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It's official - im old now

142 replies

connectivityissues · 24/11/2021 19:30

Ds who has just turned 8 was doing his homework which was a book report type assignment. He asked me "Mum have you heard of Harry Potter? This book is so old it was made in 1997." I was born in 1991 and Im only 30 next month but in my son's eyes I am now older than Harry Potter and this means I am the oldest person alive.

His dad is 35.

Fucking Harry Potter.

When did your kid first make you feel old?

OP posts:
GoodnightGrandma · 25/11/2021 07:14

When I wondered if my new dentist had done his homework 🤣

KittiesInsane · 25/11/2021 07:41

Also Harry Potter related. DS was having a rant about JK Rowling's admittedly crap attempt at a Chinese name (Cho Chang) and said 'She could at least have bothered to google it first!'

Erm. No, son, she couldn't.

whojamaflip · 25/11/2021 07:42

When my youngest came back from school and asked me about growing up in Northern Ireland in the 70's as they had been learning about it in History class!!! Wtaf??? I'm not that old 😩

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whojamaflip · 25/11/2021 07:42

Well i am that old I suppose 🙁

LUCCCY · 25/11/2021 07:42

Not me but my mum said to me that when I was about 7 I said to her "Mum, were you alive when trains were invented?" She said I'm only 32! Grin

RampantIvy · 25/11/2021 08:10

As an older than average poster on mumsnet here is my take:

My grandmother was 27 when Queen Victoria died. If my parents were still alive my dad would be 112 and my mum 103 - both my parents, and DH and I were over 40 when we had DC. My dad was in the RAF during the war and my mum with the Free French.

Posters who talk about texting/messaging their partners when first dating - mobiles hadn't been invented when I first started going out with boys.

I did O leveles, not GCSEs. We didn't have calculators for maths O level, and had to show our rough workings out in pencil on the exam paper. We had a book of log tables for logs and trigonometry.

I grew up with black and white TV.

I had friends at school who didn't even have a phone in the house. DH's mum didn't have a phone when I first met her.

Most of my peers from school are grandparents. DD is a university student.

All baby and childhood photos of me are in black and white.

I pre-date fax machines, cheap flights, mobile phones of any description, home computers, social media, compulsory seat belts.

Fortunately the equal opportunities act came in two years before I started work, new year's day became a bank holiday three years before, and the Mayday bank holiday the year I started work.

Daleksatemyshed · 25/11/2021 08:31

@SerenTarot, we had the same thing.We called them Goesunders because they go under the bed!

StCharlotte · 25/11/2021 08:42

@MrsMoastyToasty

When I got asked by the office junior what a fax machine is.
We actually received a fax at work yesterday!
AndSoFinally · 25/11/2021 10:09

My DS asked me if the world was in black and white when I was young 😂😂

ColinTheKoala · 25/11/2021 11:43

I'm a bit sceptical that kids don't know what fax machines and DVDs are (all but the very littlies). Certainly as recently as 2012 we were still receiving or sending the odd fax at work and you can still buy DVDs and CDs.

It is a bit of a thing to think that it's as far back to 1980 as 1980 was to 1939. However, tech developments aside, I think there was more change between 1939 and 1980 than between 1980 and now.

ColinTheKoala · 25/11/2021 11:43

1939 was black and white :)

ColinTheKoala · 25/11/2021 11:46

@KittiesInsane

Also Harry Potter related. DS was having a rant about JK Rowling's admittedly crap attempt at a Chinese name (Cho Chang) and said 'She could at least have bothered to google it first!'

Erm. No, son, she couldn't.

She could have used some completely rubbish search engine I guess. I remember reading about Google in the Evening Standard in about 2000 and started using it and it was a revelation after using other rubbish search engines like altavista in the mid to late 90s. I actually worked on a human indexing project called DMOZ for some years - can you imagine trying to do that now!
Porfre · 25/11/2021 11:47

@McDuffy

My 4yo old asked me what smoking was. She doesn't know anyone that smokes and has never clocked anyone doing it. All the adults in my family smoked (apart from my mum) in the 80s!
The other day I was walking to collect my girl from school with my 4 year old. On the way I walked past someone smoking sat in the driver seat.

We went past them, and my 4 year old ran back shouting mum look theres smoke coming from this car!

Shes never seen anyone smoking and was amazed at the smoke. I quickly grabbed her and shuffled her along

Porfre · 25/11/2021 11:48

My 7 year old is always asking me about what we did in the "olden days"

Toddlerteaplease · 25/11/2021 11:50

I'm just 40 and am slightly older than one of my colleagues parents. Confused

Toddlerteaplease · 25/11/2021 11:58

@EineReiseDurchDieZeit

Working with people who like above are adults who were VERY young or weren't born on 9/11

Similarly, young adults with no idea of what a big deal Princess Diana's funeral was in the UK and the Absolute Scenes that went on for weeks

I find this completely bizarre! I just can't get my head round how they can be adult but not remember it!
HirplesWithHaggis · 25/11/2021 11:58

Some years ago, my then 6 yo grandson was playing and joking with his dad. Dad says, "Will you still love me when I'm old?" DGS stared straight into his eyes and said, "But daddy, you're already old!"

He was 24.

Perils of teen parenthood. Grin

Bambooshoot · 25/11/2021 13:07

I remember seeing CDs and microwave ovens on “Tomorrow’s World”. Shoot me now, it’s only kind.

boobot1 · 25/11/2021 13:17

@heidbuttsupper

My niece asked me if I got the belt at school....I'm 37!
We got hit with the meter ruler or slipper at school and I'm 40
mehface · 25/11/2021 13:33

When someone asks your age and you tell them. Then you remember later your actually a couple of years older than what you said to them Grin

Lampzade · 25/11/2021 13:38

My dcs can’t get over the fact that we had four channels and no sky.
My Dd2 said that’ it must have been really boring in the olden days’

showmethegin · 25/11/2021 13:50

Not something a kid said but I saw this on social media the other day. I'm 33 and it made me feel ancient!

Hufflepuff21 · 25/11/2021 13:56

One of my senior pupils came to me at the end of class: "Miss, do you know how to use Facebook?"
"Yes!"
"Right, can you show me how to send a message? I just set it up to look at this page and I can't work it out. It's so old fashioned!"

Facebook is now old fashioned. 😐

HirplesWithHaggis · 25/11/2021 14:02

@Bambooshoot

I remember seeing CDs and microwave ovens on “Tomorrow’s World”. Shoot me now, it’s only kind.
Me too. And they said CDs were virtually indestructible. Harrumph.
StormyCornishSeas · 25/11/2021 14:06

Less than 5 years ago I worked with an 18 year old who didn't know how to use a landline. I suddenly felt ancient