Thanks to suggestions from readers I've started posting some questions and answers on older parents. The introduction is here.

SHB:
Many older adoptive parents worry that their age will be an embarrassment to their kids when those kids hit the teen years. Any comment?

Kris:
All parents are an embarrassment to teenagers. My kids absolutely hate the fact that I have three tattoos, and they begged their dad and me not to dance when we were at my brother's wedding a while back. (They're 11 and 13, and we ignored them.)

Mickey:
I remember trying to get my mom to snazz up her looks. I suppose this came from being embarrassed.

Kath:
My mom has always been cooler than anyone else's mom, and I don't recall ever feeling embarrassed by her. Occasionally frustrated, but not embarrassed.

Claire:
My parents embarrass me all the time, and they do it on purpose. One day my dad picked me up from school in a rented Cadillac convertible, an old one the size of a boat with big fins in the back, with the top down and his hair all greased up. He thought that was really funny. So did I.

SHB:
What do you see as the negatives of being adopted by older parents?

Kris:
The worry about losing them. I worry a lot about what will happen if one dies and leaves the other to get by alone for a long time. They're very close, and it will be hard for either of them to go on without the other. With both of my parents in their late 70's, the odds get stronger every day that something will happen to one of them, at least.

Mickey:
Having my dad die was the worst thing, although I know that younger fathers can die, too.

Kath:
I do have some issues with my mom, but I don't think any of them have to do with her being older than other parents. More stubborn, maybe.

Claire:
The worst thing is thinking about them dying. The second worst thing is not having grandparents. I had two grandmothers for a while, but they both died when I was a kid and now I don't have any. Some of my friends get great presents from their grandparents and get to visit places where they live. That would be nice, but my parents are so old that their parents are all dead already.

For the positives of older parent adoption and more, see the next post.