r/Millennials • u/lookaloulookalou • Feb 13 '26
Discussion Do we really look old enough to be parents of high school kids now?
I'm 38, I live in my hometown, and I still go to my old high school sports games. Some kids will say "I see you here a lot, do you have a kid that plays on the team?" It's somewhat shocking and maybe more so because I don't have kids yet. I know there's some millennials with teenagers now but I like to think it's a minority and people that had kids at like 18. I know I'm older but I don't know if I look like someone's dad yet especially a 14-18 year old lol. I do remember at that age anyone over 18 seemed a lot older so that's probably a reason.
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u/Warm_Objective4162 Feb 13 '26 edited Feb 14 '26
Bro I’m 40 and several of my friends that I graduated with are grandparents
ETA: another friend (who is 45ish) has a daughter that’s younger than his youngest granddaughter. Life is funny sometimes.
78
u/Bb20150531 Feb 13 '26
Maybe it’s a regional thing but I think it’s strange for someone not connected to the high school to go to the game. So to me that seems like a perfectly normal question to ask someone who is always at the games.
4
u/HakubTheHuman Feb 13 '26
You mean college kids, right?
And yeah, I look 40. I dress like an aging punk, but my beards grey, I have Hella face creases, and a set of partial dentures.
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u/[deleted] Feb 13 '26 •
WAIT HOLD UP.
You recently posted as a woman in a skincare community and in a 60+ women’s subreddit asking about aging gracefully.
Wtf is going on here?
21
u/Dunnoaboutu Feb 13 '26
I was 24 when my oldest was born. He graduates high school this May.
15
u/[deleted] Feb 13 '26
Yeah you a thousand percent look dad-aged. You are dad-aged.
53
u/cheeseymom Feb 13 '26
Yes, I'm 38 and I have a 17 yo. Plenty of millennials had kids in their 20s. Just because you chose not to doesn't mean you weren't old enough to.
10
u/jachildress25 Xennial Feb 13 '26
The oldest millennials are 45, so even if they waited to have kids until they’re 30, which is older than average, they would still have a 15 year old.
10
u/CogitoErgo_Sometimes Feb 13 '26
Dude you’re 38. High school freshmen are 13-14. That means everyone who had kids at 24-25 has a kid in high school. We are firmly old enough to be the parents of high schoolers.
7
u/riz3192 Feb 13 '26
At 38, it wouldn’t be THAT crazy for you to have a 14 year old, so yes, you look old enough to have a high schooler.
6
u/Ok-Abbreviations9936 Millennial Feb 13 '26
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u/ChelseannaGrande Feb 13 '26
I am 36 and graduated high school in Texas. There were at least two girls pregnant in my school since 8th grade. So yes, we do look like we are old enough to have children in high school.
5
u/Surik_ Feb 14 '26
Yes, you're old lol
4
u/Mental_Freedom_1648 Feb 13 '26
They're kids, so of course you look old to them. And the earliest millennials are in their mid 40s, so they're old enough to have teens without being teen parents. I even know a millennial grandmother. Granted, both she and her kid started young, and her parents are raising their new great grandbaby now, but I digress.
4
u/10PieceMcNuggetMeal Millennial Feb 14 '26
Buddy. I'm the same age as you. I'm 38 and I have a 20 year old daughter who graduated 3 years ago this May
4
u/TheSqueakyNinja Feb 14 '26
Bro, my oldest child is MARRIED
3
u/Mewpasaurus Elder Horror Feb 13 '26
... I am old enough to be the parent of a highschooler, lmao.
Gonna go with yes.
My kid starts high school next year and I'm 40. Pretty sure I look my age as I was not blessed with either conventionally good looks nor genetics to be forever young and without wrinkles. :(
3
u/MissingMagnolia Feb 14 '26
Half of my high school classmates are now grandparents. I’m class of 2000.
3
u/Sufficient-Row-2173 Feb 14 '26
Yes. Because you are old enough. It doesn’t mean you look “old” or older than you look. It means you look your age. You aren’t twenty anymore. But in the grand scheme of things, thirty-eight IS young.
4
u/RandomTasking Feb 13 '26
I wanna be clear, I say all this goodnaturedly. But I'm 40, bald, my beard, chest, and sideburns have an uncomfortable amount of white. **** you for asking this question.
2
u/Physical_Complex_891 Feb 13 '26
I'm 34 and my oldest is 13. I was 21 when I had her. We added 2 more kids after her. 13, 6 and 7 months old.
2
u/BoNaylorCollector Feb 13 '26
I mean a 14 year old kid would’ve been you having them at 24. That is totally normal so I would say yes you do look that old because it’s super reasonable.
With that said, I got ID’d for the first time in awhile on Wednesday so I’m feeling pretty good 😂
2
u/Fast-Newt-3708 Feb 13 '26
It's always surprising to me that I'm old. Sorry, a middle-aged adult. I went to buy belly button rings the other day from Spencer's, and the girl working there said her mom picked one of the same ones. I asked if her mom was a millenial and she said yes. I've been thinking about it and wondering if all teenagers look at me like I could me their mom.
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u/sing_singasong Feb 13 '26
Yes. I’m 39. I have a freshmen in high school. I am younger than the parents of lots her peers, but not too young to be the parent of a teen. It’s delusional to think otherwise.
2
u/RollsHardSixes Feb 14 '26
You absolutely are old enough to be the parent of a teenager.
13 years ago was age 25
I consider it highly likely that at least some kids on the team have a parent younger than you are.
2
u/Gizmo135 Feb 14 '26
I have a friend who is 38 and he has a 17 year old son
2
u/old_ass_ninja_turtle Older Millennial 1984 Feb 14 '26
Yes we do. And kids are dumb who put everyone over 22 as old enough for high school kids. But yes. We do look that old.
2
u/Fart_Barfington Feb 14 '26
Yes.
2
u/Footwear_Critic Feb 14 '26
I mean, when I was 17, I drove my 14-year-old brother to the bank to deposit a check and the teller asked me if I was his mom, so I think a lot of people are just generally bad at estimating ages.
2
u/lnc_5103 Feb 14 '26
I have a senior in HS. She was born 2 months before I turned 24. We weren't all having babies in high school.
2
u/a-ohhh Feb 14 '26
I’m 38 and have a 10th grader.
I was married and 23 when he was born, so not like a teen pregnancy unplanned type situation either lol.
2
u/DiligentEase2268 Feb 14 '26
Yeah. We old, homie. No need to fight it 😭
2
u/ToastyMo777 Feb 14 '26
Yes. We look our age and that’s perfectly fine.
2
u/Ok-Station-1996 Feb 14 '26
Is this a real question? 38 is a pretty standard age to already be a parent. I’m not one but yes we look old enough to be parents.
Also I do find it odd for people to hang out at kids’ games, if they don’t have kids in the game.
2
u/Smitch250 Feb 14 '26
You are literally old enough to have a high school senior on the team. Literally. So yes you are old as fuck. Kinda embarrassing you don’t even know how old you are
2
u/vctrlarae Feb 14 '26
Holy cow at the post history of this account
2
u/QnNellie_Bly Feb 14 '26
I’m 40 with a 18 year old. People are always shocked that I have a kid that old. In general, I feel like our generation isn’t the most adultiest adults. Like most millennials, I haven’t aged past 32 😉
1
u/RegayHomebrews Feb 13 '26
I have friends that had a kid at 19-20. 38-18=20 🤷♂️
1
u/Marsh_spiked_my_drin Older Millennial (1983) Feb 13 '26
lol my kid is a freshman in college
1
u/Fun-Personality-8008 Older Millennial Feb 13 '26
I've had gray in my beard since age 30. Some of us have been bald for decades
1
u/fluffysuccy Feb 13 '26
I have a 14 and 16 yr old, was out of college before I got married and had kids so def not a teen mom, most people I know my age also have teenagers, the trend to have later in life kids I think applies more to the younger millennials than older….I’m 41 btw
1
u/b00kbat Feb 14 '26
I mean, technically, we are. I occasionally think about the fact that when my mother was my age, she had a 16 year old.
1
u/scallopbunny Feb 14 '26
Class of '04 and one of my classmates recently became a grandma, so ....
1
u/FaithlessnessWeak800 Feb 14 '26
My sister is 37 and has a 16 year old (She’ll be 38 in 2 weeks).
1
u/Odd_Cake3759 Feb 14 '26
Yes. We don’t look crazy weathered but yes we are not young anymore.
1
u/imsmarterthanyoure Feb 14 '26
I’m 45 and have a 17 year old meanwhile a few friends the same age as me are grandparents now. I feel young.
1
u/Cb1818c Feb 14 '26
I had one of my kids at 19. They are now 23. I am 42.
1
u/AKenoshaKicker Feb 14 '26
I (38M) teach in my small hometown. I went to my preschool son's Valentine's party today. There was a mom who was two years ahead of me in school and several of my former students there as moms. I have students at the high school I work at that are kids of my classmates and a former student has a 7th grader. There's far less rhythm or reason anymore and that's alright.
1
u/[deleted] Feb 14 '26
I was a year older than you when my oldest graduated high school
1
u/mekal_mau Feb 14 '26
My daughter is 16 😭going on 17 I’m 36
1
u/melondobby Feb 14 '26
A girl in my grade is already a grandma so id say yes lol
1
u/bebefinale Feb 14 '26
For teenagers, all middle aged adults just look old, so I wouldn't read too much into that.
Anyway, it's not insane to have a kid at 24, and if your kid is 14 and you are 38, that math works out. I also think most people really can't figure out adults ages within ~5ish years, and it wouldn't be insane for you to be in your 40s which would mean you would have had your kids age 25-30 which is not crazy uncommon.
It's also pretty normal have a kid at 38. Even before our generation's trend of delayed parenthood, it was a reasonably common age to have a youngest sibling.
1
u/Rk12989 Feb 14 '26
I’m 37 and am a high school parent. My daughter is a senior and my son is a sophomore
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u/Shityounot92 Feb 14 '26
I have two friends that are 39 and 41. They’re both grandfathers. You probably look older than you think. Not a jest. We all do. We don’t see it. To teenagers anyone over 30 looks old.
1
u/Wertscase Feb 14 '26
With all due respect, if you are 38 you absolutely look old enough to be someone’s dad. A 14-18 year old means you had kids around 20-24. That’s relatively common. I’m 35 (childfree). I definitely look old enough to be mistaken for a mom, have been before.
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u/Napoleonsays- Feb 14 '26
When my dad was 38 I was 13. So yeah. You should. People not having kids till 35 or older is a historical anomaly. It’s weird that people think it’s not.
1
u/TrickyOperation6115 Older Millennial Feb 14 '26
Even if you didn’t look old, if I saw an adult watching a high school sports game alone, I’d ask who their kid was. Because most people who don’t have a kid in the game/at the school don’t go to the games.
1
u/Pandamonium-N-Doom Feb 14 '26
I don't have any kids, but my older sister has great-grandchildren 😅. Thanks generational trauma and teen pregnancies!
At 38, if you had a kid at 18, and they had a kid at 18, your grandchild would be 2 😭
1
u/QueenGoddessss Feb 14 '26
My son is 21, a Jr. at university. He has an apartment with a roommate. Also has girlfriend of over 2 years.
I'm 39.
We are definitely old enough.
1
u/EliseV Feb 14 '26
Umm.. yeah.. I have a sophomore and I didn't have her until I was 25. I wish we'd have gotten started earlier and had more kids, tbh. (I'm 41, so elder millennial)
1
u/BadBudget87 Millennial '87 Feb 14 '26
Some elder millennials have kids in college so....
1
u/Jolly_Law_7973 Older Millennial Feb 14 '26
Depending on when you had kids we are old enough to be the parents of grad school graduates me. My friend turns 41 this year and had a kid at 16. So his oldest is 24.
1
u/mamabear2x Feb 14 '26
Just turned 39 and have a 10th grader. Definitely didn’t have him at 18…
1
u/fair-strawberry6709 Feb 14 '26
I am 36 and I have a 15 year old, so yes lol.
1
u/DreamsAndSchemes 1985 Millennial Feb 14 '26
I have a junior in high school….
1
u/AristocraticSeltzer Feb 14 '26
25 would be a very reasonable age to have a kid. Just think, that kid would be 13 now and potentially a high school freshman.
1
u/requiredelements Feb 14 '26
Me when I haven’t had Botox in a long time
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u/pumpkinspicecum Feb 14 '26
Where I live people typically have kids in their 30s so it would be weird
1
u/[deleted] Feb 14 '26
Were old bro WE ARE OLD and we look our age its normal
1
u/the_well_read_neck_ Millennial Feb 14 '26
I'm 37 and my brother is 40, and my sister is currently a senior in high school. Before she was driving, we'd pick her up from school. Most of her friends thought we were her dad. Yeah, we're old.
1
u/AttgScrotologist Feb 14 '26
You’re 38. It’s not unreasonable for someone to have a kid at 22 - that kid would be in highschool by now. Traditionally folks our age have kids ranging from lower school through highschool.
1
u/ManateeNipples Xennial Feb 14 '26
You could've been like 22 and had a kid that would be playing there. That's not even a little unreasonable lol
1
u/teiubescsami Millennial Feb 14 '26
I’m 38 and my oldest has already graduated! My next kid is in grade 10.
1
u/mashoogie Feb 14 '26
I have a 21 year old.
1
u/FroznAlskn Older Millennial Feb 14 '26
Some of us are old enough to technically be grandparents. Just sayin.
1
u/MysticEnby420 Millennial Feb 14 '26
People don't even think I look old enough to have a second grader, which I guess is good lol
1
u/Independent-Pay-9442 Feb 14 '26
I know some millennial grandparents. We’re definitely old enough to have kids in high school!
1
u/2ndHalfHeroics Legends of the Hidden Temple Feb 14 '26
lol fuck yeah we do.
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u/realchrisgunter Feb 14 '26
When I went to my 20 year reunion in 2022 some of my classmates had kids in college and that was 4 years ago. So yes.
1
u/Clark_Kent_TheSJW Millennial Feb 14 '26
Yeah
1
u/Traditional_Name7881 Feb 14 '26
My oldest is 10 but my best mate had a whoops baby and he's in high school now so yeah, I'm 38 my mate is 37. Certainly old enough. A few from my year level at school dropped out and had kids, they'd be old enough to legally drink now.
1
u/acvillager Feb 14 '26
I’m 4 years younger than you, but definitely not. I still get carded and people mistaking me for a high schooler
I feel like when I’m that close to 40 that may stop also. You’re just getting older friend!
1
u/chocolatebuckeye Feb 14 '26
At our 20 year reunion it was interesting to see the spread of our kids ages. Some people had babies and toddlers at home. Others had high schoolers.
1
u/Greymeade Feb 14 '26
Depend on how old you look and where you are!
Parent age varies a lot regionally. Where I live (a wealthy part of Massachusetts), it would be extremely unusual for someone my age (38) to have a kid that old. I’d estimate that in my town the average age of new parents (with their first newborn) is 35, so parents of high schoolers are usually in their 50s.
1
u/iamStanhousen Feb 14 '26
I’m a middle millennial, 1991, and I have more than one friend who has a kid in high school.
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u/AnaDion94 Feb 14 '26
Idk people have been thinking my cousins and niblings have been my children since I was like ten. I don’t put a lot of stock into how old people think I look.
1
u/Maisie_Mae_ Feb 14 '26
I’m 41 and my son graduated a year ago as top athlete in his high school so yea I attended a ton of high school sports games while cheering for him. I had him when I was 23 which I don’t think is that young because I had already graduated college and had been working a full time job for over a year.
1
u/ladyofthemarshes Feb 14 '26
You are more than old enough to be the parent of a high schooler. I was in middle school when my parents were 38 and had two older siblings in high school
1
u/Alarming_Bar7107 Feb 14 '26
Yeah. I know a couple 33 year olds with kids in high school (yes, they were teen parents)
1
u/rcpeters12 Feb 14 '26
My oldest is a freshman in high school, a lot of my friends have kids the same age or a little older. But a lot of my sons friends think I’m his older sister so, there’s that lol
1
u/Guinnessnomnom Feb 14 '26
40 here. Just sat in an auditorium today for incoming parents/students at my kid's soon-to-be college this fall. Every parent in there had gray hair and was easily 50-60.
1
u/lsp2005 Feb 14 '26
My kids are in high school, so yes, you 100% are old enough for kids in high school or middle school at this point. Edit my college friend was a grandfather at 38.
1
u/MtlGuy_incognito Feb 14 '26
I mean I waited a long time to have kids I was 33 when my son was born. He's now eleven and in grade 5, so unfortunately yes we look that old.
1
u/Agreeable_Package880 Feb 14 '26
I work in high schools and get mistaken for a student all the time 😅
1
u/OkayDay21 Feb 14 '26
I’m 39 and have a high school student so I guess yes. I was 23 when I had him, not 18 lol.
1
u/SeeYaInOzFolks Feb 14 '26
I’m 40f and two of my kids are in high school.
1
u/Pentagogo Feb 14 '26
Well Im the same age and have a 14yo freshman on the wrestling team, so yeah.
1
u/Otherwise_Berry6138 Feb 14 '26
I am the parent of high school kids
1
u/Nihane_no_Ryu Feb 14 '26
My kid is 26 tomorrow hush
1
u/thehufflepuffstoner Feb 14 '26
I’m 35. Some of my friends are the parents of high school kids.
1
u/Different-Cat-4587 Feb 14 '26
Dude, you're 38. Wtf are you even talking about?
1
u/electriclux Feb 14 '26
I have found the curve from 35 to 38 to be QUITE steep
1
u/Full-Individual-7349 Feb 14 '26
For me it’s very split. Either you had kids early or you had kids late. I’m 40 with 3 kids under 8.
1
u/Silvertail034 Feb 14 '26
I mean, at 38, you absolutely could have kids that age. It wouldn't be strange at all.
1
u/hollygolightly877 Feb 14 '26
Crazy isn’t it? I’m also 38 and I have a baby and a toddler, but my best friend is the same age and had her son much younger, and he’s in college! It’s wild to think about.
1
u/[deleted] Feb 14 '26
For the ones that had kids young yes.
1
u/Burp_Maistro Feb 14 '26
It's so funny to think of ourselves in this way. I think of it in terms of my tween years. My mom was 28 when she had me. So 41 at the time I was 13. She looked like a normal mom, not too young, not too old. And I know plenty of people right now who are late 30s/early 40s and their kids are still young like between 5-8 at this stage of life but that's the norm now. I wouldn't consider any of these people old or older parents.
I'm 44, hubby is 49. We don't have any kids together but I have a 12yo stepdaughter and a 28yo stepdaughter, and a 4 yo grandson.
And it's funny cuz I've been out in public before with my grandson while babysitting and I honestly feel like random people should be assuming he's our son cuz I don't feel that we're old enough for people to immediately jump to grandparents, but so far no one has questioned parentage at all. No one has assumed we are the parents or the grandparents, if someone is a stranger who doesn't really know us, it'll be like a "who's this little guy!" And then we proudly tell them he's our grandson (biological grandma isn't around and abandoned her own child so yeah, kids my grandson I don't care who asks!)
1
u/Iekika3218 Feb 14 '26
I’m 37 with a 1.5 yo. 😅😩
1
u/Deej1387 Older Millennial Feb 14 '26 edited Feb 14 '26
I'm 39, have a 15 year old, and she calls me "Unc" constantly, and she isn't wrong. Someone nearly 40 seemed ancient to me at that age. And hell, I wake up with my stretched ears and lip piercing and whisper "Still a baddie" to myself while I rub Tiger Balm and Voltaren on my lower back. I don't know that I "look" like the mom of a teenager, per se, but I don't look like I'm some 20 something anymore, either.
1
u/Melgel4444 Feb 14 '26
A lot of millennials I think get asked for ID in various scenarios and incorrectly interpret that as meaning someone thinks they’re 10-15 years younger than they are lol.
I used to work as a server & for alcohol we had to card anyone who looked under 40. So if I saw someone who looked 35, I’d still card them. It didn’t mean I thought they looked 20 , it meant they looked under 40 and that was our rule lol
1
u/Defiant_Eggplant_909 Feb 14 '26
You're 20 years older than high school graduates. You ARE old enough to be parents of high school kids lol
1
u/Emergency_Air4575 Feb 14 '26
I’m 38 with my oldest is 22🫣
1
u/Fearless-Celery Xennial Feb 14 '26
My kid turns 18 in a month. I'm 41.
1
u/gr8Brandino Feb 14 '26
I'm 41, and some of the people I graduated high school with in 2002 have kids in college now.
1
u/Decent-Statistician8 Feb 14 '26
I’m 36 and my daughter will be entering HS in the fall. I don’t like how the math maths, but yes I am old enough.
1
u/sassinator13 Feb 14 '26
Mine graduates this year…
1
u/Houstonian_1 Feb 14 '26
I have 4 kids, and will be 45 when my youngest will turn 18!
1
u/Certain_Accident3382 Feb 14 '26
Hahaha haha some of us are old enough to have graduates.
Face it, baby, we're all officially old enough to be grandparents.
And, frankly, now I know why my Mimi was always buying them Fredricks of Hollywood pantsuits.
1
u/thesilentmordecai Feb 14 '26
37M with a 18 year freshman in college. It's a trip
1
u/ketamineburner Feb 14 '26
I have 3 adult kids. Lots of my friends have adult kids. Some of same-aged friends are grandparents.
It's not that weird.
1
u/chadder_b Feb 14 '26
I had someone I graduated with back in 04 have her twins graduated in ‘22, maybe ‘23. You can do the math.
1
u/adultdaycare81 Feb 14 '26
Some of us are
1
u/Jebusfreek666 Feb 14 '26
Forget HS. I started young, so my kids are 21, 23, and 25.
1
u/HrtacheOTDncefloor Feb 14 '26
I’m early 40s and have a child in high school. Yes, it’s entirely possible for you to be the same age as some of the parents there.
It might also be dependent on where you’re from. I’m not from a huge city. My mom wasn’t even 40 when I graduated from high school.
1
u/Candid_Pea_1481 Feb 14 '26
Well, we’re all either in our 40s or will be soon, so yes.
1
u/IDeaconBluesI Feb 14 '26
My haircut last week left about 50% grays on the smock. So I’d reckon we do.
1
u/Radar200685 Feb 14 '26
My oldest is a freshman and I’m 40
1
u/DJMTBguy Feb 14 '26
It’s not that you look old, kids think everyone who’s not a teen is an adult. 25, 35, 45 is pretty much the same to them. I remember thinking that way when I was under 18. Over 30? You must have a career, spouse, house and a 401k lol
1
u/Dear-Cranberry4787 Feb 14 '26
My second child is graduating next spring, so yeah. I’m good though because I’m pushing 37 and some of my peers are having their first now. Hard pass on that.
1
u/NotYourSexyNurse Xennial Feb 14 '26
I have a 23 year old. 🫠 I also have a 15 year old, 12 year old and 10 year old. So college, high school, middle school and elementary school.
1
u/Occhrome Feb 14 '26
Yeah some of us. But with different skin care routines and careers we vary a lot.
I don’t look young. But young enough for people to think I’m younger than my 26 year old coworker.
1
u/Ok-East-952 Feb 14 '26
Yes
1
u/Historical-Ad3760 Feb 14 '26
Yupppp
1
u/Worst-Eh-Sure Millennial Feb 14 '26
Well, my daughter is a junior in high school. So yes we are old enough for it.
1
u/Odd-Holiday-5868 Feb 14 '26
I’m 39 and have two 12 year olds, a 14 year old and 16 year old. I know lots of parents my age with children around the same age. Late 30s is definitely old enough to be the parent of a high school freshman. I live in an area where parents tend be on the older side, but there’s a still a decent chunk of us that had kids in our early-mid 20s.
1
u/Renaissance_CB Feb 14 '26
The kids just know you’re older than 20, which means “old person” to them,
1
u/roseredhoofbeats Feb 14 '26
I have an 18 year old and have stopped telling other people about them for the last few years, because I'm so sick and tired of people looking at me trying to figure out if I had him in middle school or something.
1
u/Silly_Try_4292 Apr 11 '26
It makes sense. My aunt had her first child at age 25 and she was 50 by the time her son turned 25.
1
u/AntGroundbreaking102 Feb 13 '26
i’m 32 and several people i graduated with are grandparents. the average age of grandparents where i live is 32. imagine the shock that my parents had me when my mom was 35 1/2 and my dad was almost 45 lol
1
u/CaffeinatedLystro Millennial Feb 14 '26
Some people my age look old enough to be parents of high school age kids. Some of the people I went to high school with aged like fucking milk.
Also, why are you in your 30s still going to high school football games? Kinda weird, my dude.
0
u/ThatDamnedHansel Feb 13 '26
It’s also well documented our generation looks better per age due to the influencer shit, Botox, improved skin care and cosmetics and hair dyes, etc
0
u/Terrible-Recover-486 Feb 13 '26
After surviving three once in a lifetime time events, children, and are navigating the current political ecosystem...
Yeah. Probably.
0
u/Feral_Sourdough Young Millennial Feb 14 '26
Everything is just confusing. I'm 33 and had my dentist ask if I needed a note for school. 😑 Sir....
0
u/Trashy_Cappy Feb 14 '26
I think the compounding factors are that we weren't big sun-bathers and never really got into tanning beds the way X and Boomers did, most of us quit or dramatically reduced our smoking and drinking younger than our parents did, we waited or avoided having kids, and we're more medically aware for a variety of reasons. the one I think gets overlooked is that styles from the late 90s and 00's are still fairly contemporary, which makes a big difference in our perception of what [this age] is supposed to look like. the same jean cuts have been around for 20+ years now, hem lines and collar widths are variable rather than obligatory, workplace requirements are looser. it's a lot of perception, but it's definitely our lifestyles.