I’ve just realised that my DD and DSIL qualify as middle aged now as they are coming up on their 41st birthdays next month 😬

I have some on both sides of 40 but close to it. No age related health issues yet but a few thankfully minor medical ones that they can deal with easily.

My youngest grandchild just graduated from diapers a few months ago.

Hope your son has a smooth recovery. Will they do both knees at once? if so, he may go to a rehab facility for a few days.

My sons are middle aged as well. I was talking to one of them aboutbgetting some of his stuff out of my attic which is reached by climbing through a hole in ceiling of a closet. When he responded that he better get it now because its hard for him up there because he’s not so flexible anymore, i was taken aback. Then I remembered he’s 53!

'Middle age'? I jut never thought of them that way. Oldest son in law is 51, son is 40,and youngist son-in-law will be 40 next June. Best wishes for your boy to recover smoothly.

my son is 52 and thankfully, at least up to this point, he seems to not have inherited my osteoarthritis.

i had both of my hips replaced in 2000, five months apart. i have yearly xrays and so far, everything is functioning as it should and at almost 75, i hope it stays that way.

both of my knees need to be replaced but i've known several who have had this done and say the recovery is brutal. i'm still amublatory so i'm not planning on doing it any time soon, probably never!

I am coming to grips with my DD1's 20th college reunion in the spring. My husband's 60th high school one doesn't bother me at all. Both kids seem to be reasonably healthy. One has a genetic thing that just surfaced and needs to be looked after. I don't know if it came from DH or me, but I feel guilty anyway.

My mother and father have five offspring. We are not all RETIRED!! It flips them out!

All 3 of our kids are now in their mid 50’s! So shocking when we think about it.

The youngest, now 53, surprisingly had quadruple bypass surgery last summer. To see him and know what he does to stay healthy you would never think he was a heart disease candidate as his lipid numbers & BP were great, but here we are. His bio mother was adopted and she was never in his life after age 2 so there is no clue as to how that part of his heredity may have contributed. None on DH’s side. He does have a rare condition called melorheostosis, where the bones excrete calcium deposits on joints (his affects his hip). It‘s a genetic mutation and truly a one in a million thing, so there is a possibility that could be a factor. So little is known about it we may never know if it contributed. Anyway, he had an excellent cardiac surgeon, was home quickly and is doing great.

I had not previously shared this info here, but i will as a reminder to tell your middle-aged kids to pay attention to ANY symptoms they may have and do not ignore them. His was a few episodes of heartburn which he had cause to think was food related. Then he had one episode of shortness of breath while walking their dog. That sent him to the doctor, and he was in surgery a few days later.

I was just looking a a photo of my daughter when she was a baby. She's 29 now. I realized that I may not see her reach 50. Guess I'd better take better care of myself.

My daughters are 42 and 43. I am 72. When I hear them talk about symptoms and stuff, I think to my self, they are going into perimenopause.! How will I live through that with both of them??? my grands are 4 and not quite 2. My mom lived to be 100, my aunt 96 and my grandma 93. I hope I can live long enough to see those grands out of high school. They may want to come live with grandma, when Mom goes thru menopause. Yikes!

Since you are never *done* parenting...

Do we need to tell our aging children that they should be getting colonoscopies? (And be vaccinated against shingles?)

" Do we need to tell our aging children that they should be getting colonoscopies? "

Sometimes yes, sometimes no.

An insight struck me when ours were entering teen years. I didn't have nagging parents who treated me like a kid, though my wife did and it was unpleasant for both of us. The insight I had was to treat child rearing and the instilling of the need for integrity, good values, good judgment and being sensible and thoughtful in their conduct as being akin to packing a lunch.

When you pack a kid's lunch, you try to provide everything they later will need and like but there's no guarantee they'll eat it.

I figured that the "pencils down" point for the transferring of needed adult skills would be reached when they left the house for college, or otherwise. I wanted to do my best to provide everything they should need to live as happy and successful adults BEFORE they left home. After that, they would be making their own decisions. With little or no unwanted ongoing parenting.

I was the philosophical/practical/life skills brainwashing parent between the two of us. I drove each of them in the morning to high school for several years, often a 25 minute trip, and that's when we had our talks.

It did mostly seem to work, they're all reasonably happy and functioning adults who can manage their own affairs well and contribute to their communities. An apparent recognition (and a pat on the back I gladly accept from time to time) is that while I rarely (never) offer unsolicited advice or comments to them, each periodically contacts me to present something they're thinking about or considering to ask for my view of it and any advice I would offer. I gladly do so once, and don't bring it up again. They can if they want to talk more, I don't.

I have young friends @ the gym. One calls herself my adopted granddaughter, she's 22! 🐥It's funny...we listen to the same music!

I have four middle-aged kids, two of my own, son and daughter, and two married to them. Daughter-in-law had to have a hip replacement, and son-in-law has knee issues like my husband. And son, who won the National Mountain Bike championship in his age group, said his back hurt when we asked him to shovel snow. But he did.

Nicole, I do have a 26-year old DGD who is training for the LA marathon. She asked me to share some of the favorite songs I had on my running playlist. I’ve sent her 4 or 5 already to test her response, and she loved them all.

I haven't forgotten something Elmer said here years ago about his surprising joy at being a father, at having these amazing little people in his life. It was just teriffic.

Sorry about the knees, chisue. I’m not much older than your son, same thing. After putting it off for years, I got one of mine done last April and I’m slowly building up the courage to do the second. The good news for your son - and for my second knee - is that I’ve already drawn the shortest straw. It can only be better for us going forward! 🙂

I’m sure he’ll make out fine with the two stories for now, but it’s something to think about for the future. I’d pretty much consider a first floor primary to be mandatory at this point.

I'm touched that you would remember that, chisue. I don't remember specifically making that comment in this forum but the sentiment is more than familiar and the wonderfulness of having and raising children, and knowing them as adults, remains a big part of me.

Coincidentally, one of my sons called me this morning while driving to work. He's been dealing with a touchy/sensitive matter in his life. He wanted to explain the situation and his actions so far, to get my thoughts and how I saw it.

I listened, thought a moment, and said I agreed with his assessment and approach. He thanked me and appreciated the validation. I told him something like "you know I'm always available to talk with you about whatever you want and I'm always ready to be helpful and supportive of you however I can.". It's emotional for me now as I type what he said in response "I know that Dad, that's been a constant throughout my life and I appreciate it.

Lovely comment, Elmer. Your son is fortunate to have such a reliable "sounding board."

My oldest son started Social security this year, Where has the time gone?

Very kind of you too to say that, stacey. The truth is that I'm the fortunate one, he and all the others are responsible and wonderful people. I tried to challenge, guide and "support" them with a light touch, specific advice given only when requested. They made their own decisions and learned from them and their mistakes.

When a team wins a game, it's because of the players, not because of what any coach did or didn't do.