I hang out with these little kids all the time. Their parents are kinda absent, not really too concerned about what they’re up to, and there’s 5 of them. They always wanna play and show me stuff and kinda follow me around.
I mainly hang out with the younger 3: J. (M8) L. (F6) & V. (F5). The oldest is in her teens, she half watches them and half does her own thing. The second oldest lives with their grandparents and only comes by on weekends and breaks from school.
I was in the parking lot throwing trash in the dumpster, and J & V followed me out there.
J asked me what year I was born. I told him 1998. I was confused by what he said next… he said, “And you survived!” Sounding kinda astonished.
I just went along with it and was like “Yeaaah I’m still here woohoo”
Then I asked him what year he was born… and he said “I was born in 2017”.
When I tell you, this hit me like a pile of bricks. Bro. I was laughing at first! I was so taken aback, I was like “woaaah no way! 2017? I was 19 in 2017!” He just rode off on his bike looking kinda perplexed.
I was sitting with the fact that 2017 feels like it was just a few years ago, just kinda chuckling to myself about the memories (after he rode off and I was alone in the parking lot).
That’s when it all hit me. This kid thinks I’m fucken ancient.
I’ve heard about these experiences since I was a kid! I’ve heard adults laugh, and be half offended / half amused by comments we kids made about their ages and the fact that they were alive in certain decades. I just didn’t think that I’d get my serving merely a month before my 27th birthday. Shit man.
I thought it was hilarious though and I wasn’t offended at all, I’m still getting my kicks off of that whole conversation 😆
ETA: I’m loving these comments 😂 hearing all your stories is cracking me up. So relatable. I’m cleaning my closet & vacuum sealing my winter clothes (because that’s what old people in their 20’s do 😆) so I’ll respond to these later! But keep em coming! I’m enjoying reading these on my breaks from cleaning lmao
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When I was 18 I taught a kids class. One of the kids asked me how old I was, and obviously I wasn’t bothered so I told him. He immediately said, “woah…. you’re a decade older than me… YOU’RE SO OLD!” Kids perspectives on ages are funny.
I was born in ‘95 and my brother on ‘00. we have cousins younger than us but we refuse to accept they were born after 2000. we just simultaneously agreed there’s no such thing as someone burn after 2000. and it’s wild bc 2000-2004 babies are of legal drinking age. the fact my “little” brother can by me (a 30 year old teenager) alcohol makes my brain lag
I like to ask little kids how old they think I am before I tell them. My favorite answers have been from a 3 year old who thought about it for awhile and guessed 7 and a 4 year old who guessed that I was 60 (I was 19 at the time)
my daughter was born in 2020 and she calls her dad ” Okay old man” everytime he lectures her. im like wtf? you’re like fresh out of the womb only 5 years ago….. I was born in 1995
got in a playful argument with one of my neighbor kids, he said “at least i wasn’t born in the 1900s”.
speechless.
I will be 45 this year, I was born in 1980. My son who was born in 2012 likes to point out I was born in the 1900’s. I worked at a school a couple years ago and the K and 1st grade kids thought I was 100. I very seriously told them I was older than that because I’m a vampire. They totally believed me and would tell other people I was over 100. When I was a kid I used to think 25 was sooo olde that you might as well die cause what’s left after that. Can’t believe I’m almost twice that now and twenty something year olds feel like babies. But also at the same time I don’t feel as old as my age.
My nephew asked me how old I am a couple of weekends ago. He also thinks I’m ancient, because I’m 5 years older than his dad.
I remember asking my Mom how old she was. She said 28. I blurted out, “Wow! You’re ancient!” She cracked up laughing. She never let me forget it. When I turned 28… lol
That’s awesome that you give your time sometimes to these younger kids and they have the opportunity to learn from an older person other than a parent/relative
I am 62 now and I read your comment with memories rushing back from 50-55 years ago. Still remember the older “kids” talking to us and wanting to be like them. We listened to them and you’re doing this you have no idea what effect this will have for them growing up.
Cheers
I’m 49(f). When I was in kindergarten I asked my Mon if they had school buses when she was a kid. She went to her bedroom and cried. 🤦🏻♀️
I do find it ridiculous though, how much do you think a 5 year old would know about the invention of transportation? 🤦🏻♀️
When I was a baby, we actually had a milk man, and the home telephone was “rented” from the phone company.
My kid was mad at me once and said “you wouldn’t understand, you were born in the 1900s!”
My youngest was born in 2017. I have to constantly remind myself that it was actually 8 years ago and not 3 years ago. I was born in 1993 and sometimes her and my 10 year old remind me I’m positively ancient in their eyes lol.
My daughter likes to regularly remind me that I was born in the “1900s”. I’m always amused, offended, and slightly depressed by that statement lol
being born pre-911 is the new “1900s”. i’m 24 why am i old now smh
I’ll be 48 this year…two and a half years from 50. Thankfully I don’t look it. Most of the damage is on the inside, lol.
My niece is 13, her mom and I don’t speak. She asked me if I would talk to her mom, so her and I could hang out again (ouch I cried but that’s a whole other story). Then she said “cause… you know life runs its course….” I’m like BRO YOUR MOM AND I AREN’T THAT OLD. Both in our 30s 😂
Edit to add another one: I worked at my nephews school in aftercare in my early 20s, I watched second graders. My nephew would come to my class and they thought he was my son. I said “I would have been a mom at 12 years old” they just looked at me and said “yeah, that’s old”
Excuse me !??????
Was born in 88, thanks for making me realize how old I am 😂
I taught English to high schoolers in Hawai’i for a few years. A kid came up after class and asked if I grew up on the mainland. I said yes, I had. He asked, “Why do teens look so much older on the mainland?” I didn’t understand until he eventually told me he was watching Glee and everyone looked older.
I had to tell him that they were older, that the perception had nothing to do with the mainland, just the way Hollywood casts people. Most of the Glee cast were in their twenties when they started, and some were in their 30s when it ended. Colfer was one of the youngest, and he was still 19 when it started.
This was a revelation to him, and he seemed relieved. I don’t think most students thought that, but he did, and it was a perspective that left me thinking about the way we’re often shaped by assumptions and half-truths.
What’s funny to me is I’ll be 30 in 2 years, and that seems totally normal and accurate to me, but then I think about the pandemic being 5 years ago and my brain just doesn’t know how to process that. Like, it only feels like a year has passed since restrictions have lifted. Furthermore, I’ve been out of high school for 10 years but somehow it feels like an eternity. How does that make sense? Child me would’ve never guessed time would be so weird, and probably would’ve raised an eyebrow at your remark about being 19 in 2017 as well.
42 in august. 💀 me. 🙄
I was born in 1970 and it doesn’t seem to far ago when I think about it.
But sometimes when I get out of bed I feel so stiff and think about the Indiana Jones quote “ it’s not the years but the mileage “.
And I was 19 when you were born. 😂
Try being born in 1962 if you want to feel ancient. It doesn’t get any better with age.
I really felt my age the day I turned on the radio (after picking up a rental and not being able to connect my phone) to the oldies station and it was playing music from my high school days. There’s no way 90-s and early 00’s music is old enough to be considered oldies!