To ask over 50s to check in to show we are not a separate breed of Mumsnetters

[LaureBerthaud]

COVID has really brought out the ageism on Mumsnet! Over 50s are not an homogeneous group sucking on our Werther's Originals longing for the social centre to re-open so we can resume whist drives and coach trips to outlet stores with a nice cafe attached!

I'm mum to DC who's taking their GCSEs next year and I will have to continue working to support them through uni and because I enjoy working AND I have a mortgage!

So stop trying to lock us down - the economy needs us as taxpayers and consumers!

year pressed the button too soon!

I've just turned 50...work full time, 3 dependent dcs, 1 still in primary school. I don't even think of myself as middle aged although obviously I am 🤷‍♀️. Can't knit, don't like crosswords....have had grey hairs since I graduated at 21 but no specs or hearing issues. Just completed C25k...I wasn't aware I was looked upon as a separate species on here

@Tollegirl - you make such a valid point. All 50+ year olds are valuable in society, whether they work or not. Same goes for everyone who can't work and contribute to the tax pot, whatever their age.

I am actually sickened by the inference that we should be happy with sacrificing our 80+ year olds .

I've drunk Werther's homemade vodka shots

This time last year, I was diving with manta rays & eye to eye with Komodo dragons

Not such an exotic location this morning, but I was doing cartwheels on a beach in the UK after breakfast pancakes

Back on shift at the weekend to earn & save for more adventures in the future

I am 56, with 2 children aged 16 and 13. I work full time, and only briefly stopped during lockdown. I do a 40 mile round commute each day, after I've done a 45 minute run with our dog, (and repeat in the evening). I also do some voluntary work, plus all the DIY and gardening at home
I have no intention of retiring any time soon, and physically I feel in great shape - I work with a lot of people who are much younger than me, and frankly, from an energy/fitness point of view I could kick their arses

[quote Chicchicchicchiclana]@Tollegirl - you make such a valid point. All 50+ year olds are valuable in society, whether they work or not. Same goes for everyone who can't work and contribute to the tax pot, whatever their age.

I am actually sickened by the inference that we should be happy with sacrificing our 80+ year olds .[/quote]
Very very true and to Tollegirl

Same point, sorry to harp on, but where is @MNHQ's opinion on this? We've demonstrated that this is not a minority interest, because there are replies and comments that have taken this thread into over 350 responses. An answer is necessary, and soon @MNHQ.

Bear in mind Xing that MNHQ tried to create an apartheid with the introduction of Gransnet for the over 50s. Presumably once our child bearing days are over they want us to toddle over there.

I've been pondering Tollegirl's comment because she is quite right, but also there's even more to it IMO: Ageism in all its forms, whether directed at us old fogeys or at Those Irresponsible Young Things is both just a form of 'othering'.

We are ALL people, human beings, with all sorts of strengths and weaknesses and while demographics are of course a valid tool for all sorts of reasons, no individual will fit into all the boxes that their age, colour, creed, sex, gender, whatever might suggest.

I know plenty of very unadventurous young people who like their slippers and cardigans and are not sky-diving or travelling the world, but lead quite middle-aged lives

Gransnet is good fun but I never really saw the need for it tbh.

I think it's not so much that we are all trying to prove what lively young things we are, but that we are countering the assumption of many people ( on here!) that over 50s are a homogeneous "over it" group, who should all be stepping aside for the next generation.

I am hugely grateful my children don't feel this way about me.

@Ch3ls3aBun3

I've drunk Werther's homemade vodka shots

This time last year, I was diving with manta rays & eye to eye with Komodo dragons

Not such an exotic location this morning, but I was doing cartwheels on a beach in the UK after breakfast pancakes

Back on shift at the weekend to earn & save for more adventures in the future

This makes me feel like I'm in an old style Bodyform advert....I'll Get me roller skates out

It does feel a bit like all the running and I'm physically fitter than the 30 year olds, is a kind of proving ourselves worthy....and gives me a mental image of 80 year ol Izzy Mandelbaum (Lloyd Bridges) pumping iron at Del Boca Vista, shouting, 'Its Go Time!!'

As I said earlier I'm 51, and pretty knackered by life at the moment, I'm not sat around sucking on a Werthers and reading Yours magazine (actually, there is a copy in the house, bit it is 10 year old ds's....so doesn't count)...and to be honest even if I was, I'm still part of the conversation, no one has to prove anything to be part of society.

I too am very shocked at the amount of agism here. There’s definitely a “over 50 is past it” vibe.

My favourite part of MN is Feminist board, it’s not like that at all there thank goodness.

And I agree with others about Gransnet, I’m going to be a Granny soon (aged 55) but that doesn't mean I want to leave MN. We don’t suddenly change our whole being, because our child has had a child!

Great idea for a book really. Base it on how you treat others, is what you get. So these 'young uns' who think the over 50s are past it, hit 50 and end up being served what they believe.

@bengalcat

I’m over 50
I haven’t noticed any ageism but it’s possible it’s just not on my radar

Same here. I've not noticed it.

Perhaps it's because I don't feel old, or I'm not on threads where it comes to light.

I generally post in relationships, stepparents and some threads here in AIBU.

I have 2 jobs (one FT) and do voluntary work as well.

My DC are in University.

@LaureBerthaud

Bear in mind Xing that MNHQ tried to create an apartheid with the introduction of Gransnet for the over 50s. Presumably once our child bearing days are over they want us to toddle over there.

I don't agree with this and think you're very negative and critical about it.

I've looked at Gransnet and it's more about issues that grandparents face, regardless of age.

There can be a lot of hostility towards MILS on here and Gransnet is a supportive forum for them.

Just turned 50 this year and feel like the best is still ahead of me.

I guess when you're in your 20-30's, 50+ does sound old but age really is just a number. It only defines you if you let it.

67, retired from secondary teaching but work 0.8 in FE in a rewarding role - rewarding because I can help people succeed, often contrary to their expectations (and contrary to the expectations others had of them). I have some relatively minor medical conditions but know how to manage them and generally look after myself. I have no intention of stopping HRT, which was and is a lifesaver for me. I do a fair amount of grandchildren care - mostly I will volunteer a part of a weekend for this.
I found MN by accident and greatly appreciate the Westminstenders and Trump threads and the FWR board.

Like others, I’ve been annoyed by the tendency to dismiss anyone over 50 as stuck in some bygone age. Those of us who grew up in the 60s and 70s were IMO far more liberated and less socially constrained than many are now. (I’m struck by the anxiety that pervades so many posts on here, particularly wrt child rearing.). I’m also irritated by the perception that environmentalism is something new. I’ve been an environmentalist since my teens as were most people I knew, and have done my best to live accordingly since then.

Those of us who grew up in the 60s and 70s were IMO far more liberated and less socially constrained than many are now. (I’m struck by the anxiety that pervades so many posts on here, particularly wrt child rearing.). I’m also irritated by the perception that environmentalism is something new. I’ve been an environmentalist since my teens as were most people I knew, and have done my best to live accordingly since then.

This - so many young people have a strange idea of what the world was like when we were young, and seem to think they invented protesting and caring about the environment - and, even worse, that we older generation are to blame for most of society's ills!

I'm 56 and have a 16 year old taking his GCSEs ( or maybe not if they don't take place this year) , work for a university

A bug bear of mine about being over 55 in particular is the stuff I see advertised at the gym/ leisure centres ( pre Covid mostly now) for 'seniors' often defined as 55+.

As someone not mega fit for various reasons, those sometimes appeal as a good way in to something but they are always on the middle of a weekday.

I think most women aged 55-65 probably have a job so why advertise them for 55+. ?They are for retired people which is more 65+

I am nearly 70. I find mumsnet a very ageist place. I read assumptions that I must be a Brexiteer, narrow minded and probably racist. If I posted about an argument with my daughter or DIL I wouldn't get a fair hearing as a high percentage of posters would assume that I am an interfering old cow. It is assumed that I smuggly look at my bank account online and don't care that younger people are having difficulty buying a house because I'm alright Jack. I have had my turn at life so I should just shut up. I found MN by accident when googling ideas for entertaining my grandchildren. It has been an education. The way a majority of people think has certainly changed. I have an open mind, it has changed for the better in some ways and the worse in others.

This - so many young people have a strange idea of what the world was like when we were young, and seem to think they invented protesting and caring about the environment - and, even worse, that we older generation are to blame for most of society's ills!

So true. We campaigned on green issues, nuclear disarmament and for anti apartheid, world poverty, AIDS treatment and prevention. Yet we get seen as the greedy and selfish generation!

Mrs soho,

Yeah Greenham Common too.

And a lot of women’s rights. Equal pay (in theory), maternity leave and pay, financial autonomy, the list goes on. It’s a bit like What did the Romans ever do for us!

I challenged Mumsnet on the use of the term ‘boomer’.

Their response? ‘It’s a word that has always been used’

Yeah, as a marketing term, not as an insult.

I haven’t finished with it yet.