To think this isn't a compliment?

[PinkGlitter123]

To be told regularly and often that you look 17/18 at the age of 34.

@Sparklfairy - I just can't stand fat and old looking keyboard warriors trying to wreck OP's self esteem when it already seems quite low.

You do realise the irony of your post? You've been nasty to posters you assume are fat and old. Nothing wrong with being fat and old anyway.

the thing is though, if you’ve been hearing how young you look since you were a young teenager, and listening to people say “you’ll be grateful when you’re thirty-odd”, but actually, now you are, and it’s still going on, it is fucking irritating. it is shit all to do with thinking you’re gorgeous and everything to do with wanting to be being treated like an adult.

op i recommend taking up smoking and sunbathing for their skin-aging properties (not actually)

Of course it’s a compliment, the same as being taken for a 55 year old at 30 would be an insult.

It's supposed to be a compliment but shock at my actual age often makes me wonder whether it's because people find me immature blush

Oh gosh this! ^^ Or I worry it's because I dress too young

When I looked younger than I was, it was nothing to do with looking gorgeous. I looked like a skinny child.

A lot of people do look young and attractive, but the two don't necessarily go together.

@NannyRed - Of course it’s a compliment, the same as being taken for a 55 year old at 30 would be an insult.

Why though? I wouldn't consider either to be a compliment (or an insult for that matter). I just think it's bloody irritating to be judged on how old you look in comparison to your chronological age.

3 times in the last week I've had people tell me they're surprised that im 33 and that they thought I was about 19. (We've been talking about children/life and explaining about my teenager or talking about husband before that point) I'm quite a plain jane so take it as a compliment but it can get annoying after a while.

At that age I would have hated it. I looked very young for my age in my 20's, early 30's and comments like that made me think people thought I was silly, immature and was taken less seriously at work.

I was a bit paranoid!

Sort yourselves out before you start attacking others.

😂 the irony. And who needs to sort themselves out exactly? You've made a lot of assumptions about the people posting. I agree with @MaxNormal Seriously people are only jealous of you in your own mind, we don't have a clue what you look like.

Fwiw @OP I understand what you mean and agree that in many circumstances being perceived as younger does knock your confidence in a way and can make you feel as though you aren't taken as seriously, so you have my sympathy.

A number of people have mistaken my dd as my sister, I was 29 when I had her!
Thinking about it I was always mistaken for a much younger person whenever someone phoned my landline (back in the day).
It was always is your mum or dad in? Err no.
Ok I'll ring back later then. I was a mother and owned my own house!
I never took that as a compliment.

For people doubting anyone in their 30s could look much younger

This is Sally Thomsett who played an 11 year old girl in The Railway Children.

She was 20 years old at the time.

Oh I remember in my 20s answering my door to someone who asked if my parents were in! I laugh now but at the time I felt really irked by it!

the thing is though, if you’ve been hearing how young you look since you were a young teenager, and listening to people say “you’ll be grateful when you’re thirty-odd”, but actually, now you are, and it’s still going on, it is fucking irritating. it is shit all to do with thinking you’re gorgeous and everything to do with wanting to be being treated like an adult.

^ YES! This!

I get it OP, I really do. I am regularly mistaken for a student, asked for ID etc. I'm mid-thirties. I just want to be treated and spoken to like the mature, (reasonably) sensible adult with plenty of life experience that I am... not spoken down to like a teen or young adult just starting out in grown-up life.
It's not a compliment when it's been going on for so long... its irritating.

calling out fat bitches who can't deal with their own problems.

I think you need to rethink your attitude. It's seriously unpleasant.

Worra you have highlighted a point I was about to make, I think why some people are being perceived as looking younger than their actual age is the way the present themselves, years ago there were “uniforms” for each generation, it was easy to assess at a quick glance someone’s age, now everyone pretty much wears the same it’s harder to distinguish a 20 something wearing a hoodie, skinny jeans and trainers and a 40 plus wearing the same thing, you have to look a bit harder to make a judgement. Sally Thompsett does look like a child in that picture I agree, but because they have dressed her in child’s clothes it has exasperated her child like looks, dressed a bit more age appropriate I don’t think she would pass as 11 but would look the age she was.

I'm not being funny @WorraLiberty but in 'The Railway Children,' Sally Thomsett looks much closer to 20 than she does to 11. So I am not sure what point you're trying to make. She looks around 17.

The vast majority of people in their 30s will not look 16-17. Sure, some may look 7-8 years younger than their age, but do will not look 16-17.

Sorry, they just don't. If someone thinks a person of 33-35 looks 16, they need to go to Specsavers, because I have never seen anyone in real life who looks 16 in their mid 30s. From a distance, they may look much younger, (if they dress like a teenager,) but close up, they will look close to their age.

Most people look their age, and The vast majority of people do not look more than 7-8 years younger than their age. That's a fact. People are deluded if they think they look 15-20 years younger than their age, and anyone who says they do, as I said, needs to go to Specsavers!!!

And I have seen some effing rude posters on here, but @Sparklfairy takes the biscuit. What a nasty person she sounds.

BettyBooJustDoinTheDoo that's a really good point actually, because she appeared in Man About The House a few years later and looked 20ish.

I'm not being funny @WorraLiberty but in 'The Railway Children,' Sally Thomsett looks much closer to 20 than she does to 11. So I am not sure what point you're trying to make. She looks around 17.

The vast majority of people in their 30s will not look 16-17. Sure, some may look 7-8 years younger than their age, but do not look 16-17.

Sorry, they just don't. If someone thinks a person of 33-35 looks 16, they need to go to Specsavers, because I have never seen anyone in real life who looks 16 in their mid 30s. From a distance, they may look much younger, (if they dress like a teenager,) but close up, they will look close to their age.

Most people look their age, and The vast majority of people do not look more than 7-8 years younger than their age. That's a fact. People are deluded if they think they look 15-20 years younger than their age, and anyone who says they do, as I said, needs to go to Specsavers!!!

And I have seen some effing rude posters on here, but @Sparklfairy takes the biscuit. What a nasty person she sounds.

I'm not being funny @WorraLiberty but in 'The Railway Children,' Sally Thomsett looks much closer to 20 than she does to 11. So I am not sure what point you're trying to make.

Well the point I'm trying to make is that I personally think she looks around 11 in that film and nowhere near 20.

That's my opinion (point) and it's an opinion shared by many others. Otherwise her casting would never have worked.

Don’t worry, it certainly won’t last forever!

Sally Thomsett definitely looks closer to 20 than she does to 11!

She may look younger than 20, but she doesn't look 11. More like 16-17.

Sparklfairy I bet you anything you are fat and old

Don't worry op. Once you are over 50 you will be invisible to many men and younger women on MN will refer to you as a hysterical old bag. You have that to look forward to at least.