Mum slams husband, 47, for being friends with woman half his age but parents argue men and wom

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A mum has reached out for help after becoming worried about her husband's friendship. She said his friend is a "girl" in her twenties who used to work with him.

Speaking on parenting site Mumsnet, she wrote: "My husband is 47 and this girl is in her twenties. She used to work for him, he was her manager. At the time, things weren’t great between my husband and I. He was coming home every day in a foul mood, not even acknowledging me most nights.

"He’d then blame the stress of work. However, he then talked about how much fun he had at work and that they 'spent the whole day laughing'. He mentioned a few colleagues but this one (the girl) he mentioned more than most. I actually lost my temper with him because he was mentioning her so much.

READ MORE:Parents slam ‘unhinged’ mum who blamed girl, 13, for stealing ‘a pint of gin’

"Then she found another job and left the company about six months ago. I thought that would be the end of it. Then at the weekend my husband showed me his phone and I could see that there was a conversation between the two of them.

"Basically she was asking him if he was going to someone’s leaving do and he said he wasn’t. All innocent enough, but why are they still in contact? Especially as I had raised concerns about her in the past.

"My husband said they were friends. Am I being unreasonable to have an issue with a 47 year old MARRIED man being friends with a girl in her twenties? Just for background, I have NEVER had an issue with anyone else my husband has worked with ever. Just this one girl."

Parents quickly flooded the comments with support as some agreed with the mum. One person wrote "Well, mentionitis is never a good sign. My husband has female friends from before he retired but the main difference is that I am friendly with them too and he never came home and treated me like s***."

Another wrote: "Are you kidding? There's only one reason a 47-year-old man is friends with a girl half his age and it's not because he's interested in her personality."

One person added: "He has a crush and she boosts his ego, he can live in a fantasy world that he may actually have a chance (if he wasn’t married, wasn’t her boss) of her being attracted to him but this is what stops her."

"I think if your Spidey sense is tingling it's usually for good reason," another person commented. "My husband is friends with a woman who just turned 30 (he is 50). They worked very closely together and despite being chalk and cheese got on incredibly well and two years later he still goes and has a coffee with her now and again.

"I am 100 per cent sure it is a friendship so have no issue with it at all. However 10 years ago he had a work colleague who he mentioned all the time and eventually I got it out of him that he had a crush on her. I could just tell."

But though some parents came to the mum's defence, others slammed her for not trusting her husband. One person said: "The workplace has many age ranges. I manage staff half my age and a text from one of them asking if I was going to a leaving do is really nothing, even if they've left. Staff who've left still consider former colleagues as friends."

Another wrote: "Has it ever crossed your mind that they could actually be just mates? Being half his age it’s unlikely she’s attracted to him unless of course he’s Brad Pitt, it sounds to me like you may be slightly jealous of her?"

Some parents shared their own experiences of age gap friendships too as one wrote: "I am in my 40s and have a good friend who is a young man in his early twenties who I met through work. Entirely innocent on both sides, I am like a bonus mum to him."

Another said: "I left my old job around six months ago and regularly still check in and chat with people from my old team. I’m 32 and this includes people in their 50s - never thought anything of it! Workplaces have all kinds of age ranges and you tend to end up bonding over the weirdest things! If there’s no other reason for concern I wouldn’t think twice about it."

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