Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To wonder how you recognise you're getting older

264 replies

clearlyaplasticgnome · 29/04/2015 13:40

I hate having to go out in the evenings
I love listening to Radio 4
I dream of retirement and moving to a nice village beside the sea (never going to happen!)

OP posts:
dottyaboutstripes · 29/04/2015 13:43

What I see in the mirror. Omg the wrinkles

ChablisChic · 29/04/2015 13:45

When my daughter asked me to text her to let her know I'd arrived home safely after a visit to her!

magimedi · 29/04/2015 13:49

I was given a free glass of some drink at the end of a curry, took one sip, didn't like it & left it.

Very grown up to leave free alcohol. Grin

(This was last year & I am going to be 60 shortly!)

cozietoesie · 29/04/2015 14:08

When young men walking past you in the street don't register you. (I don't mean clock you and then move on but simply don't see you - as if you had some cloak of invisibility over you.)

Gatehouse77 · 29/04/2015 14:11

When you let out an involuntary grunt on getting up/bending down...

Isyourclockorange · 29/04/2015 14:12

When you feel happy with what you have and don't have, and also who you have and don't have. Not everyone will like you - that's normal and ok!

Aebj · 29/04/2015 14:17

Going to the gym and expect to move the next day.
Having a couple of glasses of wine on a school night and expecting to feel good the next day.
My children being amazed we didn't have a computer at home when I was a kid and that I remember outside toilets??

Songofsixpence · 29/04/2015 14:21

When your mother retires and the little baby who was only born 5 minutes ago becomes a teenager

When the hangover lasts longer than the actual event - I went to a music festival last year. Thought I was quite cool, busting my moves and singing loudly. 5 days it took to get over that. I couldn't move, I couldn't speak, I was utterly exhausted

Using phrases like "busting my moves"

OTheHugeManatee · 29/04/2015 14:22

I spent the other day painting the house listening to club classics from the Noughties and remembering my raving days a lifetime ago Grin

Breadrocks · 29/04/2015 14:22

Would rather go out for brunch or lunch than for dinner and drinks. Hate going to bars where I can't hear myself think!

Actually look forward to going to bed at 9pm!

ThumbWitchesAbroad · 29/04/2015 14:24

When you seriously can't believe that someone is old enough to be a policeman/teacher/fireman or whatever.

When your knees ache in the morning when you get out of bed - although, to be fair, that was years ago and taking multivitamins and oils every day has fixed that Grin

When you can't read with your glasses on any more, and don't want/refuse to get bifocals because they're naff, so end up having to move your glasses up and down your nose to focus, or take them off completely for really small writing.

magimedi · 29/04/2015 14:26

Thumb - get varifocals - no one can tell & they are great.

Charlotte3333 · 29/04/2015 14:27

The moment when you get your guitar-loving 9 year old to listen to Jimi Hendrix's back catalogue and smile smugly when they declare "that was awesome".

The moment when painting your toenails becomes a chore.

The moment when you tell the children at school you're only 24 and they laugh like drains.

Buying (and reading) cook books constantly. Reading them in bed, especially.

Bonsoir · 29/04/2015 14:28

When you think very carefully whether or not to have a glass of wine as you know the next day will be horrible if you do.

When your idea of a great relaxing afternoon is a little sleep on the sofa and a yoga session.

ouryve · 29/04/2015 14:28

Creaking. I just can't move as fast as I used to.

stevienickstophat · 29/04/2015 14:30

Long eyebrow hairs.
White eyebrow hairs.
Wrinkles.
Actively looking forward to University Challenge and Mastermind and getting quite competitive about it.
Knowing you will never enter a nightclub ever again and being delighted about the fact.
Realising you were only born twenty nine years after the end of World War 2.
Enjoying Gardener's World.
Spots and cuts taking ages to heal.
Looking like a picture of the Evolution of Man as you get up from your chair and 'evolve' across the living room, getting straighter as you go.
Grunting when you put your socks on.
Becoming completely invisible to anyone under the age of 30.
Starting to call shop assistants 'love'.
Using the word 'super' with no irony whatsoever.
Doing a double take as what appears to be a child drives past you on the road.
Talking to work colleagues and realising they were born in 1992. They have cars and are teachers, ffs.

I could go on. I'm forty, for the love of God.

Oreocrumbs · 29/04/2015 14:30

When your DD starts asking about which school you went to "in the olden days" Confused I'm only 31. Pft. Mind you I don't half creak like a 90 yr old when I get up/bend down.

6Musiclover · 29/04/2015 14:30

Achy joints. Looking forward to going to bed with a good book. I can't cope with hangovers anymore, and my tolerance for alcohol has greatly reduced.
I don't go out much in the evenings but prefer to meet up with friends for lunch.

MajesticWhine · 29/04/2015 14:33

Enjoying the garden. I planted up hanging baskets this year and I'm quite proud of them. Never been interested before.

Oobis · 29/04/2015 14:34

I like to examine the outside of unusual envelopes for clues rather than simply opening post straight away. It always used to annoy me when my mum did this!

DoJo · 29/04/2015 14:36

When the music you liked at school is described as 'old school' and appears on retro-compilation albums.

When the checkout operator doesn't even glance at you before they hit the 'CLEARLY over 25' button on the till.

When you see the look on a young person's face change to utter horror when you describe what life was like before the internet. 'And if we wanted to buy something, we had to go to the shops. EVERY time.' Shock

stevienickstophat · 29/04/2015 14:38

More.

Hair growing in the most surprising of places.
Hair becoming bristly when it used to be downy.
Warty things and age spots appearing.
Thread veins.
When nobody looks surprised when you mention you have a sixteen year old.
When you actively need glasses rather than using them to pose with.
Feeling like you look a berk when wearing sexy undies.
Just knowing you are too old for certain clothes, but not being able to put your finger on why. Not even hotpants, etc. Just certain ordinary clothes.

stevienickstophat · 29/04/2015 14:40

The impatience you can feel radiating off a youth while he or she watches you interacting with IT.

ThumbWitchesAbroad · 29/04/2015 14:43

Magimedi - they scare me. I'm not sure I'd cope. I don't like the idea of having to look through different parts of the lens to focus differently. fighting losing battle here

SevTSnape · 29/04/2015 14:43

Not knowing some of the words my younger colleagues come out with (peng, anyone?)

Happily going to bed between 9 and 10 and being happy to wake up at 7am, meaning I get more day to do stuff.

Making sure I get to the shops early to avoid crowds (man, I hate people!)

Enjoy looking through the homeware section of the Argos catalogue

Buying fresh fruit and veg