(Light hearted) When you go to uni open days with your DC ...

[duvetoclock]

... do all the other parents look older than you feel? 🙃 I do wonder if they're thinking the same.

Yes! I went to an open day with my DD at my alma mater and spent half the time thinking the parents looked really old and then wondering if I’d snogged any of them back in the day.

That's what going to my school reunion felt like. Gosh, haven't they all aged? Errr, hello?

There were a couple of seriously trendy parents at Leeds Open Day. I felt they were letting the side down!

And I cringed at some of the earnest questions parents were asking. Then found myself doing the same 😊

I found myself thinking all the my peers looked really young then had to remind myself it wasn't my open day and I'm not 17 anymore.

YES! To the point I asked DS “Am I this old?”

To which he replied: ”Law of averages mum-some of them will certainly be older!”

Thinking whether if our kids end up sharing a flat, will the other DC be house trained? Then I think of the state of DD’s bedroom. And the state of the kitchen after she’s been in.

Went to one today and a new feature since I went 30plus years ago is the amount of families and dogs! Whole families with primary aged children ( not just 1 parent who couldn’t find someone else to look after them) and a family pet. Very odd …..

Some of the parents are very old. I'm 45 and teach in higher education. My parents were about my current age when I went to university.

Was chatting a few weeks ago with the eight graduating third years. All 16 of their parents are over 50. Quite a few (including two mums) over 60. One dad is 75.

So if you had children in your 20s, I suspect they genuinely are quite a bit older than you!

Yup, the average parenting age has increased steadily since the sex discrimination act was passed in the mid seventies - see figure 1: https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/livebirths/bulletins/birthcharacteristicsinenglandandwales/2021

I'm only a little above average - had my first at 32 and my second at 34 (which is probably par for the course for professionals in my area).

I’ve just been to my first open day with DS1 and I felt I wasn’t the oldest (and also not the youngest). But when we get to DD I reckon I’ll feel really old, since I was 41 when she was born. I’m making the most of this lot of visits!

No but I do catch myself thinking I'd love to study some of the subjects I've been to talks for and forgetting momentarily that it's not about me.

It could be! A friend of mine just graduated at 53.

One person I assumed was a mum (though I couldn’t identify a child with them) at a tour at my DS open day made it clear by their questions that they were planning of applying themselves.

On one departmental tour we were split into two groups - parents went with the lecturer and students went with a student. My DH was tempted to masquerade as a mature student. He was glad that he didn't though because inevitably the student guide's presentation skills weren't quite up to the same standard. 🙂

The main thing I am noticing is how much alike all the DC look to their parents. You can easily tell who is with who and it's down to the kind of clothes they are wearing as well as just hair, eyes etc. I am sure DD and I are no exception.

My DD has just finished her first year, and there was an event parents on her course could attend. All the other parents looked about 10 years older than me! I was wondering how they had given birth so late in life. DH told me I looked younger than them because I work with young people and have a sense of style, but actually I am old. I think it was a complement

It's worse when I bump into an old school friend who I'll know is the same age as me and think "oh, you're so wrinkly"

I also felt that about some of the subjects when sitting on at taster lecturers, and I also found myself thinking how much I would enjoy some of the social events I saw advertised, and then becoming a bit disgruntled when I remembered they weren’t actually for me

I visited my home town and spotting someone I thought I recognised from school, before doing a double take realising they would have to be much older. The individual in question was actually the adult child of my erstwhile acquaintance. That did make me feel old.

53 has been and gone 😀. If it wasn't for the tuition fees though.

I was really interested in the EPP program at Warwick that we accidentally attended (didn't realise it was different to PPE!). The modules looked really intriguing. I caught myself thinking'oh yes this is definitely the one' until I remembered we weren't there for me. I got so carried away that I asked a question much to DDs embarrassment. She still prefers to do PPE sadly as she doesn't enjoy psychology as much as she thought she would.

Aren't there some statistics showing that children born to older parents are more likely to be better educated than children born to younger parents?

The other thing that cracked me up was all the mums on the accommodation tours asking about where is the laundrette and the supermarket whilst DC want to know which is the party hall! The student guide at Exeter patiently explained that internet shopping is a thing...

I don’t know of any studies but I imagine on average this to be the case. Parents who went to university are more likely to have children who will go to university. And parents who go to university and post-university employment are likely to have their children later.

Yes! I noticed this too. They even have the same mannerisms like both listening with their head on one side.

DS thought it was a bit odd I was interested in this!

There was a parent on the accommodation tour that we were on who seemed very concerned with the saucepan situation while their child shuffled off ….I knew my place - I’d already been warned not to ask any embarrassing questions so settled for a question about price and number of weeks that had to be paid …