I didn't tell my boyfriend my age when we started dating. I worried he might end things

Their dates were going well - really well, in fact. But Lena feared the new man she was seeing might end things when he discovered her age.

The pair, from Norway, had been going out for a few weeks after matching on a dating app. But Lena hadn't listed her age on her profile because she didn't want suitors to make assumptions or discount her.

"When our relationship became more serious, my worries got worse," says the 45-year-old. The man she was seeing, Kjetil, had already made it clear he was looking for love rather than a fling.

On their first date, Lena told him she had a teenage daughter, but that didn't put Kjetil off. He just assumed she'd had her when she was young.

"I actually thought she was maybe only a couple of years older than me," says 30-year-old Kjetil.

When Lena did tell him her age - a few weeks after first meeting - Kjetil was undeterred. He made a point of meeting Lena's daughter, who is 11 years younger than he is, to ask if it was OK for him to date her mum.

No such approval was needed from Kjetil's family or friends, but Lena was still concerned about what they would think of her.

'Why are you dating an old lady?'

"I told Kjetil that I might look younger, but please don't tell them my age because I'm so worried they will say, 'Why are you dating an old lady?'"

As it turned out, Kjetil's friends were totally accepting - "they're chill people" - and his parents welcomed Lena and her daughter into their family with open arms.

But what if someone had made fun of them, or implied the age gap was inappropriate?

"I would say something back," says Kjetil, who says he was prepared to end friendships with anyone who mocked or criticised his partner.

And Lena's daughter? She told her mother: "[Kjetil] is grown up and you're grown up, so as long as he treats you well, that's OK."

She's even helped bridge the couple's age gap by explaining the meaning of some of the slang used by Kjetil and his friends to her mother.

Lena and Kjetil have now been together for two years. She says his calm sensibility........

© BBC