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Original poster

What were your parents up to when they were your age?

35 replies

TripleHHHZ · 28/01/2021 18:50

I'm 37 and my mum had my brother at my age

OP posts:
MillieEpple · 28/01/2021 18:53

Mine were grandparents and were working full time.

Camomila · 28/01/2021 18:53

I'm 33 and married with 2 DC, age 4 and I.
DM was married with 1 DC, me aged 3 and pregnant with my brother - so very similar!

Aroundtheworldin80moves · 28/01/2021 18:55
  1. She would have had a 3yo and a 5yo. I seem to remember her working part time, as I went to preschool in the morning and childminder in the afternoon. Commuting into London
Chicchicchicchiclana · 28/01/2021 18:59

My Mum was drinking herself silly and worrying me and making my life miserable. She was a problem drinker for about 20 years and I reckon the age I am now is when she was at her worst.

My dad had a newish young family - his children were 9, 7 and 4 when he was my age.

I am very much an older parent and mine are 20 and 17!

ladybee28 · 28/01/2021 19:02

Very weirdly, my dad sent me a video the other day - he'd digitized (is that a word?) some old videocam footage from a holiday we took in the early 90s in Italy.

I was 6.

My mum was 33, the age I am now.

My dad was in law school, and my mum was home-schooling me (they had some difficulties finding a school that were a match for me, for reasons I won't go into).

We lived just outside London in my grandparents' back garden (a granny flat, not literally in the garden).

My mum didn't get on with my dad's parents, despite living 50 feet away from them. She felt trapped - in a marriage that would ultimately fall apart, basically living with and reliant on her in-laws, in a snooty village where she didn't fit in and having given up on her career to take care of me.

Looking at her in that video, she looked so, so young...

I, on the other hand, am unmarried, no kids, living on a little farm in Spain with my dog.

I wonder why... Grin

TheCanyon · 28/01/2021 19:04

Dad was in intensive care for 9 months while Mum was running herself into the ground parenting me and my brothers(three of us all under 6 at the time, working full time and visiting dad two hours away.

I can't even be arsed to get out my jammies to go for a walk. Feel quite bad about that now Blush

MissyB1 · 28/01/2021 19:05

I’m 52. At this age my mum had six kids ages ranging from 29 to me age 10. She was also a Grandma. She worked in admin at our local hospital. My dad was 68 and retired, his health was very poor and we all had to care for him. He died when I was 16.

ProfYaffle · 28/01/2021 19:09

My parents were quite young when they had me, I was quite old when I had my dc. The differences in our life stages are quite marked.

Dh are I are now 49 and 50. When my parents were that age, I was 28 and introducing them to dh for the first time. My dc are still at high school! I came home from University to celebrate my Dad's 40th, I was till at the soft play stage with my dc when I was 40.

insancerre · 28/01/2021 19:11

Well, my mum was dead and my dad was living with a brain aneurism
I’m 53

pumpkinsoups · 28/01/2021 19:11

One had a teenager the same age as mine. The other had four children.

Justgivemewine · 28/01/2021 19:14

I’m 49, when my mum was 49 my dad was made redundant but was due retire in a couple of years anyway at 55!!, so got a nice pay off and then straight onto a big fat public company pension, and moved to the countryside to enjoy their retirement. Dh is nearly 55 and we won’t be looking at that option for probably another 15 years.

FreezerBird · 28/01/2021 19:16

I'm 45.

At this age my mum was pregnant with me, and also had DC aged 16, 15, 13 and twins aged 11.

I have a 16yo and a 12yo, and am absolutely not going to do what my parents did and have a late extra.

1990shopefulftm · 28/01/2021 19:18

I m 25 ,I would have been 9 months old at this point in my mum's life and I now have a 3 month old myself

Mochatatts · 28/01/2021 19:20

I'm 39. So my mother had me I was 20 and my brother 17. She worked evenings and weekends in a pub and bleeted on about it endlessly. She liked to drink and smoke and was in the process of having an affair.
My dad would have been doing his last year in the army at 39, retired at 40. I would have been 9 and my brother 6. He liked to drink and smoke, watch sci-fi and listen to LPs. Only really talked when he'd had a drink.
I've two boys 13 and 9 and due a daughter in 2 weeks. OH is the same age and has two boys 11 and 9. This is our first child together. He's a chef and I'm a home carer.

DisgruntledPelican · 28/01/2021 19:22

I’m 35 and have a one year old. My mum and dad had me when they were 29 and 30. My mum at 35 would have been back working full time after I started school.

Darklane · 28/01/2021 19:24

Mine were both dead.

Brunt0n · 28/01/2021 19:24

I am nearly 32. My mum would have had me and I would have been about the age my daughter is now, strangely enough. She was a stay at home mum until I was a lot older , they still live in the same house I grew up in ☺️

Towelrailfail · 28/01/2021 19:26

Having a bit of a nervous breakdown after moving to a new country with 4 young kids and trying to set up a new business, all while my grand dad had cancer.

Marmite27 · 28/01/2021 19:26

@ProfYaffle

My parents were quite young when they had me, I was quite old when I had my dc. The differences in our life stages are quite marked.

Dh are I are now 49 and 50. When my parents were that age, I was 28 and introducing them to dh for the first time. My dc are still at high school! I came home from University to celebrate my Dad's 40th, I was till at the soft play stage with my dc when I was 40.

I have a 2 year old and a 5 year old, at my age my parents had a 19 year old away at uni and two 12 year old boys at high school.
deli00 · 28/01/2021 19:27

I'm 32, have one toddler aged2. Unmarried living with partner. I have a career, albeit work part time

My mum at 32 had 2 children, married and stay at home parent

GlowingOrb · 28/01/2021 19:32

When my mom was 46 she finally LTB. The final straw hadn’t been when he started mistaking me for her, it had been when he had found out my teen sister was sexually active and lost his freaking mind. I got a call at university from my sister to report that while she was at school and dad at work, mom had movers take their things and some of the furniture to a flat she had rented. He was an abusive alcoholic for years so it was about @$&* time. He got sober, realized there were underlying mental health issues, got psychiatric treatment, and they eventually reconciled (much to my chagrin)

It was all very high drama for about 2 years.

GreeboIsMySpiritAnimal · 28/01/2021 19:34

When my mum was my age (42), I was 20. She'd moved away from our home town for a new job, so was trying to focus on her career.

Sucks to be her, though, because I had a complete mental health breakdown, dropped out of uni, and had to move back in with her as I was a suicide risk.

Bless her, she stood by me - and still kept her career on track.

bloodywhitecat · 28/01/2021 19:37

Being grandparents (57) whereas I am spending my days and nights looking after a baby, and will hopefully have another one living with us soon.

Mumski45 · 28/01/2021 19:38

I'm 51 and at that age my Mum and Dad were Grandparents to my DD who would have been 8 by then at the same time as still bringing up my siblings and working full/part time.

WorriedMillie · 28/01/2021 19:40

Having lots of dinner parties and going on expensive holidays and driving me around horse shows and events over the weekend (I was a teen)
I was 7 years older than mum when I had DD. I don’t have dinner parties or go on expensive holidays. Still have horses though...