STOP CALLING ME A KID!

I understand that as a young teacher, you'll always get remarks about your age. It seems however, that there is this persona about what a teacher should look like and apparently how old they should be. Yes, I am younger, but I am by no means a kid. A kid in my mind is someone under the age of 18. In fact, I don't even refer to people older than 13 as kids, but as teens. I am an adult. And just because I don't have kids myself, it doesn't make me a kid. Just because I am youngER, doesn't mean I'm a kid. Just because I'm younger than YOU, doesn't make me a kid.

Ever since I entered the teaching profession, people have been commenting on my age. In fact, the first comment I received while touring a school during an interview went something like this:

Teacher: Hi, I'm So-and-So. Who are you?
Me (New Teacher): I'm Jessica Tsu, I'm interviewing here for a job.
Teacher: What!? Are we hiring high schoolers now?! (Smirks, then walks away)

And ever since then, I have gotten comments every year about my age. I've been told that ONE DAY I will be "thankful" for these types of comments, but to be honest, I don't understand how age is such a huge issue?! Honestly, I've never understood why people feel the need to comment on MY age. Go ahead and comment all you want about YOUR age, but leave me out of this. AND what bothers me more, is that I am relatively close to the same age as many of the teachers around me, but for some reason I am the one that these sassy remarks are directed towards. Who cares if I don't have kids yet? Who cares if I am younger? I went to college. I got great grades. I aced all my testing for teaching. And hey, I have enough energy to keep up with my students. AND I have extra time to spend on class work because I don't have kids...so what is the big deal and why do people mention it so often? I'm not sure. If you figure it out, let me know.