Rambunctious kitten and older cat

I have two kitties. Max is 12 years old, and Ninja is about 4 months old.

Ninja was adopted from the humane society after my 17.5 year old cat Sam died. Max used to try to get close to Sam, but Sam would get mad at him when he tried grooming him and swat him away. I always saw Max go up and start licking him as his attempt to pick a fight, but now I know Sam was the one that didn't want a friendship.

Max and Ninja get along fine for the most part. I've seen Max groom the kitten many times (I always expected him to attack the kitten after grooming like he did with Sam, but he just kept on cleaning him). I've seen them hanging out together on the bed with no problems as well, so I know in time they will be completely fine.

The only problem is that the kitten, well is a kitten. He plays very rough with Max, and instead of Max telling him enough is enough he'll just run off and get out of reach. I'm sure as the kitten matures it won't be much of a problem, but in the mean time it just seems so unfair to Max. He'll be relaxing and the kitten will come flying out of nowhere and attack with all his might. I've even seen him pull some of Max's hair out a few times. The kitten's body language is saying that it's all in good fun, so I'm not worried about their compatibility at all.. I just wish there was a way to get him to not be so rough with Max.

Is there anything I can do, or do we just have to wait it out until he grows up a little?

You can try diverting his attention from Max with a toy or keeping the kitten separated in another room. However, what you have is a normal relationship between an elderly cat and a playful kitten. If Max can bear it, you can too.

Max is doing okay with it. He still cuddles up to us purring so I know he's not angry. But I know when I'm trying to sleep and the kitten decides he wants to bounce on my head I don't appreciate it too much, so I'm sure Max can't either

I guess for the time being we'll just have to let things take their course. Kittens are a lot of fun, but I can't wait til he grows up and calms down a bit!

I was so proud of Max this morning. The kitten came and started pouncing his head, and Max finally stood his ground!

This sort of thing has way of sorting itself out. It sounds like Max is doing just that.

However, don't be surprised if Max is suddenly much more active. Having a new friend to play with often does that to a cat. I know it did it for Punkin when we brought home Sterling.

ugghhh, i have a similiar problem...i have sabastian 14, then we adopted nipper 3, and nipper is a very big muscular cat who still likes to play and constantly would be jumping and beating on sabastian and all sabastian wanted to do is be left alone. Then 1 month ago i got Princess, shes now 7mos old, she attempts to play with sabastian but at least sabastian can just move away from her, since i got princess, her and nipper play alot together, and it seems nippers bully attacks on sabastian have been less frequent but still happen.