middle age - not 'invisible'

[greenacrylicpaint]

maybe I'm not alone with this observation.

but since being visible middle age <sobs> I get approached a lot by pre-teen children, older women, families on the train etc. often they ask direction or something from a high shelf. once a young one asked me to play along as she wanted to get a way from a creep that was following her in a shopping centre.

dunno if I should be annoyed or honoured.

is it an extension on wife work or instinct that if in trouble a woman is more linely to be a safe person.

I got approached by a slightly panicky child in a shop who had been sent to buy bread but their phone didn't work and they didn't know what bread to buy. So together we worked out the most appropriate sort of bread. I did feel oddly flattered at being recognised as a bread guru.
Really though, its because you are told as a young child "if you get lost/need help ask a nice lady with children for help" or some variation on that. Even without my child I guess I look quite mumsy. So I think its that really - older women are seen as both safer, and natural allies against creepy men for example. I also suspect you look more approachable without realising it because you instinctively smile at children without really thinking (not in like a creepy way).

So I don't think its a bad thing, its one of the nicer parts of becoming slightly older.

Now that the boundaries are being blurred with children being told by trusted adults that men can be women and predatory men are now openly dressing up as women, the results can be horrifying. Not all 'safe' middle aged women are as they seem these days.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/05/18/transgender-butcher-scotland-abduct-sexual-assault-girl/