While subbing for English the other day, a girl showed up to class late with a pass from the art teacher. The art teacher happened to also be my art teacher and I babysat her kids, her husband works with my mom, etc. I know this woman. And she's super sweet and friendly and everyone loves her. The girl came in with a note from Mrs. Art Teacher and said "You can call and ask her, it's real I swear!" I told Late Girl that I trusted her and it was fine.
I should note here that Kaitlyn and I have a policy when it comes to me being a substitute teacher. We never call attention to the fact that we're related, but if people ask, we don't deny our own blood. The system works well and we like it.
So when Late Girl all of a sudden asked "Are you Kaitlyn's.....", I respond with "Yes." What I wasn't prepared for was the end of her sentence.
"....mom?...."
Shocked, I responded with "No." Late Girl then said "....sister?", and I said, "Yes." The other students in class proceeded to respond to her with indignation saying "What were you thinking?!" and "No! What?!" Late Girl was appropriately embarrassed and continuously apologized, and I reassured her that it was fine. Late Girl said that Mrs. Art Teacher had told her I was Kaitlyn's mom, and so she wasn't sure. I figured that Mrs. Art Teacher had either been trying to protect my identity or called me Kaitlyn's mom on accident and just let the incident slide.
But then I got curious as to how this kind of mistake could me made. I realize that I have yet to be approached to be a magazine cover girl, but I do think that I at least look youthful. So I asked Late Girl, "How old do you think I am?!" She sheepishly guessed, "28...?" I told her I was actually 25 and she was again super embarrassed. After explaining that it was ok to think I was 28, I then further explained that even if I was 28, I would only have been 10 when I had Kaitlyn. She said, "I know! But Mrs. Art Teacher said...!!!"
Finally I just laughed a little bit, told her I had no children, and definitely had no teenagers. And hopefully taught all of the kids a little bit more about the relationship between age and pregnancy.
I think younger kids use height to determine age. We tested my little cousins on the ages of my brother and his wife. My brother is 6'4'' and 32 years old--they said he was 45. My sister-in-law is 5'1'' and 34 years old--they thought she was 20.
ReplyDeleteI'm notoriously bad at ages, too, and don't understand how everyone else can guess them so closely. That said, you are clearly not the mother of a teenager.