To hate looking young - like a teenager.

[JuliaVerammm]

I am 25 but no way look it.
As in, I could probably pass as 13-15 yr old if you put me in a school uniform.

I am a supply teacher (primary) and I hate my looks. I feel i'm pretty, have a lovely boyfriend so i'm happy. But I feel older ladies often comment on me looking 12, "no way are you a teacher!" ect.

September is looming and it's getting me down that i'm probably going to enter schools and have the "are you old enough to teach this class?" looks again.

I wear blouses, trousers, wedges, heeled shoes but still I can't pass as my own age! I have shoulder length curly hair.

I'm 5'0 and weight 7 stone 7.

@purpleme12 Ohh yessss a good old balloon I have the same problem now. My younger sibling is 11 years old, she not only looks maturer than me but she's taller than me too. I attend to her school when it's time to see the teacher and hear how's she's been getting on and the looks I get from other mums and dads Or she'll be out with her friends and I'll be popping to the shop and I'll phone her and tell her it's time to come home so she can help cook tea, bath etc.... and once someone actually asked me if there was also an adult at home! I was like excuse me!

I got asked if I was old enough to play the lottery when I was a mum at 34! All my family look young for our age as does Dh. I'm 47 and people are regularly really surprised when I tell them my age as they tell me they thought I was at least 10 years younger than that. I love it and actually find it very flattering. One day, you might like it.

Oh and "Are your parents in?" asked in all seriousness when I was returning home with my ds who was around 11 at the time so I was around 43!!

I feel your pain! I’m 25 as well but baby faced and short. Just today I had a man come out to look at the boiler and he asked if my parents were home. In the past I’ve been ID’d for paracetamol and 15 rated DVDs, given children’s menus in restaurants and charged children’s fare (that last one I don’t mind!)

I have nieces in their early / mid twenties, and nieces in their mid teens. The older nieces looks young for their age. The teens look totally sophisticated when made up and dressed for a night out.

Maybe it's because I have nieces in both age groups, but quite honestly, I would never mistake someone in their twenties, or older for a teen.
And vice versa.

I have no advice, OP, I'm afraid.

So many women, so young looking, being mistaken for teens, do share your secret with those of us who look our age.

I feel your pain too.
Being short and slim doesn't help. I'm 5ft and 6 stone 10.
I got ID'd for a bottle of calpol and an energy drink recently - I'm in my late 20s.

I will say I've tried long hair, short hair, dark/light hair, heavy/light/no makeup, expensive/trendy/workout/casual clothes, high heels/trainers/flat shoes/sandals + a variety of accessories, handbags, jewellery, even swinging my car keys in my hand.
None of it has made a jot of difference, it's incredibly frustrating.

I have no advice unfortunately, just sympathy.

I feel the same. I'm 28 and people often think I am 16-18. And then get told it's a compliment to look younger. If you're 60 and someone thinks you're 50 yes it's a compliment. But being 28 and people thinking you're 18 isn't ! There's a big difference between people thinking you're younger than you are because you have lovely, wrinkle free skin. And looking younger because you basically have a young "baby" face. I still remember being in school and feeling so jealous of my friends who at 16 could easily pass for 20. Not because of makeup or anything. They just had nature faces. I always thought once I lost weight my face would mature but nope,.. still look like a teen !

You'll age eventually. In the meantime think up some kick ass responses to people who comment, it is annoying I'd say "wow never heard that before" in my most sarcastic voice with an eye roll. I bet many some envy your youthful looks and slim figure.
DD's teacher last year was small many of the 11 y.o were taller other than the curly hair she sounds like your build. She was kind, caring, she made a big impact on DD's life going above and beyond. She was 7ft to us.
Try to ignore it you've lots of great things to offer in your role.

I worked with someone who was apparently often mistaken for a child (asked if they needed a kids menu, if they needed to be measured for school shoes in Clarks etc) but as I knew they must be at least 22 to hold a post-grad and do the job role I never questioned their age at work at all. I don't think anyone did. I do remember being in my early twenties and feeling like if I looked older I'd be taken more seriously at work though. I could have passed for 16 at 25 but all of a sudden, around 30, I started to look my age (or more!). Don't think I ever looked like I was late twenties.

It does go away eventually. There will come a day that you aren’t stopped on the street and accused of truancy because you took a
Afternoon off from your high-powered corporate job.

I get this too, I’m 39 and people now guess my age as late 20s. When I had my dd at 23 the midwife asked if I was going to be going back to school to do my GCSEs! I don’t mind it now I’m older, it’s quite nice . I’m 5’8” so no shortarse. I’ve taken a lot of drugs and had a lot of stress over the years, as well as smoked like a chimney so I’ve no idea why I don’t look at least my actual age.

I’ve got no help really. But you aren’t alone. On my early twenties I was a supply teacher. I actually on my first morning at a new school (secondary) got pulled by SLT for uniform violations.

I rode out with one of the young teenage (13-14 ish) kids from the horse park one day. Riding past her Nan's house, Nan comes trotting out to the gate with two ice blocks asking if her granddaughter's "little friend" wants one. I didn't know who she was talking about and I'm looking around to see who else is with us. I was freaking 30-something - bahaha! In Nan's defence, she was old and (must have, surely) had bad eye-sight so all she would have seen was a puny/super petite 5'1, 6 stone person on a pony. Nan probably would have been less than impressed if she'd known the water bottle actually carried rum and coke

@itispersonal, I used to get to ride the bus on kids fare too, bonus! Plus, at my pick up (last pick up for city express) the bus was usually nearly full and the drivers would always tell me to hop on because I could squeeze into the stairwell. It's probably illegal to do that now.

To be honest, it would suck. I get it. Your size doesnt help obviously but since you cant magically grow a feet well... i guess nothing you can do then owning your hight. Lady gaga is tiny yet so powerful. And that is just on example. ((In 10/20 years time you will be super hapoy that people think you are younger ;))
Own your hight. Be confident in it. Prepare combacks for witty remarks , so that you are always ready to back yourself and then you will find more confidence. You can start a new cycle of finding more confidence and owning how you look.

Aaaaaaand dont compare yourself up. But compare yourself down. You could have been super stinky or have no soul. But all you' lack ' is a few inches.

Own it girl. This is you. This is how you are meant to look 💓

That was me. In a job with responsibilities, looking young when I was pushing thirty. It was a pain. It doesn’t last forever! Middle aged now and while I still look younger than I am, no one mistakes me for a teen!

I was the same and tp be honest, it's gratifying to be thought 25 when I am now 43 😂

30 here, still getting ID’d for Red Bull and spray paint!

It’s funny(ish), but it has its moments. I was once chairing a big meeting across departments and a lot of the attendees hadn’t met me personally yet. A couple of people (including the minute taker) were running late, so I cleared got everyone presents attention to tell them we’d be starting in a few minutes- so if they could get themselves sorted and seated that would be great. A male colleague snorted and said ‘bloody hell thought you were here to take the minutes- there’s no way you’re old enough to be the (insert job title).

I was bloody 28 and never had I been so embarrassed!

@Boomclaps

I’ve got no help really. But you aren’t alone. On my early twenties I was a supply teacher. I actually on my first morning at a new school (secondary) got pulled by SLT for uniform violations.

Oh my god this is so awful

At the grand old age of 48, I'm 5ft & just under 8 stone. I used to get mistaken for being underage throughout my 20s & early 30s. I have oily skin & have always had a tendency for zits as well which doesn't help.
Now I'm older, I still get the occasional zit & my oily skin has helped me age well. I have a few grey hairs but they merge into my light brown/dark blonde hair so not obvious. As I wear glasses, you don't notice the crows feet!
Men can freak out when they realise that my hands are too small to hold hands easily - I have to hold a thumb or link little fingers (I know holding hands can be quite a young thing to do but it's nice). I do have problems keeping up if the man has a fast walk...
Size 2 feet mean finding smart shoes is hard. I wear children's trainers & have to buy children frames for my glasses as adult ones are too big for my face/head - luckily children's frames are now quite funky.
At times I wear my long hair off my face with a hair band & older relatives have described me as 'very Tenniel'!
Mostly it doesn't bother me, however I do find it hard to get people to take me seriously sometimes. At a glance, if you look short & slight, people talk down to you in all ways....

It won't last forever. Just ignore anyone who says anything.
I used to get patients tell me I should go back to school before getting a job when I was a nursing student. 4'11" and 7 stone.
Eventually you look older than 21 and hopefully that lasts. I'm now in my 50's and get told I look more like 40 must be on a good day I don't see it
Don't change how you look for anyone.

I am short and have for most of my life looked younger than my years. Now that I am nearly 50 I am - ahem- normalising, I would say. But I have been asked if I was the daughter of a friend once (no I am not a LARGE FUCKING CHILD, I was 32 but in a country where people are on the tall side.) It was mortifying.

A few years ago, out in London with a friend from abroad, someone also assumed she was the grandmother out with her family. I wanted the floor to swallow me up. There is no way back from that situation.

Also, it has negatively affected my professional life. I have been in reviews when short, young looking men have been discussed and it has come up with them. But I have noticed that taller people can be taken more seriously professionally. I am sure someone will be along to contradict me but I have noticed it.

I'm a bloke and get the same thing. I'm 35 and a structural engineering team lead but people at business meetings think I'm on work experience due to my baby face. Even my directors who know my experience and education treat me like a first year undergrad and talk down to me, it's an utter pain.

Although getting ID'd when out and about is quite fun now.

No advice sorry, just know that there's lots of us in the same situation.

OP, we feel your pain here... I look my age ish (maybe a little younger) but my wife simply hasn't aged in the twenty years I have known her. She has always looked young and regularly gets asked for ID, despite being 40!

Like you it can be an issue at work, she is a medical consultant and on more than one occasion has been mistaken for the med student and ordered to get bloods/coffees/ grunt work done... She replies politely but firmly and has learned not to let people get away with it. It's rude and it's discrimination, both in the basis of age and usually sex.

As we are same sex couple, people don't instantly see our relationship. A particular irksome time was when an older woman at the school gates, referred to my wife as my eldest daughter... She is three years older than me! I corrected her and told her she is my wife. She looked mortified and couldn't scamper off quickly enough.

Call it out, don't lean into it. Let people know it is not okay...

This happens to me all the time.
When DS was in infant school a supply teacher wouldn't let me collect my own child because under 16s aren't allowed too. I was 32, I had to phone my mum to come and collect us both.
And don't get me started on how many times I have been stopped by the police as they think I can't possibly have a driving licence.
I'm 47 and a half now, If only I just had the problem of getting ID'd in shops or delivery men asking if my mums in my life would be so much more bareable.
I suppose I am just much too teeny tiny.