Talkback of the Month (or the aging parental mindset)

Scene: 5 year old's birthday party. Kids are running wild.

What they say, “I think you notice that you're aging more if you have children.”
-- mother of birthday boy

What she means: My time is more valuable than yours because I am in charge of a living, breathing, birthday-having, small person, while you have a meaningless life filled with fluff.

What I want to say: “In case you haven’t noticed, we childfree women have mirrors too and you can bet we notice that we're aging.”

What I say, Nothing.

Of course, maybe she's right, but not in the way she thinks. Maybe she notices her aging more because she is aging faster than we childfree-folk. Have you ever noticed how grown up your breeder friends think they are--giving answers to all of life's questions, molding small minds, forgetting about real adult fun, and our unavoidable human fallibility and fragility? The burden isn't the children, it's the mindset, and I guess it can have an aging effect.