Today: How Baby Boomers Make Retiring Different

Yesterday’s Granny — Today’s Glammy
Here’s How Today’s “Retirement Plan” Looks A Whole Lot Different Than Yesterday’s!

They’re The New Middle Age:  50-65, and up.

They’re the baby boomers and they’re retiring “Glam-parents” — not (typical) grandparents, at least not the grandparents of generations past. In fact, you’d better hide Glam-ma from the likes of Ashton Kutcher, and other men who like a mature woman, since age-ism is no longer discrimination — it’s a hot, hip quotient!

Prepare for Dating Glamparents

Today’s “glam-parents” are running races, doing yoga, and working out with weights at the gym; they’re having plastic surgery, surfing the web, and internet dating; in short, they”re looking, thinking, acting, and living life as if they are 10-15 years younger than they are (or at least 10-15 years younger than they would have just a generation ago).

And yes, online dating may first have been adopted by people a third their age, but modern mating has virtually been taken over by Glam-parents, today’s retiring baby boomers!

Indeed, the baby booming Glam-parent can certainly relate to younger generations like never before. Just as their 21-year old grandchild is getting carded at a nightclub, Glam-ma is getting carded as she is trying to receive a senior discount at the movie theater!

How Are Today’s Retirees Different? Meet The Glam-parents!

Today’s Glam-ma is not your average grandmother, mother, or mother-in-law. She’s not meddling or whining to baby-sit because she’s too busy with her own social life, career or charity causes to feel insecure about being displaced. In fact today’s trendoid Glam-ma has to be begged to show up at Easter because she’s probably off on a Greek ouzo and olive tasting cruise trip - again — or cramming for exams to finish her PhD studies.

How Do They Do It?

More in tuned with eating right, pop culture, and technological advances, Glam-parents are cooler and hipper than their grandparent predecessors.  They’ve been through the sexual revolution, grew up watching TV, have cell phones, and know who Usher is! Glam-parents and Glam-children can IM each other on their computers everyday. Instead of asking their Glam-children what kind of cookies little Britney or Caleb would like for Christmas, Glam-parents can ask if little Britney or Caleb wants something from E-Bay for Christmas.

Stacy’s Mom May Have it Goin’ On, But Wait Till You See Her Glam-ma!

Many Glammers are going back to school, having therapy and yoga sessions to improve mind and body, or having a plastic surgery make over. Not only does it make them feel better, they take their cue from Demi Moore, who had her day (or week) under the knife, and hasn’t looked back since she snagged a younger man to spend her days and nights with. Older women and younger men have always been around, but now the trend is more prevalent than ever. So don’t be surprised if your single mother-in-law wants to date one of your male friends!

How Do They Do It?

Health is sexy and Glam-mothers are healthier and sexier than ever. Besides, their Glampa-pa may be imbibing in Viagra, revving their sex lives to match yours!

What does this all mean? Growing older is more of an adventure than ever before, and staying healthy is more important for today’s adults so they can keep up with their parents!

Glam-parents Are Taking On Senior Taboos

Our society doesn’t celebrate romance and sex among seniors. In fact our books and movies rarely depict grandma and grandpa having an exciting romantic and sexual relationship, at least until now!

How Do They Do It?

With Tina Turner over 60, and Sophia Loren pushing 70 — Sean Connery approaching mid 70’s and Paul Newman pushing 80 — it’s cool, hip, and downright sexy to be a senior these days. In fact, a recent study of 1,300 men and women over the age of 60 by the National Council on the Aging found that 61 per cent of the men and 37 per cent of the women were sexually active. Some 61 per cent of the men and 62 per cent of the women said that sex was as satisfying as or more satisfying than it was when they were in their 40s. Nope, grandparents just aren’t what they used to be — they’re even better!

Thanks to technology and medication, seniors are living longer, and most want to live richer lives that include romance and sex. Viagra, alone, has completely changed the landscape of sex and senior men. Older women are jockeying for position in yoga and exercise classes to stay fit and feel good. It doesn’t appear that sexuality is dwindling in retirement, it’s on the up-swing!

The X Factor

Today’s Baby-Booming Glam-ma’s are friendly and kind to the ex-wife. Not like the old mother-in-law who feuds and holds long grudges against her ex-daughter in law. In fact, today’s Glam-ma knows what it’s like to be an ex because many times she is one herself. And sometimes she’s even a dating dynamo. Online dating services have “silver memberships” for silver-haired daters over the age of 60, although most of them don’t have silver hair. So be prepared for your Baby-Boomer Glam-ma in-law to bring a date to Passover or Easter this year.

How Do They Do It?

Glam-parents are divorced just as much as anyone else, so that means that not only is your Glam-ma -in-law likely to be dating, she’s going to know what it’s like to have an ex, and she’ll have a much more compassionate attitude about family than mother-in-laws used to. She also may ask you to keep your eyes open for a great date!  And it’s the wise daughter in law who does fix up her Glam-ma-in-law. The more life the mother-in-law has, the less she interferes in your life.