When is the best age to have kids?

[George Jones]

I had my son when I was 21, and honestly, thinking back I would have waited a few years. Maybe 24-25, but its really great being a "younger" dad. I'm now 30, he's 9.

As others have said, have kids young so that you can have a life afterwards.

We run around the house and yard having nurf {foam dart gun} wars. We both dive over the couch and low crawl down the hall ways.. not to many 40 yr old dads can/will do that..

This 40+ dad will do this once my daughter is old enough to do it also.

 

[lisab]

25 is a great age to have children - after 30 your risk of having a child with genetic defects increases ; it increases throughout the age span yet I would not recommend having kids at an age above 40 - if you're going to bring a human being into the world make certain that he or she is at least going to have the better genetic assets and that's why the early the better.

Genetic abnormalities aren't the only problem associated with children born to older women. If a woman waits too long, she may not be able to get pregnant at all.

...stories in the media may lead you to believe that you can delay
getting pregnant and then use assisted reproductive technologies (ART) to get
pregnant when you’re ready. However, age affects the success rates of infertility
treatments as well as your natural ability to get pregnant. For example, if you are
a healthy 30-year-old woman, you have about a 20% chance per month to get
pregnant. By age 40, however, your chance is only about 5% per month. In many
cases, these percentages are true for natural conception as well as conception
using ART.

http://www.asrm.org/Patients/patientbooklets/agefertility.pdf

 

[Cyrus]

Man 35, woman, 25.

 

[Evo]

I was 29 & 32 when I had mine. My mother had my youngest sister when she was 42, I had an Aunt that had a child at 53. All normal. But you do definitely run risks the older you get.

Just don't think to yourself, I'm 28 so I *need* to have a child now. If things aren't going well in your relationship, or in your life in general, having a child is probably a bad decision. No one "needs" to have a child. I was planning to be childless, and would have been perfectly happy without children.

 

[DaveC426913]

25 is a great age to have children - after 30 your risk of having a child with genetic defects increases

The 30's are a perfectly good time to have kids. The increase is negligible.

 

[GCT]

All in all there should be some respect to the child that is being born when having one as many have mentioned here whether its with regard to financial situations or age - many a times however baby's are being "popped" out - human beings are going to be born into unfortunate situations such as the slums and a lot of them are going to have genetic abnormalities of some sort.

 

[Chi Meson]

Man 35, woman, 25.

And Cyrus has spoken!

I don't see how that is tactless.

Because you, without tact, cannot detect the lack of tact.

And that's a fact, Jack. But the world needs those who "call 'em as they see 'em." And then the world needs us to say, "Oh that's just Cyrus, you got to get used to him."

 

[marlon]

I don't want kids until I am 35+.


25 its nuts, 28 is nuts. I'll pass on that one.

i totally agree

 

[Andre]

...and would have been perfectly happy without children.

Really? I might have thought the same ..oh.. 30 years ago. Now I know that I was wrong then, especially when I look ahead to even an older generation.

 

[George Jones]

25 is a great age to have children - after 30 your risk of having a child with genetic defects increases ; it increases throughout the age span yet I would not recommend having kids at an age above 40 - if you're going to bring a human being into the world make certain that he or she is at least going to have the better genetic assets and that's why the early the better.

My mother was 40 and my father was 48 when I was born.

My siblings say that this explains a lot.

 

[Astronuc]

What do you mean? Smart people don't have kids and dumb people do?

That applies in some cases. I was reflecting about that and about what I see everyday. I work near Social Security and the local government offices, so we see lots of folks who receive public assistance. They have one, two, three . . . kids, and in many cases the mother is single. I've seen several cases of sinlge mothers and multiple fathers. Those mothers ought not to be having children - especially when they expect the state (taxpayer/society) to pick up the bill! But then - no one needs have a license to have kids. I also have to wonder about the fathers I see who apparently are unemployed, based on the fact that I see them on the street so obviously they are not working.

My wife and daughter are helping a friend look after twins in the foster care system. The twins are daughter and son of a now 19 year girl, who got pregnant at 16 (effectively dropped out in 8th grade), had the kids a 17 and lost them because of neglect - she went out and got high, rather than work and raise her kids. She recently got ejected from a local bar and topped it off by getting arrested for assaulting a police officer (she has anger management issues ). Now multiply her case by several hundred thousand.

How many of the 6 million Americans in the criminal justice system have produced kids? That's part of the population I see everyday on my lunchtime walks, when I run errands, or when I go to and from work.

 

[tgt]

No one "needs" to have a child. I was planning to be childless, and would have been perfectly happy without children.

But does having a child increase your happiness?

How did you end up having children then?

 

[t-bone-steak]

28 i rekon is about right, depends on your situation i guess