Monica Kranner
Courtesy Monica Kranner
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Monica Kranner, 56, a nutritionist based in London. It has been edited for length and clarity.Having a 2.5-year-old when you're 56, and your husband is 60, means everyone has questions and opinions about your life.I've heard just about every comment you can think of, and it's been going on ever since I was pregnant. I would be at the dentist, for example, and have to put on the consultation form that I was pregnant, only for the receptionist to do a double take.One that really hurt was being out at a restaurant for a family dinner over Christmas, when the server complimented us for spending quality time with our "grandson." The assumption that we are our son's grandparents happens pretty much every time we go out, whether it's to the park, a toddler group, or even while shopping.We end up sharing our painful backstory with strangersSometimes I can keep my cool, but other times it really hurts that people just make assumptions, because we waited so long to have our son. It becomes expected that we share our very painful, personal back story: that we have been trying to conceive since I was 39, and I have experienced seven devastating miscarriages. Our son is the miracle we were waiting for over 14 years. Having to share this with strangers isn't easy, but it feels necessary.All our son currently sees is two parents who love him immensely. He doesn't see our ages, but I'm worried this will come when he starts school. I don't want his friends to judge him and tease him for having older parents. It's one of the reasons I am actually thinking of homeschooling him, to protect him from bullying.
