Do you wish you'd had kids earlier?

[Anonymous]

Do you wish you'd had kids sooner? And by sooner I mean before 30.

Everything I've read says to wait until later to have kids, so I was surprised to see it as several women's regrets that they hadn't had kids earlier. DH and I have already traveled extensively and are financially set, so we were just waiting for the age. I'm curious from people who've been there and seen both sides.

[Anonymous]

I didn't have my baby 'till 41, but it wasn't really a choice. I didn't meet my husband 'till I was 38. Sometimes things just happen that way.

If I met him earlier, I would have loved to have more kids. A little sad about that, but it is what it is. Count your blessings and all.

[Anonymous]

No. We wouldn't have had the careers we have now if we had had kids so early.

[Anonymous]

Before 30? No. Before 35? Maybe.

I think of who I was in my 20s and I would not have been as good a parent as I am now. That said, had I started at 30-33 and not 35 I would have considered going for 3.

Note - I was 33 when I was married, so it wasn't a question of waiting for the right time as it was waiting for the right person.

[Anonymous]

I wish I had started in my mid-30s. I had my first at 40 and just have the one, whereas I wish we'd had two.

[Anonymous]

Yeah, my own mom was in her early 20s when I was born, and I really liked having a young mom and would have preferred to be a young mom.

But I didn't meet my husband until I was 33, and by the time our first was born I was 39.

[Anonymous]

No. Dh and I are glad we waited until we were more established in our careers so we have more flexibility in our jobs as parents. We also had the opportunity to do cool stuff in our careers and travel before kids.

[Anonymous]

I wish we'd started trying sooner, but we're talking 33 instead of 35.

[Anonymous]

I had my first at 28, second at 33. Wish I had my first at 25 or 24. I was with my husband since late teens, but infertility got in the way.

[Anonymous]

I wish I had had my kids a lot sooner, but if I had, they would be as screwed up as I was and the men I was attracted to then. Have grown up A LOT in the mean time.

[Anonymous]

No, I don't wish we'd had kids before 30. I was in graduate school.

[Anonymous]

I had my first at 29 (I turned 30 about a month after he was born). Sometimes I wish I'd started earlier, when I think about my friends who are already past the baby stage and will be younger when their kids head off to college. However, earlier wouldn't have fit my life. I wasn't done with grad school until 27, and I wanted to have started my career and knocked down my loans a bit before I started having kids.

If you're saying that you and your DH are already established and feel like you've done the things you wanted to do pre-baby, I don't know that there's any upside to waiting. You won't be magically any more grown up or ready at 30 then you are at 26.

[Anonymous]

I wish the circumstances had aligned to allow for kids earlier, because then I think there's a better chance we'd have more than one. But given reality, I think DH and I could have maybe started trying a year earlier than we did, and I don't think that would have made any difference.

[Anonymous]

No from a career, travel, maturity, fun perspective.
Yes from a want more than 2 kids perspective.

[Anonymous]

Before 30? Not really. But early 30s, yes. We waited until I was 36 and parenting has been exhausting for us. Probably stopping at 1 because I won't feel ready for another one until dc is 3 or 4, but I will be too old then ... Wish I had started at 32 or so!