To think that the attitude to older people, particularly older women on Mumsnet .....

[seeker]

......is utterly shameful, shows mumsnetters in a very bad lightand should be challenged more and harder?

Not cross at MN for thinking I am ancient, but I do get VERY shouty at adverts for 'Michael Parkinson's will pay for your funeral' and 'buy these nasty clothes because you are over the hill' and 'this overpriced yoghurt will make you live forever' and 'you are wrinkly and nobody loves you unless you buy airbrush-Davina's cream'.

Just because I am a bit older than the advertising twerps, don't treat me like an idiot :(

They make me cross

It's in the eye of the beholder. in some people's views, I'm being ageist on another thread, and from my point of view, they want to put my disabled mother in a coal mine, and feed her to goats.

For the love of god PLEASE don't let this be a spin off from the 'I would like my three year old daughter to stay with me for one night' thread because that thing has run, and run, and run. And if it starts taking over the rest of MN I think I don't think I can cope.

I am older too, I've seen the "she's older" in some posts, then it comes out the person they are talking about is 50 and it makes me giggle (can I giggle, I'm 50 now) Yet I am not a Grandma by a long shot, and I am still parenting my youngest of three and she is a 7 year old and my rocking chair is covered in clothes in the corner of my bedroom. The knitting is collecting dust and I can't be bothered to get it started again, it's a winter craft for me.

granddaughter

I also get a bit stabby when people think I'm not fit for anything. I'm fitter than some of the "girls" in their 20's that I know. I do 3-4 hours of cardio and and an hour of yoga each week I'm very..... flexible.... Yeah thats the word, flexible

Age is always mentioned as if it is relevant e.g a woman in a cafe tells off your child and she is inevitably an'old biddy' or an 'old bat'!
60 is treated as if it is elderly when lots of over 60s are running, horse riding, skiing etc and are far fitter than an overweight 20 something woman who couldn't run to catch a bus!

Another wrinkly here, though I don't feel it's an issue for me on the threads.

I do get very, very pissed off at all the 'old bat on bus' type stories, though.

Exactly California- I would be the 'old biddy' and I ran almost 5 miles this morning.

MILS are always old cows or old bags on MN.

Totally agree with you Seeker (as I do on most threads ) - anyone over 50 on Mumsnet is often seen as 'ancient' and 'past it'.

I love my MIL with all my heart

And a 60+ is perfectly capable of looking after a baby or a toddler for a day!

I always challenge ageism when I see it here - not surprising, given that I'm 52, almost 53!

Usually it's on the Style & Beauty threads - "am I too old at 21 to wear clothes?", that kind of thing.

I can't bear it, and it saddens me (as well as enraging me) that women are so quick to slag off and dismiss other women simply on the basis of their age.

oh so what

when i was in my 20's i though over 40 was past it

now i am very nealry 40 i can see how silly i was, i am sure my mum thought the same and my nanny and they both disliked their mil, my nan hated hers with a passion (but then so did everyone else apart from her children)

So what? So I'm fed up of being made to feel like I'm bloody past it.

In RL I have had nothing but bad experiences of older (70+) ladies being rude, judgemental and downright batty.

On MN I rarely am aware of peoples ages.

The attitude towards older women largely stems from the judging they do of "young people nowadays". According to them we are all shooting up and abandoning our kids while robbing our grannies.

Thats in RL though...

This about the MIL overnight stay thread, seeker?

So what? Why don't you engage your bloody brain and think about how offensive it might be to other posters on here?

It's ok to offend the 'old bats' though, apparently

NannyOgg - brilliant name

Is it age related or just the jovial, happy character wot likes her "big softie" cat???

I don't think most people give a shit about age - I think most women are younger than they are because I don't think they come across as "mature"

I watch how people comment on the Queen and that blows my mind. I don't care about what her standing in life is, she is still someone's mother and a grandmother and I was always brought up to respect my elders and Queenie is one of them.

I agree with you entirely. I'm fed up of being made to feel like I'm slightly dotty and incapable of looking after children despite the fact that a) I'm not remotely dotty (well, no more than I was when I was 20) and b) that I'm the mother of a small child who seems to be thriving last I checked

Maybe I also don't frequent some of the nastier threads.

I just liked Nanny Ogg

but they coul be thinking that of me too i shall be 40 very very soon and fabulous with it. i can remember my mum saying her life started at 40 and thinking she was a little sad, but she turned her life around then

that is what i am saying most of us probably thought that way may but have expressed it and our mothers, grandmothers probably thought that too

a 25 year old is not going to make me feel past it when i can myself show me that i am not and not feel i am (though i am some things and happy to be)