Do you know of kids who have had to grow up with older parents who obviously had them at a much older age than usual?

Yes, I worked with two guys. One his parents had him when they were in their 40s. He seems to have suffered childhood fine,. He grew up on an island though, kind of cut off, The other, an only child, came out of childhood determined that his children would have siblings. Both grew up to be fine men.

I have two friends that had their child, an only child, in their 40s. He used to joke that he felt like her grandfather when he picked her up at nursery school, but it did not matter in the greater scheme of things. She did not suffer from it.

I knew of one girl whos father was in his late fifties when she was born.

I found it awkward, but she had no issue with it. She was perfectly appy with her father…

My parents were older by the standard of the day and my nearest sibling was 8 years older than I so I was practically an only child. I did not suffer from it as a kid and I am relatively sane and normal as an adult!

My parents were around 40 when they had me.
I had problems, but not because of their age.

I had a classmate whose father had him at 70. His mother was in her late fourties. He was very intelligent but often complained that his father (who was blind at this point) never played with him or took him to places. He was also very socially awkward and got bullied a lot just like his sister, who was two years younger than him. His father died at 85 when he was only 15 and his sister was 13.

Yes, me! My mom was 46 and my dad was 41 when I was born. I was a surprise but was never made to feel like an unwelcome surprise. There is a 22 year age span from oldest to youngest – 5 girls altogether.

The only time I remember having anyone comment to me on their age was in sixth grade. For some reason in language arts class we were talking about ages of siblings. At that time my oldest sister was 33. I got some odd looks and I remember one boy saying, “Thirty-three? My mom’s only 32!” Until then I hadn’t paid any attention to either parent’s age.

I don’t have any communication issues, or problems with other people because of having older parents. My parents were relatively relaxed when I showed up, but didn’t let me get away with anything just because I was the youngest. One good thing that came of it was that my dad was more established in his career and was home more often. I got more of his time than my sisters had ever had.

The hardest thing? Being fairly young when my parents died. I was 30 when my mom died and 38 when my dad died. My husband still has a grandparent left, where as I lost my last one at 21.

My husband’s uncle was a surprise. Grandma thought she had hit menopause, and WHAMMO, there’s the fourth boy. He’s only 4 years older than my husband, the son of the baby’s second eldest brother.

Since all the other kids were out of the house and grown by that point, he was kind of coddled. Hell, he’s still kind of coddled. I don’t know too much about communication problems, but he isn’t used to being told “no”, that is for sure.

Yep – my own family!
My dad was 46 when I was born, and 50 when my sister was born.

Having kids late in life has definitely kept him young – people don’t believe it when they hear he’s 63! He doesn’t have any of the health problems normally associated with being in your sixties.
My sister and I both get good grades and are very social.
One great thing about their being older than usual is that we get to see a lot of our dad. He’s retired! Between that and being homeschooled, we get to be spontaneous and take short vacations whenever we want. We’ve seen more of the local sights in MN in the last few years than we did all my growing up. I love it!
The problems with having older-than-usual parents:
Frankly, it has been a long time since they were my age – they’ve forgotten what it’s like! They’re still good parents, but I feel like a younger couple would understand a bit better.
I’ve never had a very good relationship with my mom. The fact that she’s so much older than me is hard in this aspect.
Ever since I was little, people have mistaken my parents for my grandparents. We’ve always kind of laughed it off, but, yes, this happens.
One of the frustrating parts of having older parents: menopause. My mom can be so cranky at times! Lol ;) and just so you know: when mom’s cold (or hot) everyone is cold (or hot).
One thing I’m sure they wish had worked out a bit differently: grandkids. The oldest kid in the family – my brother – is 25. He got married 2 years ago and they had their first child 19 months ago. I’m sure my parents wish their kids were older now so they’d get more time with their grandkids. I hope all of my sister’s children at least get to meet them.
One thing we joke about about my dad’s age is how old he’ll be to walk my sister down the aisle. He’ll be in his seventies!
All in all, I’d say having older-than-usual parents isn’t that much different.

I worked with a guy who’s wife had a late life crisis and dumped him in his late 50’s. He got remarried and had two kids when he was in his sixties. They turned out terrific.

A past neighbor was 74 raising her great grandson who was 6 at the time.
She took legal custody when he was just a few months old.
The Mother was a wild child and on drugs.
I often wonder how they are doing.

Yeah I’m one of those, the last of five boys in the family. My parents were in their early forties at the time. When I got into my teens, I did occasionally run into the issue of people mistaking my father for my grandfather. But I never really felt insulted or made to feel uncomfortable.

My mother had me when she was 43. I never had any issues with it nor did anyone ever say or do anything that made me uncomfortable in relation to my mother’s age. She was prematurely grey to boot, but if anyone thought she was my grandmother, they never gave voice to that.

I was actually labeled an “elderly mother” when I was pregnant at the age of 32. However, I can only remember once when it came up. My son bought two ice cream cones and the clerk said this one is yours and this one is your grandmothers. He actually looked around to see if his grandmother was near by.

When my youngest brother was born, our parents were 40 and 43. And my partner has an uncle who’s the same age as he is. As far as I know, neither my brother nor my partner’s uncle had any issues from having older parents. Except perhaps, in the case of my partner’s uncle; having to deal with their deaths at a young age.

@YARNLADY what!?!?!?!??!!?!?!!

By the time my parents had me they had three children already.
I grew up with siblings much older than I was and they each left home for University etc long before I was in High School.
People thought that my parents were my Grandparents too.
It did not bother me. In fact I became more independant and confident because of it.
My parents taught me to be more patient and understanding and calmer than my friends parents.( through their actions and example).
They were more understanding of human foibles and imparted that trait.
I was glad that they were my parents despite ups and downs in life.
They have both passed on and these memories are what support me now.

@ZEPHYRA She was calling me his grandmother, but he thought his actual grandmother was somewhere nearby. She lived in the same town as we did at the time.

My mother would have been about 39 when she had me and she was 43 when she had my sister. My dad was about the same age. So when I was a teenager my dad was in his 50s. Their age wasn’t so much the problem as their generation. They were from the greatest generation and so had very different attitudes to most things from us as baby-boomers. We were the youngest and were sort of like a second family because there was a bit age difference between me and my next oldest sibling. I’ve never thought of it as having ‘communication’ problems as much as having different ideals and world views.

One of my best friends was the youngest of six children and her parents were older than normal, but she turned out great. Very articulate, editor of our school paper, high score on ACT, it made her mature faster intellectually in my opinion, she didn’t have as much of a childhood as the rest of us though. I never heard anyone voice opinions on her parents being old.

My daughter has me for an older parent. She’s only 2 so she’s too young to be stigmatized. The people I knew with older parents in high school were never stigmatized but they were often given lots of sympathy because their parents were more strict. Kids with immigrant parents (we had a large Korean and Vietnamese community) got the same sympathy.

I don’t think the stricter parent thing is really going to happen anymore. If anything, I am much more laid back than the younger parents I know. Younger parents are being taught to worry and freak out more easily—must watch and hover over your children at all times and whatnot. Parents my age are more free range, I’ve noticed.

My oldest cousin is 18 years older than me (I was born in 1995, when he was born in 1977). He is the first grandchild of our late grandparents (His maternal, my paternal). Now, he is married and has a daughter. His wife is the youngest of three daughters in her family, born when her father was around 50, the same age as which my father is now.