A mum-of-nine has revealed she plans to wed her toyboy lover – despite him regularly being mistaken for her son.
And 45-year-old Tina Dickson’s children approve of her relationship with 24-year-old Brandon Dickson, despite their 21 year age gap making him younger than three of her children.
Nurse Tina, from Perth, Australia – who is older than her mother-in-law-to-be – said both their families had been hugely supportive, adding: “I count Brandon’s mum as a great friend, even though she’s younger than me.
“My mum thinks Brandon’s the best thing since sliced bread. She tells all her friends about my younger man.”
Tina – whose three children by her first marriage, Samantha, 28, Brie, 27 and Christopher, 25, are older than her partner – usually prefers older men, but was hoping to find a partner her own age when she fell for chemical plant worker Brandon.
Admitting to feeling awkward when they first got together, she continued: “At the start, I was almost embarrassed for Brandon. I didn’t want to hold his hand in public, in case we saw anyone he knew and they gave him a hard time.”
She continued: “Now, though, we just laugh it off. People’s negative opinions are their problem, not ours, and our families are both very happy for us.
“It’s that old saying – those who matter don’t mind, and those who mind don’t matter.”
They met in 2013 when Brandon asked Tina, also mum to Steven, 23, Khan, 17, Serene, 15 and Holden, eight, from a previous relationship, as well as to her fiancé’s children Elijah, four and Toni, two, if he could rent her spare room.
She said: “I was happy to have the extra cash, so I agreed to let out my spare room to him. He seemed friendly enough, but I didn’t even think about a relationship.
“For one, he wasn’t my usual type – but there was also this huge age gap. Back then, I was actually looking to meet a man my own age. “I assumed romance was totally out of the question, but then he’d make the odd comment here and there that got me thinking.”
Once we were in the supermarket. The cashier kept saying how cute he is, then said, ‘Your mum must be so proud,’ meaning me. He chuckled, smacked my bottom and went, ‘She’s not my mum.’
“Eventually, about three months after we met, he asked me out on a date. I was excited, but also really nervous, as this was so new to me. “We got on really well, but wanted to be sure before we were introduced to our respective families. I had my children to think about and didn’t want them getting attached to somebody who wasn’t going to commit to us. We were also a little worried about what people would say.”
After six months of secret dating – during which they abstained from having sex – they finally came out to their families, at first provoking mixed reactions.
After going public, the couple started planning a life together – having Elijah in 2014, followed by Toni in 2016, soon after which Brandon proposed.
But not everyone has been as positive as their families about their age-gap love, according to Tina, who said Brandon is often mistaken for either her son, or her daughter’s boyfriend.
Now, by sharing her story, Tina hopes to dispel some of the stereotypes around age gap couples and to encourage other people to be more open-minded.
Culled from The Sun