What age should you have to be to have kids?
- Thread starter Xan Krieger
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You should be old enough to have a stable, well-paying job as well as a proper education, preferably in the much higher educations ranks. If those things take you until you're fifty years old to get done, well, people live longer and longer all the time...
Fix yourself, then fix up the kids.
Fix yourself, then fix up the kids.
I would argue that you're old enough to have a kid, so why shouldn't you be able to drink at that age?Xan Krieger said:
In any event, it depends on the individual. There are people who have kids at 20 and do fine. There are others who have kids at 30 and are awful parents. There should be no general standard set on such individual things.
I'm sorry if I came off like that. The thing is, during your 20's you're basically building your life. You're attempting to get a career, start a relationship and basically get your life in order. I just don't see how you could make place for a child in there. I'm sure there are great young parents out there and I guess I'm a bit biased due to how my own mother "raised" me.FamoFunk said:
I dont think this was answered yet, but if I remember correctly, women carrying over the age of 40 or so have increased chances for miscarriage, and other abnormalities or "mutations" so to speak, such as downs syndrome. its not recommended, but you can still do it and although the chances increased, they are still relatively low for any of that to happen.108Stitches said:
btw congrats on your kids
OT: it really is about when the parents are ready to have the kids, and thats based on maturity, not age.
TBH, my dad is 48 and doesnt know a damn thing about raising kids. im pretty much the "spiritual parent" for my siblings haha
I think something like 22-25 is the ideal time because before that age a female because after 25 there is an increased chance of genetic problems. After 35 there are extremely increased amount of infants born with disabilites. (almost 20 times I think compared to at age 25) At 45 it increases to about 70 times. Age 55 it increases to 200 times or something like that.
These numbers are for infants born with disabilities numbering 3 out of 10,000 for age 25, 60 out of 10,000 for age 35, 210 out of 10,000 at age 45, and almost 600 out of 10,000 at age 55 for females. I do not have the exact numbers as I forgot the exact location of the statistics.
If you are talking about financial stability on the other hand for most people they should be in their 30s.
These numbers are for infants born with disabilities numbering 3 out of 10,000 for age 25, 60 out of 10,000 for age 35, 210 out of 10,000 at age 45, and almost 600 out of 10,000 at age 55 for females. I do not have the exact numbers as I forgot the exact location of the statistics.
If you are talking about financial stability on the other hand for most people they should be in their 30s.
Here's a quick checklist:
Are you in a stable relationship? (Not *necessarily* with the child's father)
Are you otherwise able to support yourself and the child? (with the minimum of help from anyone - your parents might help you if you were in trouble, but they shouldn't *have* to raise another child).
Have you finished highschool?
Are you old enough to legally have sex? (should cut off the scariest bracket)
If the answer is yes to all of these, then I think having a child is reasonable - and you're probably somewhere in the region of 18-30, which is old enough. Look, at the end of the day, provided you are able to love and care for your child properly by yourself, then you're probably old enough. It's like getting married - if it's the right time for you it's the right time for you.
I personally would like to wait until I have a few more bits of my life in order (e.g. finished grad school) before I embark on that sort of challenge, but that doesn't mean that people who are 20 are too young. If you think about it, 20 is actually quite old, it's just the way that society is set up these days and the fact that our life expectancy is so much longer than in previous centuries that makes us feel that 20 is so young.
Are you in a stable relationship? (Not *necessarily* with the child's father)
Are you otherwise able to support yourself and the child? (with the minimum of help from anyone - your parents might help you if you were in trouble, but they shouldn't *have* to raise another child).
Have you finished highschool?
Are you old enough to legally have sex? (should cut off the scariest bracket)
If the answer is yes to all of these, then I think having a child is reasonable - and you're probably somewhere in the region of 18-30, which is old enough. Look, at the end of the day, provided you are able to love and care for your child properly by yourself, then you're probably old enough. It's like getting married - if it's the right time for you it's the right time for you.
I personally would like to wait until I have a few more bits of my life in order (e.g. finished grad school) before I embark on that sort of challenge, but that doesn't mean that people who are 20 are too young. If you think about it, 20 is actually quite old, it's just the way that society is set up these days and the fact that our life expectancy is so much longer than in previous centuries that makes us feel that 20 is so young.
Alllowed should be 18. Encouraged should be 25ish. It is hard to set an age for all people since some could cope with a child at age 18. Minority yes, but making it a crime would not be really fair.
Above the age of consent, and then whatever age each individual reach the psychological ability, environmental stability, and financial capabilities to provide adequate nurture for a child.
In general, probably around some 28 - 30 years, with variations from some 15 - 16 years to never at all as the realistic extremes where these conditions could be met.
In general, probably around some 28 - 30 years, with variations from some 15 - 16 years to never at all as the realistic extremes where these conditions could be met.
I want to say age doens't matter maturity does, but...
I really do feel that no matter how mature you are you need to experience life and let yourself have messed up boozey nights and make mistakes and be an all round general idiot and child fist before you have your own.
And financial security is a must, thats the first responsibility you have for your child, and it has to be there.
And you have to havce finished school and everything first, because, I know people may hate me for this, I do think that here is a certain class that has the teenage pregnancies, and the majority just have their kids and live off the state, and their kids then become teenage parents and they're stuck in a cycle.
That said, my cousin is 19 and pregant, too young yess, but there was nothing that she wanted to do that a baby would hinder, she was done with school and has a very decent income for her age, has a car and is just moving into her first house. But then again she has been there and done that with all kinds of stupid stuff, so she's not missing out on any kind of life that a 19 year old should have, because she's done it.
I really do feel that no matter how mature you are you need to experience life and let yourself have messed up boozey nights and make mistakes and be an all round general idiot and child fist before you have your own.
And financial security is a must, thats the first responsibility you have for your child, and it has to be there.
And you have to havce finished school and everything first, because, I know people may hate me for this, I do think that here is a certain class that has the teenage pregnancies, and the majority just have their kids and live off the state, and their kids then become teenage parents and they're stuck in a cycle.
That said, my cousin is 19 and pregant, too young yess, but there was nothing that she wanted to do that a baby would hinder, she was done with school and has a very decent income for her age, has a car and is just moving into her first house. But then again she has been there and done that with all kinds of stupid stuff, so she's not missing out on any kind of life that a 19 year old should have, because she's done it.
I would say it is not age specific but condition specific. When you have a child you are rasing another human, one you have to care for and provide for without any assistance from them. As a result one should wait until they have reached some degree of stablity in their lives (emotional and economical) before having a child.
We cannot prepare for everything but we should at least have enough to handle a few hard times which will enevitably come along as once you have a child you are alot less mobile and so need to weather more storms as oppose to dodging them as you would alone.
Remember, if you move to a nearby town you can still drive and meet your friends or talk to them on the phone, for a 6 yearold those friends are lost forever and they will suffer for it (as an example). We can't always stop it but the more prepared we are the less likely it will have to happen.
We cannot prepare for everything but we should at least have enough to handle a few hard times which will enevitably come along as once you have a child you are alot less mobile and so need to weather more storms as oppose to dodging them as you would alone.
Remember, if you move to a nearby town you can still drive and meet your friends or talk to them on the phone, for a 6 yearold those friends are lost forever and they will suffer for it (as an example). We can't always stop it but the more prepared we are the less likely it will have to happen.
Well, just statistics. I tried to find a proper graph, but all I found was this:108Stitches said:
http://www.wddty.com/giving-birth-over-30.html
Still, it seems what it mostly refer to is if your giving birth for the first time at an age over 40.
EDIT: Found a better one:
http://www.babyhopes.com/articles/birthdefects.html
This is actually pretty nuanced, and my sceptisism toward late birth is lowered a bit by it, but still.