I was the oldest mom at a parent meeting for my daughter’s new Girl Scout troop. The same was true at a recent meeting of a PTSA committee at her high school.

This is one of the realities of being a Sandwich Generation mother in my mid-50s with a relatively young teenager (my daughter turns 15 this month.) It doesn’t bother me. There are plenty Baby Boomers who didn’t start families until their forties. I’ve just been noticing the age differences between other parents and me since we moved to North Carolina a few months ago. 

It’s probably because I’m no longer a part of my longtime circle of friends, who also are Baby Boomers with young teenagers. Over the years, our children grew up together, attended the same schools and were involved in many of the same activities. There were more of us in the crowd of other parents so no one stood out. 

That fact that I’m older than many other parents in my daughter’s world didn’t really hit me until the recent Girl Scout parent meeting. I was talking to one of the other moms about an upcoming outing when she called me “Miss Mae.” Here in the South such greetings are reserved for older folks in a show of respect. Call me Mae, I said.

Oh well. I’m a Sandwich Generation mom and loving it. Are you experiencing the parent age gap too?

By the way, join Soul Rhythms blogger Yvonne Shinhoster Lamb and I in the Melt the Middle Challenge. Let’s shrink our waistlines over the next six months.

Related posts:

1. Riding the kiddie roller coasters
2. Teaching cell phone etiquette
3. Me & Grandma: Teaching my daughter to cook
4. Are you a senior?
5. Are we raising confident, self-reliant children?