I didn't think I looked that rough!

[Magenta82]

A woman in the supermarket was chatting to my 11 month old DD and said "are you out shopping with granny?"

I was so stunned I couldn't say a word.

I am an older mum at 40 and she hasn't slept through in the last week but I didn't think I looked that rough!

What is wrong with you?

The woman wasn't rude and thoughtless, she was just making conversation, and you are old enough to be a grandmother so although it smarted to hear it, it's just unfortunate that's all.

Bloody hell, that's nasty. Why on earth would someone say that? To go out of your way to make a stranger feel shit.

I've just been reading about the actress and TV presenter, Kym Marsh. Interestingly, she was 42 when she became a grandmother. Kym had her daughter, Emilie, (her 2nd child) when she was 21 and Emilie had a son when she too was 21.

It's not unusual to be a grandmother in your forties. Is the thought of being a grandmother so offensive?

Are you sure they didn’t ask when your Last Menstrual Period was? DD is a radiographer they ask it of every female up to I think 56, it’s part of their protocols.

It's suggests, or indicates two generations of having a baby young when the average age to become a mother is 31 in my country. Even that's older that the previous generation, average age to become a grandma is 55-65

I was. And there are plenty of others who are.

Of course biologically you can be a grandparent at 40 but to assume someone is a grandparent at 40 to a young child or course it is rude and being offended is not being rude to younger grandparents!

Alot of the parents (mums) that I know in the primary school playground are mid 30s to mid 40s, so I would mostly assume a 40 year old female with a baby/toddler was mum and not grandma. If you really are unsure, then assume nothing and keep your thoughts to yourself!

The 40 year old grandparents being offended by OP being offended, how would it make you feel if you were mistaken as being parent to your grandchild?

Depends on what part of the body they're X-raying. For many examinations, the radiation dose is so low (eg skull, lower arms and legs), that it's not a contraindication to X-ray a pregnant woman. The dose to the abdomen is equivalent to a day or two of background dose at most.

On the matter of ages of grandmothers, just about all the women in my family, and DPs family, who are grandmothers, became so before 40.