Page 4 | To not think a 30 year old is young

MyPatronusIsACat · 30/08/2021 09:33

@Happiestyearofmylife

My mum users it as an excuse for my 30 year nephew to be reckless.

Reckless in what way though? You need to tell us more.

Also, 30 IS quite young IMO (I am in my early 50s.) But not very young. I would imagine many people who hoped they would get married and have children, (but are still single at 30,) are probably starting to get a bit concerned by then. But on the other hand they do have a few years left before they need to start properly worrying.

It's not too old to start a degree, or start a new career, or start a new life either, but it IS too old (IMO,) to go partying til 4am, to be rolling around the high streets pissed as a fart and throwing up, and to be skateboarding around town, with a bunch of mates.

As has been said, context is everything, and you haven't been clear about your nephew or why he is 'reckless.' How is he? In what way?

FlumpsAreShit · 30/08/2021 09:34

I'd say 18-25 is young adult...i.e. still likely to be subsidised by parents, making decisions that can be put down to the folly of youth. 25-40 adult. 40-50 middle aged (and even that assumes a good life expectancy), 50-70 mature, 70+ elderly.

Doomscrolling · 30/08/2021 09:40

30 isn’t young, it’s being an adult. You can’t blame shit on youth at 30.

It’s not old, it’s just adulthood.

traintraveller · 30/08/2021 09:42

I wouldn't class 30 as young but all these posters claiming to be old because they are late forties / early fifties are ridiculous

GoldFrankensteinAndGrrr · 30/08/2021 09:44

I remember when being 30 made you too old to wear jeans/short skirts - I remember reading my mum's Woman's Realm/Woman's Own magazines (mid 1980s) which said as much and advised on how to look stylish as you got older (lots of pleats and coordination and sensible shoes). In those days the perception of age and ageing was very different. The glamorous stars of, say, Dynasty were considered 'mature' but they were only the same age as Nicole Kidman or Jennifer Lopez are now.

Age doesn't mean what it used to. 30 now feels like 20 did. Possibly because people live longer, work longer, stay in education longer and live at home longer. The goalposts have changed - I'm 50 next year and I could never imagine the 50 year olds I knew when I was in my teens going to gigs/wearing trainers and bright green eyeshadow/learning to play guitar/getting new tattoos to go with the ones they already have etc, yet all the people my age I know do - we've never stopped doing the things we always did. It used to be all American Tan tights and short helmet hair as soon as you hit 40. ExMIL told me that on her 40th birthday (late 80s) she threw away all her jeans and makeup (except for one pair and one mascara, which she kept as 'souvenirs') and had all her hair cut off into one of those short back and sides/curly on top styles. She said she cried when she did. People used to change their behaviour to what was 'age appropriate' - thankfully there's no such thing any more.

So in answer to your question OP - yes, 30 is young!

ZenNudist · 30/08/2021 09:47

It's not young but it's not quite middle aged. I work with a lot of mid thirties who act young.

Having children seems to push you into middle age. I had a school mum friend who was 27 with a 9 year old and she seemed older. And know the odd single childless 40yo man who still acts 30s.

BlossomOnTrees · 30/08/2021 09:51

Anything under 40 is young to me.
I also don't like the comments on here such as -

Too old to still live at home
Too old to consider a career change
Too old to be in a first relationship

Everyone does things on their own time scale and should not be judged for it. Would be boring if we were all the same and did everything at the same time. We are all different. Age shouldn't come into it.

Spidey66 · 30/08/2021 09:52

@PenCreed

It's not young in terms of "too young to know any better" but it's definitely young in terms of "have whole life ahead of you".

This.

Abraxan · 30/08/2021 09:53

I am 48y so 30 years old is fairly young to me tbh.

If I asked 19y DD i suspect she'd think a 30y was fairly old.

It depends on your own age I think. It's about perspective.

Hadenoughofthisbullshit · 30/08/2021 09:53

No it’s not young it’s not old, but it’s not young (my age: 36)

Balonzette · 30/08/2021 09:54

Of course it's young!

Scientists predict that the first ever person who will live to 150 years old is alive already, and that person is me, I decided immediately upon reading that fact That means I'm only 1/5 through my life, a mere baby, I'm 15 in normal people's years!

DontBeAHaterDear · 30/08/2021 09:57

@Happiestyearofmylife

In any respect anymore

Anymore?

if anything, 30 is definitely young compared to say 100 years ago when people didn’t live particularly long and healthcare wasn’t available to all (in the uk at least).

I’m mid 30s and don’t feel old or middle aged yet. So I must still be at least sort of young?

Hadenoughofthisbullshit · 30/08/2021 09:58

The glamorous stars of, say, Dynasty were considered 'mature' but they were only the same age as Nicole Kidman or Jennifer Lopez are now. NK and JL are definitely mature. I really hate the way we supposed to deny that women age, just because they look fit and may or my not have had plastic surgery doesn’t mean that time has stopped moving entirely for them.

RuthW · 30/08/2021 10:01

A 40 tear old is young!

DontBeAHaterDear · 30/08/2021 10:02

Based on your updates, 30 is old enough better but people seem quick to make excuses for grown men being reckless in a way they aren’t for women often.

GoldFrankensteinAndGrrr · 30/08/2021 10:07

@Hadenoughofthisbullshit

The glamorous stars of, say, Dynasty were considered 'mature' but they were only the same age as Nicole Kidman or Jennifer Lopez are now. NK and JL are definitely mature. I really hate the way we supposed to deny that women age, just because they look fit and may or my not have had plastic surgery doesn’t mean that time has stopped moving entirely for them.

That's not what I meant - in the 80s there was definitely a horrible, sneery attitude about women over 40 who dared to be sexual/wear lots of makeup or whatever. Women were often viewed with suspicion or as figures of fun if they dared to - think of the hackneyed 40+ female characters in sitcoms of the day (Marina in Last of the Summer Wine, Lilo Lil in Bread, Dorian in Birds of a Feather). Thankfully that's no longer the case. Nobody is denying the likes of NK their age - quite the opposite. It's just not seen as eccentric or outrageous now to wear/do whatever you please, whatever your age.

godmum56 · 30/08/2021 10:41

I suspect this has nothing to do with age, your younger bro is doing things you disapprove of and your mother is defending him. You are all grownups here. Stop discussing your bro with your mother.

Spyro1234 · 30/08/2021 11:07

30 is super young! I'm 32. My grandmother is 96 and a dancer so I think anything below that is young 🤣

FastFood · 30/08/2021 11:15

Of course it's young.
When I was 30 I was still shocked that I had to book my own medical appointment and that my mum wouldn't call my boss when I was sick.

At 42 I still high five myself for such maturity when I go to the post-office.

MercyBooth · 30/08/2021 17:01

I was 30 in 2003. It seems like five minutes ago not 18 years ago. I remember listening to the new Kosheen album that came out that August. I bought the CD on the way home from work.