Reply to Those in your 40s and 50s, if you had kids later in life, do you regret it?

Forum Index » General Parenting Discussion

Reply to "Those in your 40s and 50s, if you had kids later in life, do you regret it?"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Due to financial issues we will be TTC post 35. Assuming we are successful, I am wondering about the ramifications of waiting till older to have children. What has your experience been like?[/quote]

I was 40.

The plusses are:
1) I had more money, more wealth, so more access to things like better daycare, etc.
2) I feel like it has kept me younger than I otherwise would have been if I had remained childless.   I am the one who takes my kid out to kick the soccer ball, throw the lacrosse ball around, bike, swim, ski, etc.   
3) I was high enough in my career that I have more flexibility for taking time off, etc.   Which comes in handy when I want to attend school shows, chorus, band, games, etc.

The negatives are:
1) My friends are now jet setting around on awesome vacations because their kids are grown, and I'm a tad bit envious.   We do decent vacations (travel is my love), but it's geared to having something kid-friendly, too.   And we go every other year vs. my friends doing two big vacations each year. 
2)  I'm 55 and could retire now if I didn't have a kid.  Even though I have most of college saved for (my kid is in 10th now), I still feel a need to work through college.  
3)  I feel a touch more anxiety now about some kid rites of passage (driving!) that I don't think I would have felt 15 years ago when teaching a kid to drive.

Having said all of that, I have so much fun with my teen son.  We are at the beach now while he surfs and I read or just walk down the beach. And we just crack up and laugh so hard when we are together.    These are such great times that will be great memories.   I love watching him become an adult.  He's different than what I had envisioned, but he's still awesome.  :) 
[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics