A mum has said she looks so much like a child that strangers are always mistaking her husband for her dad and assume she's babysitting her own kids.
Carolyn Fultz, 30, is used to people assuming she is a teen babysitter or older sister to her three boys – eight, five and two.
She says strangers are “shocked” she is old enough to have children – with some guessing the mum-of-three is as young as 16.
Carolyn has been with her husband, Drew Fultz, 34, for over 10 years but says most people mistake them for father and daughter at first.
The couple have a large height difference with Drew, a general partner at a private equity firm, towering above 5ft 4ins Carolyn at 6ft 6ins.
Despite the daily judgements, the pair are “not bothered” by the mistakes.
Carolyn, a marketer, from Phoenix, Arizona, US, said: “I’ll be at the play park and people will think I’m the older sister or babysitter for my kids.
“I get asked all the time what school I go to.
“If I don’t have my kids with me and I drop into conversation about them people will look confused and say: ‘You have three kids already?’
“Just the other day the contractors working on our house presumed I was the older sister to my kids.
“People are always assuming I’m my husband’s daughter too.
"There is always a moment of surprise when they find out I’m 30 and we’re married.”
Drew and Carolyn started dating in August 2011 and tied the knot in March 2014 before welcoming their first son in November the same year.
Throughout her life Carolyn has faced comments about looking younger than her true age.
“I’ve always looked young for my age,” she said.
“In middle school I looked like I was in elementary and so on.
“Now people assume I’m anywhere from 16 to 26. Sometimes they don’t think I’m an adult.”
While Carolyn appears young for her age, she says Drew is often mistaken for being in his 40s.
She said: “He’s not offended by it. He doesn’t really care that much. We’re used to the mistake all the time.
“The second we start talking and interacting with each other and the kids' people can see the dynamic.
“If I get my hair cut and get a different hairdresser, I’ll at some point bring up my kids and you’ll see that they thought I was in my teens.
“People are always shocked then apologetic when they find out.
“I get it all the time, so I tell them it’s OK.”
Carolyn says people thinking she is Drew’s daughter doesn’t bother either of them.
“He’s seen me grow into and mature as a woman,” she said.
“He doesn’t see me the same way people do for the first time when meeting me.
“I’m a confident, 30-year-old woman and I don’t feel I need to prove anything anymore.
“If they think I’m a babysitter or daughter to my husband let them think it.
“They’d realise I’m not if they take the time to get to know me.”
