commentaries

Just like waiting to have those kids, you will never buy that home, install that second bathroom. Stop procrastinating and just do it. If not, you will just be a dreamer and not a doer.

Sorry, but if you are experiencing issues in being able to afford a more spacious/comfortable home you are in no way "rich". Your income/savings should drastically exceed your expenses if you want that classification. In this world it should not be a perception of how much money you make but how much money you have. The benefit of making more money is that it allows you to get closer to having more money. Calculate all that you have against how much you owe. If you take such pride in living in one of the most expensive cities in the world but find your self challenged to live more comfortably within it, I would advise that you look for employment within a more affordable city.

My parents met in France during WWII. They married at age 29 and proceeded to have 8 kids over the next 13 years. I was #7. My mom was almost 40 when I was born. I was one of those kids that other kids thought my parents were my grandparents. I HATED having older parents. I remember my mom crying because she wasn't included by the younger moms in the neighborhood to do things with them. I know it had a lot to do with the era and that older people are much more active now. But, I never went on a bike ride, or went swimming with my mom! It is a HUGE generational gap to be 10 years old and have your parents be 50 years old. My dad died when I was 14 and my mom when I was 29. My oldest daughter, now age 30, barely remembers her. My 3 other children, not at all. I miss both my parents greatly as I never really got the chance to know who they were. As you can guess, I'm a firmly against the waiting-until-you're-older-to-have-kids option.

Let's see: my grandmother had my father when she was 36 and she was 70 by the time I was born (she lived to see me graduate from high school). I had the first of my three children at 30 and my last at 37, and all three of them went through five years of daycare because my husband (who is nearly a decade older than me) and I continued to work in our run-of-the-mill, middle class jobs. Yet we just paid off our big-enough house and are now living debt free. Maybe being a life-long Minnesotan is what makes the difference. It's a great, and affordable, place to live! PS: Despite having older parents with the risk of genetic mutations, my dad is alive and kicking at 80, and my kids are all healthy and hardy. The "studies" about older parents seem to me to be a bunch of hooey.

If you do wait, don't have so many children! Two is plenty. One might be a better choice. The risk/benefit calculus has already been set out in the article and some of the comments.

It sounds nice if you have the option. I was the youngest of 3, my mom was 36 when I was born. She was about ten years older than all my friends' parents, which I hated. It is harder generationally. I don't think that will be the case so much now. I LITERALLY have about 100 friends/acquaintances who had baby #2 this year (2012). Each had their first in 2010. Every one is in her mid-30s. This is not to mention that some still might want a 3rd or had a kid not in pattern with the others. Some had to find the right partner. Some focused on their careers. I know of a few who were infertile. It is simply not uncommon today to see kids born to women in their 30s. I'm not saying 60-year olds should procreate, but each person had his/her own reasons for waiting.

U will find it very hard to work and put 3 kids in daycare. U will pay more for daycare since the state wants to protect kids from sloppy daycare outfits. U will be exhausted from working, paying daycare and not raising ur kids. But kids are great. Wait till they start college.

This story makes me think of a girl I know. I've watched this person from the time that she was in her very early 30s. She was sweet and kind, and bright eyed and optimistic when it came to the prospects of marriage and children, she's one of those who was born to be a great mother. Now she's very nearly 40, and still unmarried and childless. Now when the topic of being a mother comes up, she asserts it away as no big deal, that she has her career (which is really just a job), and that fulfills her. Her motherly instincts sadly seem to get channeled to her dog. This is heartbreaking to watch, this wonderful girl now a victim of the Feminism that was taught to her as being so liberating. When talking to her a person can see the loneliness. This waiting that she has done is costing her a family of her own. This person was, by nature, never meant for this. I am now watching a couple of my nieces, in their very early 20s, and wondering if they are going to end up the same way. I hope not.

Not to belittle the author's situation, but there is still one line that is never addressed in my opion: They pay $5000 a month in child care. We don't need specifics, but the bigger question needs to be addressed asto maybe their current situation has to do with the fact they are paying childcare. When my wife and I were having our first child we looked at childcare, and how much she made and it was plainly obvious to us that it was a waste of money. We found that if we just cut all that "extra" stuff we used to do (we haven't been on a vacation since our first was born) we didn't need her income. We stopped going out to eat, or the movies, or just buying stuff. I continue to remain shocked at the number of people who claim they both need to work to pay the bills yet they then begin to talk about one of them doesn't even make enough to pay for child-care. I hear this all the time from both younger parents and older parents. My wife and I have since moved away from Minneapolis, but as a single income family we have a gorgeous 2 story house, 2 wonderful boys, enough savings for a rainy day if needed, and I'm only 30. But to get to this point I've made numerous financial sacrifices; turning down trips with friends, minimizing purchases of that new TV or car. It's all about what you want for your family...not what you want for you.

I am having a hard time finding the point of this article. Having children early or late in life have both positives and negatives. The best time to have children is when you are ready: spiritually, emotionally, and most of all, financially.