What makes a middle aged woman so teenage like?

[milanopop]

A Grandmother at the school gates in her late 40s maybe early 50s.
She has the energy of a teenager, looks about a size 6 and just looks as if she’s never grown up.
Her voice is young and she is quite child like, I just wondered what makes someone like this?
I am quite envious.
I wouldn’t say she was beautiful or anything but she just looks like a teenager but older.
We saw the family on holiday in a local resort and she was there up on the dance floor dancing to club like music like a choreographer, so much energy and youth.

I'd say it's all down to genetics and personality. People tend to age differently - she sounds like she was lucky.

“she was there up on the dance floor dancing to club like music like a choreographer, so much energy and youth”

this really struck me. Is she a trained dancer? My experience is that trained dancers are always tiny and extremely energetic (if they keep up the training and I guess a lot do because they seem to really love it)

I really wish my parents had put me in for something like that! I was actually thinking today that dance and proper music to an advance level is something I would really like to have done but obviously you have to fit in so much with kids.

Maybe I'd have to see the woman to understand, but from your description alone, I don't envy this woman. I don't want to look like a teenager at nearly 40 (in my case, nearly 50 in hers). I'm proud of being a grown woman and I'd rather be seen to have calm poise than be like a giggly schoolgirl on the dance floor. Nothing wrong with being a girl when you are a girl, but I'm a woman now.

I’ve heard menopause described as cougar puberty so this fits!

IME it’s an age when you stop giving a fuck about what other people think, can be unapologetically yourself, have the time to focus on yourself now your own kids have grown up and flown the nest and potentially have the benefit of HRT to bring back some of the joie de vivre that has been lost in the previous section of your life. As for her size that’s probably just genetic, but her attitude sounds like a woman confident in her own skin and happy with her life.

I did ask her if she was a dancer and she said no, she was just having fun with the kids.
She is tiny and can’t be much more than 5 foot, tiny feet skinny legs and thigh gap, flat stomach I think she could wear my 10 year old clothes but no boobs or shape which I think is why she looks so child like.
She just doesn’t seem like she has the temperament of an adult, so much energy and bounce, like a teen that can’t sit still.

It’s difficult to describe her energy she wasn’t jumping about but even when standing still her tip toe was jigging through her trainer and she just seemed so light and springy.

My MIL was a bit like this. Very young at heart loved to sing and dance. Used to do active play with her Grandchildren, skipping hopscotch etc. Always laughing and joking.
She only died 3 months ago aged 90! She was still going out and going on holiday with her partner until a few months before she became bedridden following some falls. She had Alzheimer’s.

So it's not in fact that she's particularly teenage, she's just very short with a pre-pubescent-looking body type, and is a naturally physically fidgetty/active person, so you don't think she looks adult?

Well I didn’t mean it to sound that way as I didn’t see it as anything negative.

There was a nursing assistant like this during a prolonged hospital stay for me over 16 years ago. She was tall and not slim, but had the air and energy of a much younger woman, early 20s. All four of us patients were aghast to learn she was 47! She had a heart of gold and blushed when we all agreed how lovely she was.

Exercise, genetics, diet. Likely laid good groundwork in her 20s and 30s. Didn’t smoke or drink loads and so is in good health and has good bone and muscle density and balanced hormones.

People eat and drink like shit for their 20s and 30s and don’t exercise and then try to clean up their act from 35 onwards (or never do at all) but they let themselves down when the foundation should have been built (up to age 30/32). After that it’s either maintenance or decline for lots of things. Then they wonder why they feel crap at 50.

Im not judging. I spent my 20s drinking too much and doing little exercise and at 31 Im now desperately trying to salvage it for my future.

Although it sounds more like you’re asking why she’s very small and not tired. Which is more likely genetics.

She will have had kids young, and got them out of the way, before being old herself

Might be a cokehead.

I saw her drink a few glasses of wine on holiday but of course that’s on holiday so not necessarily anything to go by as I did too because I was on holiday.

If she's anything like my family member, an eating disorder, an exercise addiction, and her entire life being centred around her appearance helps.

Definitely not, she is well spoken/respected

Maybe I'm being a bit easily offended here, but is this thread really asking by what magic someone in their late 40s might be energetic, as if you would expect them to be a broken husk by then? Some people are just more energetic by nature, it's not a great mystery. I'm also not sure why it's more surprising for someone to be short and thin at 50 than at any other adult age!

Why would she not be full of energy and dancing around in her late 40s/early 50s? It's only on here that people in their 30s are 'so exhausted' by the end of the week or go to bed at 8pm and they're 'so shattered' by life admin.

Some of us are that age and are still fighting fit* and love going out and enjoying ourselves. Stop putting the poor woman down.

*ignoring my auto immune condition as that's just life😐

Not at all, it was the fact that they seem like a teenager and by that I mean by attitude, mannerism and looks.
Like they never grew up.

It's almost always down to genetics, and being petite definitely helps. People often thought I was my son's girlfriend until I was at least 50 (I had him when I was 20). And no I didn't remotely encourage it and quickly disavowed them! I'm a smoker, enjoy a drink and have never set foot in a gym. I'm 70 now. But to be honest, someone in their 40's shouldn't normally be haggard and worn out. I was a ball of energy in my 40's as I suspect are most women.

“Stop putting the poor woman down”

Where has this happened?

Yes, people are weird about correlating age with height! I'm tall and loved that I could into pubs and clubs underage, now I have petite friends who are often thought to be much younger than their age. It's so illogical - most women reach their full height at age 14 or 15, so unless you're trying to work out whether someone is an actual child their height tells you nothing - but seems really ingrained subconsciously!

As shortass that's definitely my experience!

I’m in my 40s, short, size 8, very fit - regularly climb mountains, walk, lift weights. I’m full of energy. I wouldn’t be singing or dancing, but that’s just my personality.
I don’t think this is unusual at 50 or so?

However, nobody mistakes me for being younger. I guess the face doesn’t lie!