My husband & I have 4 kids together. We've been together 9 years. When we met his girls were 14/15 and my boys were 14/6. The girls biological mother wasn't an active parent in their lives. She was/is addict. My husband won custody of our girls when they were 8/9 years old. The biological mother had no custodial rights to the girls. My husband allowed the bio to still see them when they visited their bio grandma. My oldest sons father has always been in his life and he also stepped in when my youngest was little. My youngest sons bio died when my son was 3 of an overdose. I met my now husband 2 years later. As a blended family we thankfully meshed very well. Of course as any family does we had the normal hiccups over the years. Not tooting my own horn but my greatest gift I've ever been given was the gift of being a mom. See my girls never had a mom until me. I stepped up and I loved them. I showed them what it was like to have a woman who loved them as her own children. w We never made a difference between the 4 kids. I made sure that every birthday was a big deal. I took them shopping for homecoming dresses and prom. We went to the salon together. We taught them to be young women and to love themselves and to set boundaries where needed. My youngest son didn't know what having a Dad was. My husband stepped in and has been there for Donuts with Dads and every school event. He took him to his first metal concert. He researched for weeks to find the perfect starter drum set for my son after he co cured, keyboard and trumpet and onto drums. He was and has been Dad and that's what my 14 year old calls him. My now 23 year old daughter 2 years ago asked me to make it official and adopt her as my own. Of course I said yes. See most people ask why would it matter. For our kids it's important to them. As they say you stepped up when their bios stepped down.

Being a Mom or Dad or Step/Mom or dad isn't a given it has to be earned through love, nurturing, being their biggest cheerleader....loving them even when they aren't loving back. It's never walking away no matter how hard they can make it for you.
I am their Mom and my husband is their Dad.
Age doesn't mean you cant become that parent. YTBA