Kids

Kids

Wednesday 10 February 2010

The best age to have children

I chanced upon this article in the New York Times and it ties in with the conversation I have had with friends about the best age to have children. I always tell them that if they want to have two kids, then they need to work backward and see how old they want to be when they have their second. Not only do eggs not work as well the older you get, the fact is child-rearing is an energy-intensive activity and it’s a far more pleasant experience the younger and fitter you are.

I turned 30 one and a half weeks after Ads was born. I was more or less on the median age for women of my generation, a little older by Indian standards and exactly on par with the rest of my friends, who all had their first child when they were 30 or very close to it. (I only have one solitary friend who had her first when she was 26 and even that was an accident!)

If I had to do it all over again, would I change my timing? I highly doubt it. I had 5 carefree years of marriage before getting buried deep in diaper duty, I had the time to figure out what I wanted to do with my career and I had more than 3 years to establish my credibility in my chosen field, after bowing out of the corporate sector.

It’s old-fashioned to ask a woman to have her kids early; but in this case old IS gold. And well, isn’t 30 the new 20 and all that jazz??

6 comments:

  1. Ha ha ... well said :) Lotz of ppl raise their brows when they get to know we r married for few yrs nw but don't hv a baby yet ;) And gng by my friends words, I do think they will hv other qs later too :)
    Luv ur header :)

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  2. Hi...
    I agree with you..... having given 5 years to my marriage before having our first child... I guess that was one of the most sensible decision we had taken. More because ours was an arranged marriage and we gave each other enuf time to understand each other..(it helps to throw tantrums later ;) ). Child bearing is not only a woman centric job.. I think today the fathers are equally responsible and are very much part of the delivery room...... and yes I too feel the older we get the more irritated we might get to appreciate the their weird discoveries and tantrums...!! Nice write up!

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  3. thanks swaram. welcome :)
    to the people who raise their eyebrows, raise ur eyebrows BACK :)

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  4. @kn0609 - thanks for ur comment! good to know there are otyhers out there who feel the same way!

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  5. Hey, I discovered you by accident, was blog hopping :)I guess you know who I am :)Welcome back to mera bharath mahaan!

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  6. yes supri, i know...u haven't been blogging for some time tho?

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I would love to hear your thoughts :)