How old do I actually look?

Um, Jen, honestly, I can see you getting carded but you do NOT look old enough to have a 5 y/o.  Well okay you do if you had one @ 15 or something. ~L~

When I was around 15 years old, almost everyone I came into contact with thought I was 20 or 21. After I hit age 22, it reversed. There is not a single person that thinks I look older than 17 (and that's the oldest age I get). Wal-Mart cards me when I try and buy an R-rated dvd! I'm not kidding! My ID gets heavily scrutinized and triple-checked everytime I even try to purchase a drink at a restaurant. I just find it ironic that I was able to get by with a fake id when I was younger (during a few rebellious months), but now that I'm actually legal and of age, I get carded like I'm using a fake ID. Lol!

Because people view the world through their own rose-colored glasses. Seriously, the psychological make-up of someone affects what details they notice. That is why eyewitness testimony is not relied upon soley in a case.
 
To put it another way, there are a lot of neurotic and psychotic people running loose in the world.

ORIGINAL: gradyupmybutt

Um, Jen, honestly, I can see you getting carded but you do NOT look old enough to have a 5 y/o.  Well okay you do if you had one @ 15 or something. ~L~

Umm.. thanks, I think. And, no, I have never been a guest on Jerry Springer, if that's what you were implying, but perhaps it would be a good excuse for the state of my car. If I just threw a few french fries and half a chicken nugget across the backseat, that would be believable, right?

I am not as surprised as some about being asked if you have a kid in the district.  I'd say at the age of 26, I am a few years older than most of the parents of my first grade students (6/7 yr. olds).  Many of the parents of my class are 21 or so.  One parent in my school now has 5 kids at 21... all planned.  She was trying for a boy and finally got one as part of a set of twins last summer.  I teach at a very non-selective private school in Baltimore City.
 
One of my students thinks his mom is 26.  He knows she looks much older than me, but she has told him she is 26 and he believes her.  She is actually 49 .  He also thinks his grandmother is 30.  He is a smart boy but has not put 2 and 2 together.  He knows his dad is 38 though.  His mom just started menopause and told him that she is going to be moody for the next 10 yrs. so he is prepared haha.

Yeah, Jen, I meant it as a compliment.

ORIGINAL: ashland
When I was around 15 years old, almost everyone I came into contact with thought I was 20 or 21. After I hit age 22, it reversed.

 
That's what happened with me, although since I've teaching college students barely a few years younger than me, I think they just assume I'm older than 23. Thankfully, I don't go out; otherwise, I'd see them everywhere. It's bad enough I can't remember their names when I see them working at a local restaurant or store.

ORIGINAL: smilee1079

I am not as surprised as some about being asked if you have a kid in the district.  I'd say at the age of 26, I am a few years older than most of the parents of my first grade students (6/7 yr. olds).  Many of the parents of my class are 21 or so.  One parent in my school now has 5 kids at 21... all planned.  She was trying for a boy and finally got one as part of a set of twins last summer.  I teach at a very non-selective private school in Baltimore City.

Interesting. I would never guess that at 26, you would be older than the parents your 1st graders. Maybe the same age as a few of them, but my guess would have been that you would be younger than most of the parents. I suppose the people in Maryland, or at least the people in Baltimore City haven't heard that people are having kids later nowadays. I couldn't imagine having 5 kids, or even 1 old enough to be in kindergarten or 1st grade (ok, I don't ever see it happening at all really).
 The two boys I work with regularly are 8 and 9, and I think both their mothers are about 40, give or take a few years. I'm pretty sure I remember the one boy's dad turning 40 late last year, or it could have been early this year, and i'd guess the other's dad to be around there as well, although he's never home when i'm there, so i've only met him very briefly. Today I was in the 1st and 2nd grade life skills class, in which 5 of the 8 kids that were there today (the 9th was absent) have down syndrome, so if my thinking is correct on this, the average age of their mothers, and probably also the fathers, would be higher than that of most other classes.

ORIGINAL: marlania


That's what happened with me, although since I've teaching college students barely a few years younger than me, I think they just assume I'm older than 23. Thankfully, I don't go out; otherwise, I'd see them everywhere. It's bad enough I can't remember their names when I see them working at a local restaurant or store.

I'm glad i'm not the only young person who has trouble with remembering names, although I seem to only have the issue with adults' names. I remember the names of all 8 kids and even of their last names, but I only remember the name of one of the 4 adults, and i'm not entirely sure of her first name.

My nephews doctorate was awarded something like 22 days after he turned 21.  He started teaching that fall, so many of his students were OLDER than he is, especially on the graduate level.  Talk about having a hard time with your students!  He grew a beard, stopped wearing contacts and wore glasses instead to look older....he still looked like a teenager who needed to wash his face!  Poor guy!

ORIGINAL: griffinej5

Interesting. I would never guess that at 26, you would be older than the parents your 1st graders. Maybe the same age as a few of them, but my guess would have been that you would be younger than most of the parents. I suppose the people in Maryland, or at least the people in Baltimore City haven't heard that people are having kids later nowadays. I couldn't imagine having 5 kids, or even 1 old enough to be in kindergarten or 1st grade (ok, I don't ever see it happening at all really).

 
This is not abnormal from my experiences teaching in Balt. City public and private schools.  I don't know how far it makes the news, but the city has some of the worst public schools in the country.  The state wants to take over many of them because of failing test scores.  However, the problem is not the teachers... it is the home life.  To do well in school, you need to also practice at home.  Well, many of the parents are so young they didn't finish school themselves, or they are working so much to be able to provide for the kids, that they work night jobs because they don't have the education for a 9-5 job, or they often are in jail, and then the kids end up staying with grandparents, who already raised one set of kids and are now dealing with another.  The kids don't know respect or work ethic and the schools can only do so much when the kids go home and are out on the street.  I am waiting to see one of my 5th graders from 2 yrs. ago on the news for drug dealing... sad, but true.  Now, I am not saying all young parents don't do a good job.  Many do... even the 21 yr. old with the 5 kids... her kids behave absolutely perfectly.  If my class was filled with students like her daughter, I would be in heaven.  However, the majority of these kids are suffering.  These kids parents had them in high school or just out of high school. 
 
However, usually, I can tell if a kid is from older parents or younger parents without even meeting the parents.

I haven't been carded since before anyone who is was born.

Are you trying to say that you're older than God?

ORIGINAL: smilee1079


This is not abnormal from my experiences teaching in Balt. City public and private schools.  I don't know how far it makes the news, but the city has some of the worst public schools in the country.  The state wants to take over many of them because of failing test scores.  However, the problem is not the teachers... it is the home life.  To do well in school, you need to also practice at home.  Well, many of the parents are so young they didn't finish school themselves, or they are working so much to be able to provide for the kids, that they work night jobs because they don't have the education for a 9-5 job, or they often are in jail, and then the kids end up staying with grandparents, who already raised one set of kids and are now dealing with another.  The kids don't know respect or work ethic and the schools can only do so much when the kids go home and are out on the street.  I am waiting to see one of my 5th graders from 2 yrs. ago on the news for drug dealing... sad, but true.  Now, I am not saying all young parents don't do a good job.  Many do... even the 21 yr. old with the 5 kids... her kids behave absolutely perfectly.  If my class was filled with students like her daughter, I would be in heaven.  However, the majority of these kids are suffering.  These kids parents had them in high school or just out of high school. 

However, usually, I can tell if a kid is from older parents or younger parents without even meeting the parents.

Well, the truth of the matter is that it's really about the money, which does of course go back to the parents. If they made more money, the schools would be better. I don't think I would survive too long in a city school, partially because i've been so spoiled working with little rich kids, not that they realize how rich they are. These are people with more bedrooms in their houses than there are people. The one family got their township to allow them to have a pool dug in the backyard in a neighborhood where they aren't  allowed to have pools because the ground is so uneven. But, not only are the getting a pool, they are  getting a pool with a spa and a waterfall, and they have a little building that they are having converted into a pool house. They will buy anything for their kids if it might help. Hell, the one family just got a puppy, and they'd probably get anything for her I told them she needed (which I do take advantage of, but only in the best interest of the dog). They've also got me so spoiled in that they're so nice. I mean, one kid's mom remembered that I like Peanut Butter Cups for Valentine's Day, and other little stuff they do. I've got it way too good, and i'll probably never be so spoiled again.