What do you think is the best age to become parents?

[Anonymous]

28-33

I had my first child at 35, second child at 38. Now I regret having kids a little too late. I’d like to have more years with them when they are older.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I had my kids at 29 and 32. My only complaint with that timing is now mixing perimenopause with teenage hormones.

Wait a few years, then you get menopause when your parents start keep the house super warm and you can sweat through Christmas.

[Anonymous]

I had mine at 37 and a few weeks shy of my 40th birthday. Love my kids, but in an ideal world I would NOT have had them this late. Depends on the person obviously, but I think 28-33 is a good balance of being financially stable but also young enough from a physical perspective. Being well into your 40s and changing diapers, lugging strollers, etc. is...bleh.

[Anonymous]

25-35

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:34-year-old pp here. Thanks for the reality check. My doctor suggested we wait until a year of ttc before we do any tests or look into IVF - is this wise at our age?

I had a friend who didn’t get pregnant naturally and was about to start IVF. She later told me they barely had sex. That is why she wasn’t getting pregnant.

If you do the deed almost daily around ovulation time for a year, you may be able to get pregnant.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I had mine at 37 and a few weeks shy of my 40th birthday. Love my kids, but in an ideal world I would NOT have had them this late. Depends on the person obviously, but I think 28-33 is a good balance of being financially stable but also young enough from a physical perspective. Being well into your 40s and changing diapers, lugging strollers, etc. is...bleh.

Agree. I was waiting till I was 39 and had one and only. Maybe because I did so much babysitting in my 20s that I was so sick of kids in general. Anyway, now that I'm 50 years old and my child is only 11 years old, I wish to have my child sooner. My friends are now enjoying their lives because their kids are either done with college or work already, while I'm dealing with much younger parents and playdates. Also, at the age of 50, I have much less energy to deal with kids issues. My message to any adult considering having kids- please have them as early as you can.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I met DH when I was 24, got engaged at 27, married at 29 and had 3 kids in my thirties. Now that I’m older, I wish I had kids earlier. I had my third child at almost 40. I will be in my seventies when I am a grandmother.

I have some acquaintances who are in their mid to late fifties and their kids are getting married young. They will be grandmothers by age 60.

It's not about age. It's about when you are in a healthy, loving relationship

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I met DH when I was 24, got engaged at 27, married at 29 and had 3 kids in my thirties. Now that I’m older, I wish I had kids earlier. I had my third child at almost 40. I will be in my seventies when I am a grandmother.

I have some acquaintances who are in their mid to late fifties and their kids are getting married young. They will be grandmothers by age 60.

It's not about age. It's about when you are in a healthy, loving relationship

I would think most people agree with this. The point is that you probably shouldn’t spend your 20s like the earlier poster who justified being old because she spent her 20s having casual sex and partying too much. Maybe one should…not do that.

[Anonymous]

Never

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ideal is 26-30. Too bad I couldn't find a decent person to marry until 29. It wasn't for lack of trying that's for sure!

This was my problem. I was very picky and it took me a long time to find DH. He’s amazing, but I got married at 33 and had a miscarriage at 34. That was so rough. I very much wanted to be done having kids by age 30, but had mine at 35 and 38. I love them, so it was worth it, but I would have preferred to do this earlier. My body did not bounce back. At all. I was too exhausted during the second newborn phase.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I met DH when I was 24, got engaged at 27, married at 29 and had 3 kids in my thirties. Now that I’m older, I wish I had kids earlier. I had my third child at almost 40. I will be in my seventies when I am a grandmother.

I have some acquaintances who are in their mid to late fifties and their kids are getting married young. They will be grandmothers by age 60.

It's not about age. It's about when you are in a healthy, loving relationship

I would think most people agree with this. The point is that you probably shouldn’t spend your 20s like the earlier poster who justified being old because she spent her 20s having casual sex and partying too much. Maybe one should…not do that.

Could not disagree more. Partying, traveling, and having fun in my 20s gave me the security to settle down in my 30s and feel totally peaceful about giving a few years really committing to motherhood. I did it all, had a very full and exciting life with lots of experiences and memories to draw on when I’m sitting in the dark rocking a screaming baby for hours a day. Had I not spent those years having fun and exploring I bet I’d feel super trapped and unfulfilled by the hard early childhood years.

I had mine at 33 and 37. The right age is whenever you feel you’re done with the first phase of your life and excited about the second. It’s different for everyone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I met DH when I was 24, got engaged at 27, married at 29 and had 3 kids in my thirties. Now that I’m older, I wish I had kids earlier. I had my third child at almost 40. I will be in my seventies when I am a grandmother.

I have some acquaintances who are in their mid to late fifties and their kids are getting married young. They will be grandmothers by age 60.

It's not about age. It's about when you are in a healthy, loving relationship

I would think most people agree with this. The point is that you probably shouldn’t spend your 20s like the earlier poster who justified being old because she spent her 20s having casual sex and partying too much. Maybe one should…not do that.

Could not disagree more. Partying, traveling, and having fun in my 20s gave me the security to settle down in my 30s and feel totally peaceful about giving a few years really committing to motherhood. I did it all, had a very full and exciting life with lots of experiences and memories to draw on when I’m sitting in the dark rocking a screaming baby for hours a day. Had I not spent those years having fun and exploring I bet I’d feel super trapped and unfulfilled by the hard early childhood years.

I had mine at 33 and 37. The right age is whenever you feel you’re done with the first phase of your life and excited about the second. It’s different for everyone.

…aand this is why the hep b shot exists

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I met DH when I was 24, got engaged at 27, married at 29 and had 3 kids in my thirties. Now that I’m older, I wish I had kids earlier. I had my third child at almost 40. I will be in my seventies when I am a grandmother.

I have some acquaintances who are in their mid to late fifties and their kids are getting married young. They will be grandmothers by age 60.

It's not about age. It's about when you are in a healthy, loving relationship

I would think most people agree with this. The point is that you probably shouldn’t spend your 20s like the earlier poster who justified being old because she spent her 20s having casual sex and partying too much. Maybe one should…not do that.

Could not disagree more. Partying, traveling, and having fun in my 20s gave me the security to settle down in my 30s and feel totally peaceful about giving a few years really committing to motherhood. I did it all, had a very full and exciting life with lots of experiences and memories to draw on when I’m sitting in the dark rocking a screaming baby for hours a day. Had I not spent those years having fun and exploring I bet I’d feel super trapped and unfulfilled by the hard early childhood years.

I had mine at 33 and 37. The right age is whenever you feel you’re done with the first phase of your life and excited about the second. It’s different for everyone.

I 100% agree with this. Those memories are what kept me sane many times. Even now that I am 40 and my kids are in elementary school sometimes it’s still hard and I think back about that one trip, that one brunch, that one night, etc. I am not American and started early with the partying/traveling, etc. so I ended up having my kids sort of “young” (29, 31, 34). I wish I had my last a little earlier because the first few years of having a 6, 4 and 6 months old were hard for a while. My kids were in very different phases and the last baby was left out a lot. Now that they are in elementary school it’s much better!

[Anonymous]

Definitely after mid 30s.

[Anonymous]

I had mine at 27, 30, and 35. I think I felt most confident for my second (too young for my first and too old for my third).