u/saki4444

Hear me out! I’m like you, I swear.

Ive always looked young for my age and was (and sometimes still am) often on the receiving end of comments like “you’re too young to remember x” and “I’m old enough to be your mother!” etc. (it didn’t help that I was a waitress for a really long time which people perceive as a young person’s job).

Even when they were reading my age correctly, these comments were super annoying, not funny, unhelpful, and condescending. If you’re reading this you can probably relate.

However, now that I’m officially an old and some of my colleagues are quite literally young enough to be my children, I find myself tempted to make comments like this.

I consciously stop myself from making them, or I reframe them as something like “it’s weird to realize how old you’ve gotten” instead of “you’re the one who’s weird for being young,” but I’m honestly so surprised how often the urge to make these comments comes up! It makes me have a little more empathy for the people who made these comments to me (a *little* more).

I’m wondering if anyone else here:

a) Has made the conscious decision to not make these comments when the time comes because you were on the receiving end so often, and

b) Also finds themselves tempted to make these comments way more often than you expected.

Let me know please