:40

Are you being charged by the word?

Fuck me, you'd think so, wouldn't you?

There's been a ridiculous run of these threads where a random question is asked with no information or context.

TallSturdyGirls · 23/09/2026 18:48

1010777y · 23/09/2026 18:36

Between 23 and 30

Meh.

WorkCleanRepeat · 23/09/2026 18:47

1010777y · 23/09/2026 18:36

Between 23 and 30

If the male was the older one I wouldn't be bothered about this. There would probably be a huge maturity gap the other way round.

Boreded · 23/09/2026 18:45

If you are talking about kids ages then no…but in a relationship yes, especially after 30, and it’s practically the same after 60.

23 and 30 is fine in a relationship - there was 7 years gap in my parents relationship and they were together happily until my dad passed in his 70s.

BitterTits · 23/09/2026 18:44

Well it isn't close in age, but neither is it troubling, surely.

BigFatLiar · 23/09/2026 18:42

I think at 23 and 30 they should be able to make up their own minds about relationships.

DilemmaDelilah · 23/09/2026 18:41

There are 7 years between DH and me. I am 65, he is 72. Most people would think that gap negligible at our age, but he had left school and had started an apprenticeship by the time I was just starting at my senior school, so our experiences were actually very different. There are still things that surprise me that he thinks are completely normal - and they were when he was at school in the 1960s. He was driving and had his own car when I was still only 13, and had money of his own, that he earned and could spend on whatever he liked (after paying board to his parents) when I was still getting pocket money.

I think 7 years is quite a big gap.

AutumnAllTheWay · 23/09/2026 18:41

Between 23 and 30 is in the realms of acceptable and noone else's business

arethereanyleftatall · 23/09/2026 18:40

1010777y · 23/09/2026 18:36

Between 23 and 30

Are you being charged by the word?

AutumnAllTheWay · 23/09/2026 18:40

Read ops update!

ClearFruit · 23/09/2026 18:39

My eldest and youngest are 7 years apart and they have nothing in common.

LoveWine123 · 23/09/2026 18:39

Should they be close in age? What are we talking about?

RampantIvy · 23/09/2026 18:38

What is the context? A relationship?

PotteringAlonggotkickedoutandhadtoreregister · 23/09/2026 18:38

Between your children it’s massive.
Dating a 54 year old when you’re 47? It’s fine.
Dating someone who is 25 when you’re 18? No.

Like so much of life, context is key here.

1010777y · 23/09/2026 18:36

DaisyZulu · 23/09/2026 18:33

Are we talking relationships? Subsequent children?
7 years between child 1 and 2- no thats quite a gap

Between 23 and 30

OP posts:
Createausername1970 · 23/09/2026 18:35

Are you meaning difference in age between siblings? Or difference in age in an adult relationship?

DaisyZulu · 23/09/2026 18:35

Double posted

SnapAndTap · 23/09/2026 18:35

For what?
Siblings? Yes.
First relationship? Probably
70 yr old widow starting dating again? No.

KnickerlessFlannel · 23/09/2026 18:34

Depends on the circumstances. Children of the same parent or teen relationship, nah. But a couple of people both in their 80's I would say are similarly aged.

TheLightSideOfTheMoon · 23/09/2026 18:34

Depends.

At one and eight, no.

At 91 and 98, yes.

warninglivewithoutwarning · 23/09/2026 18:34

Between a newborn and a 7 year old? Or between 81 and 88 year olds?

Swipe left for the next trending thread