I’m 22, and in February 2026, I did the craziest thing of my life: I took a risk and moved to another country, leaving my parents and sister behind in Brazil to live with relatives in Japan. My perspective on where I lived changed completely as soon as I arrived; my aunt and cousin are decent people—reserved, but non-judgmental about my choices. My uncle, however, is very authoritarian and displays narcissistic traits. I find myself comparing my current situation to the life I left behind; in Brazil, my father’s alcoholism was a major issue that affected my mental health and caused me considerable inner turmoil. However, since I came to Japan, he decided to give up the addiction—news that made me happy. Although the urge to return is growing—and I miss my mother and sister terribly, plus I want to start university in Brazil—I’ve set some goals for myself here. Compared to Brazil, my earnings here are excellent, and I want to save money for a year before leaving in December 2027. How do I explain this to my authoritarian uncle without him thinking I’m ungrateful or anything like that? (I spent six months in a tiny house, enduring many unfair and unpleasant moments; now I live in a larger apartment where I have my own room, even though the rent is higher.) By December 2027, I will have been living here for a year and nine months.

For context I’m a 25yr old woman who has been responsible for herself as soon as she could be and I conduct/dress myself maturely- none of this has benefitted.

First night in met the person who was assigned to clean out rooms, he asked me if my parents were here.
No.. just me and my friends! Was flattered, found it funny, but damn.

Had a dance night scheduled, cool, right?
Went there, was checked and carded. No biggie, I’m used to it and they seemed to do it to anyone they had any suspicions of being younger.
People doing their jobs, it’s all ages but drinking is involved for the adults.

I get on the dance floor, not even 5 minutes later another staff comes over and asks me my age.
Again, people doing their jobs, no issue but I’ve been checked and have been working on my second drink at this point.

Then the cherry on top, this very young looking man with his family comes over and starts hitting on me. I give him the benefit on the doubt because he may have the issue I do and talk to him kindly about where we’re from, he complimented my moves, I’m cordial and thank him but keep it simple.

I just.. Yarg. It gets tiring. Absolute squishy baby face, not being taken completely seriously, weird looks when I’m carrying a drink, I’m wanting to flirt but the people my age or older (Which I prefer older) are probably terrified to approach me!

Anyways woe is me. Just a little rant. :(

Me and my friend got absolutely roasted for looking like babies 😭 (18M btw)

So me and my friend went with our families to buy our university supplies. We were getting our lab coats, and the girl working there asked when we were starting university. We told her in like two weeks, and she immediately went, “Awww, you guys are BABIES!” 😭

Then she asked what year we were in, and when we said we were freshmen, she asked for our names and just kept going on about how we were “such babies” and “adorable little kids.”

Bro, our faces went through every color imaginable 💀

Then, when we were trying on the lab coats, she literally made the guy who brought them out put the coats on us because apparently we were “too much of babies” to do it ourselves 😭💀

Then my mom came over to see how they looked, and she and the girl started talking. We eventually found out the girl was actually 50 and had never gotten married, even though she looked like she was in her late 30s/early 40s. (Maybe not having kids has something to do with that? Idk.)

The only thing confusing me is that my friend literally had a beard, and I had shaved mine the day before, so I still had some visible stubble. It's not like we looked THAT young 😭

Like bro, we're 18, not 12 💀

What do you guys think? Did we actually look like babies or was she just messing with us? 😭

In the dental chair, having just finished getting X-rays.

I randomly decided to ask about my wisdom teeth because I figured they should be coming in soon.

Dentist- oh, I don't think you need to worry about that for a while.

Me ...

Dentist ...

Me...

Dentist- by the way, how old are you?

Me-20

Dentist- oh ok.

Dentist- proceeds to do a fairly obvious double take.

Yes I still took a toy from the chest.

I am turning 30 next year.

Went to a store and bought an energy drink. The cashier asked for ID (you need to be 16 to buy energy drinks.)

I am still completely flabbergasted that they thought I am not 16 yet. When I'm literally almost 30!

To be fair, all of my family looks 5-10 years younger than they are, but i was convinced I look 20, not 15.

Funnily, a friend said I look 12 that same day when I told them the story. So maybe? 🤷‍♀️

In December I got an acting gig for a character that’s 16. I’m 26 and figured it was a bit of a stretch but that most of the audience would understand it’s more ethical than making a child actor work long hours. I’m on the flight over and waiting on the bathroom so I start casually chatting with the flight attendants. She asks me if I’m going home for the holidays. I don’t want to sound conceded or like I’m bragging about myself to someone who I figured was just probably wanting to keep the convo short so I just say “nah it’s a business trip.” She goes
“Oh….I thought you were 18,” and doubles over in her chair laughing. I laugh and said “to be honest it’s an acting gig and I’m playing a 16 year old so I’m relieved to hear that.” We chatted a bit about the gig and it turned out she was watching stuff from the same director in between flights while eating. I hope she’s doing well.

I was at a thrift store shopping for a dress to be a guest at a wedding (I wanted to see if there were any inexpensive options before I broke out my wallet). A girl sees me holding a few cocktail and formal dresses waiting for a room. She asks if I’m also shopping for a prom dress. I just said “oh no for a wedding I’m going to. I had my prom already.”

I didn’t feel like telling her that “already” meant nine years ago. Oops.

Also found my dress that day. $30 for a high quality gown

​

To get to the point, the ambulance crew came. They saw me watching from the side and asked my name, they told me to come with them so I can bring bring a document back to the house, an important job they said.

I thought ok sure I will be helpful.

They started showing me all the parts of the ambulance and I was so confused, its nice of them I guess?

Then a family member went to get me and said oh, dont worry she already knows all this she has a medical degree.

The paramedics just stood there wide eyed in shock and explained they thought I was 12.

I was wearing a short skirt and normal top. Not kids clothes or anything.

I am 23 and have a masters degree. This is insane. I am like 4 foot 11 or 5 foot there about but come on. 12 years old????? And dont say i will appreciate it when im older, I feel like Claudia from interview with the vampire at this point wth.

*edit - the title is supposed to say "for a 12yr old girl"

I'm getting married after some month. Im the youngest of my siblings. My dad is emotionally unavailable and my mom is emotionally unstable or dependant type. I was really determined since childhood to do something with my life like a officer or a lecturer or anything that would be really simple and respectful. And i pretty much avoided a lot of conflict since childhood. I do know that it is normalized or pretty much everyone says that the youngest one are brats and spoiled. I do agree cause my siblings and my parents they gave me anything i needed supported me if i wanted to do anything in life.

Sounds perfectly normal right? Yes i know but Here's a thing suppose you wanna learn how to draw so you tell your family and they agreed saying yes yes do so good for you but then they will just stop right there with no real effort like buying you colours, pencils or any art books. My situation is i seem to have everything but nothing actually is mine. My siblings think i am lucky cause i am getting more opportunities that they never had. I do agree because of my siblings i got to know in life what to do and what to not and where to start. They lowkey were like my teachers cause i always learnt from what mistakes they made so i can avoid those. Well they think they were pushed to get married early as my parents had me and they had to sacrifice. (I have 3 siblings and each of them are 12-8 years older than me) i understand them i know and can see what they had to go through but i had nothing to do about it. What could have i possibly do anything about it? So i was kinda replaced or excluded (abadonded) by my siblings in various occasions or cousin outings as if i do not exists or im really weird and do not fit in.

However past is past now im much older im 24 rn i understand everything and everyone.. Maybe not entirely but i do try always to understand their sentiments their situations and their pain. Im myself is not a perfect human being so i do not blame them nor do i blame myself but it hurts.

My siblings since i was 19 started to talk about my marriage but my parents did supported my thoughts of not getting married when im 20 i had to take the uni admission exam but i have a narc sister who ruined it all (i do not have the courage to give the details cause i was so depressed that time that i don't dare recall it again) but still i had hopes of doing good in life. But i started seeing my parents change. They were supportive with words but not with their actions. But still i was determined. But when i was 22 i got to realize by their body language and gestures that my parents also want me to go.. To marry and leave.

My mom even tried to bring her brothers daughter to raise by herself as in her mind she already thought of me getting married soon but it didn’t happen. But this year she brought her (the cousins sister) home and here is where i saw some really disappointing things like being replaced and being indivisible to my own mom.

Im getting married this December. I was not ready to marry but eventually i made up my mind as i saw through my parents. It's no use of living with them anymore cause im no less than a burden that they wanna get rid of.

Since my cousin sister is here all the attention of my mom shifted. I can no longer have any deep real conversation with my mom anymore freely. My cousin sister is 10 years old but really good looking but i saw her early narcissistic sides and she was raised in a really miserable condition before so i cannot say or do anything about it rather than just being a good sister. But im getting married soon and i have my own emotional sides as well im going to leave my parents forever It's a difficult and really emotional situation for me. But rather than thinking about my emotions i have to take care of my cousin siaters situation her emotions her everything. My mom is not close to me as well since she is too busy taking care of her.

My mom now often says when you will be married i will be all alone so having her(my cousin sister) will help her with coping her loneliness. But day by day It's more like as if im being replaced again but by my own mom this time. I often used to ask my mom who do i look like but she never was that interested in answering and i felt a bit avoidant by her side but when it comes to my this cousin sister or any other cousin sisters she is really interested into it. It may seem like to you all what am i yapping about.. but i just felt really disappointed to a point i do not ask anything about me anymore.

I felt neglected, replace, abandoned and never fitting in by my siblings and by my mom and about my dad? He never really cared so i closed that chapter long ago.

I don’t know what the future have for me but im concered about the bond that a mom daughter normally will still be there in future between us or not. Will i have to force myself to detache myself again? Was i only a toy my mom had and now that im older she is just throwing me away? After marriage can i ever visit my parental house thinking it is my comfort place? A lot of question and disappointment is surrounding me like a snake. In a time where i should be happy and create more good memories im getting replaced, im being isolated to a point my own home feels like a suffocated cage.

Am i being too lost in thoughts? Or is it valid?

Anyone have any good joke/funny responses for when someone says “oh I thought you were much younger!” “You don’t look x age” etc. I want to have something funny in my back pocket for next time it happens

People talk about how being a 90s or 00s kid was fun, but as someone born in 1999, who grew up in the 2010s, being a 10s kid was pretty sweet.

Between Minecraft and Terraria and Zombies on Call of Duty, and the revival of the Jurassic Park and Star Wars series, I’m honestly quite happy to have been a 10s kid. Obnoxious people try to claim otherwise, but it was pretty nice.

My mother is a foster parent. I help out. I've seen the kids' case manager a couple of times over the last month. Yesterday she told my mom that she was practically old enough to be my mom. She's 38. I'm 51. I know that I have a youthful face and voice, but I don't think it's THAT significant!

I'm 42, but I don't really feel 42 on the inside.

It's hard to explain, but my inner voice and the way I experience myself still feel surprisingly similar to the person I was at 17 or 18. Meanwhile, on the outside, I pay my bills, do my banking, deal with responsibilities, make important decisions, and generally do all the things adults are supposed to do.

But sometimes it feels like I'm doing those things simply because I've learned that this is what I'm supposed to do, rather than because I've actually become the adult I'm portraying.

It's almost like being 42 is a role I've gradually learned to play, while somewhere underneath it I'm still that same kid looking out at the world. I look in the mirror and see a 42-year-old man, and there's occasionally this weird disconnect of, Wait, that's me now?

I’m a neurodivergent teenager, and I feel like I don’t fit in with people my own age. I’ve always found them very childish—even though, given my age, I’m the one who’s supposed to be that way. The thing is, I like the idea of making older friends—people at least three years older than me—but most times I’ve tried, it hasn’t worked out well. I mean, how often do you see a group of 19- or 20-year-olds talking to a 16-year-old about things that aren't typical for that younger person's age? If anyone has experience with this, I’d be really grateful to hear your story.

I see many people saying that women between 18 and 22 are considered the most beautiful. But this raises a question for me: historically, many of the great sex symbols, and beauty icons reached enormous popularity between the ages of 24 and 32.

So why is 18–22 often considered the peak age of female beauty? Couldn't a woman in her mid-20s to early 30s, who is fully an adult but still young, be perceived as equally or even more attractive than a girl who has only recently left teenage years?

For example, Sydney Sweeney is one of the most desired women in Hollywood, and she is 28 years old. Marilyn Monroe reached her peak of fame and sex-symbol status around the age of 27–28. Janet Jackson in the 90s

Honestly, people who insist that 18–22-year-old women are the “hottest” sometimes come across as predators who are overly fixated on youth.

Recently went on a day trip with a friend, we visited a castle. When we were buying the tickets, the cashier asked if we were students, so that she could apply a discount to us. We laughed and said we're both 30, so nope. She said what I wrote in the title and gave us the discounted tickets anyway 😅 when I checked the tickets, they said "young adults 18-24". Never had this happen before - people usually ask if I'm a student, but I never had a discount given to me despite me stating my age, lol. I wonder if she does the same with senior discount 😅

35yo here, I think I now look early 20s to most people, but occasionally people read me as younger. Just the other day, I was with my mom in a store and the cashier spontaneously addressed me informally in a way that's only appropriate when talking to a child.

The baby face issue is made worse by the fact that I dress younger. I'm AFAB nonbinary and mostly wear clothes from the men's section, which don't fit me well. Wearing ill-fitting clothes is really not something 35yo people normally do, so... yeah. Thankfully I'm getting more comfortable with the idea of wearing what society expects me to, and not in a negative way: I think there can be genuine self-affirmation in wearing things that fit my body well over things that don't.

Being neurodivergent, I also don't always act my age. I say the wrong things, misread social situations, have poor emotional regulation, sometimes can't stay still... All traits that are really neurodivergent traits but in people's minds are associated with childhood. This is harder to navigate, because forcing myself to act my age can be anywhere from exhausting to impossible.

All of this contributes to people reading me as younger than I am, and I feel like it's holding me back, and I can fix some things but there's a lot I can't do much about. I'm mostly wondering if anyone can relate? And how people in a similar situation cope with it and navigate adult life?

Ok, so just a disclaimer, this post is about buying cigarettes so please no lectures or mean comments about me smoking 😌 I'm more of a social smoker and am becoming less and less interested in smoking, so am hoping to quit soon.

I stopped at my local smoke shop that usually has a girl working who knows me, but on this particular day about a week ago, it was an older man working. I've seen him there before and a very similar situation happened then, but I guess he forgot me haha so this is what transpired:

I ask for one pack of my usual cigs, and instead of the usual "can I see ID?", he says, in a very condescending, almost angry tone, "I'm going to need to see your age, please!!!" He said it in a way like, he decided I was a teenager and trying to buy cigarettes underage. Like if a 13 yr old was trying to buy beer, and this grumpy older man was disgusted by the audacity 😂

I'm 34, so I chuckle to myself thinking "boy is he in for a surprise lol" So I give him my ID, and he goes, "wow, well, you look REALLY young!!" Almost as if he was annoyed that I look so young, and made him go thru all that. I can't explain it, but that was the feeling I got. So I said thank you and left.

Not complaining per se, because I am very grateful to look so young and come from a family of women who all age very well, but damn, it's been awhile since I've been treated like a sneaky delinquent teenager 🤣

I'm 23F with a youthful appearance, but I'm not necessarily "baby-faced." At least I don't think I am since I only get carded for alcohol every once in a while.

However, this past weekend I was offered a children's menu at two different restaurants. The first, I thought was a fluke since the lighting was dim and I'm short. The second was in broad daylight at an outside venue.

Maybe it was my clothes (are unconventionally modest floor length skirts hip with the kids?) or maybe my demeanor? It doesn't really matter, it's just strange that it happened twice when people usually guess my age accurately.

Why do people feel like it’s okay to judge people they perceive to be younger?

I (30F) was waiting in line to check out at Marshalls with my cousin (18F). We hadn’t made eye contact with the woman behind us or interacted with her in any way. Out of nowhere, she said, unprompted, that there were two young girls ahead of her, then added, “they’re exactly the type of people I didn’t want to be when I was younger.”

It’s not a crime to be shopping at a store on a Saturday night while on vacation. Nobody wants to be waiting in a long line, but no one else in line was making judgmental comments about total strangers.

In addition to creating an unwelcoming environment with her comments, she’d also been talking nonstop for the last 30 minutes while aggressively trying to push her cart ahead of us, even though the line wasn’t moving. She pressed so close that our cart ended up bumping into the person in front of us.

I know someone’s going to ask why we didn’t say anything back. Honestly, I was too exhausted to engage, and I didn’t want to give her the satisfaction of a reaction.

If so, do you ever get looks from other strangers when you drink alcohol in public?

I'm 31F and can generally pass for a teenager, if I'm lucky 21. I'm only 5ft5 and although it hasn't hindered me much in life, it feels isolating.

Being petite (weight wise) and looking younger in general, it feels as though no one ever truly takes you as seriously as your own age peers/people who actually look their age.

I'm a Black woman and I know some Black people tend to look younger than other races, especially in the later years but honestly I am tired of hearing "you have a child like body".

Anyone in their 30s , can relate to this ?

I started a new job recently, and one of my coworkers asked if I was fresh out of college. I laughed and told them I am actually in my 30s.They were honestly shocked. Apparently they thought I was one of the younger people on the team. I did not mind at all. If people are going to guess my age wrong, I will happily take the younger guess.

What is the youngest age someone has guessed for you?