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Are older people better parents than younger ones?
Children of mature parents definitely benefit from their experience, patience, and understanding.
What you need to know:
- Parents who start in their 40s have higher chromosomal risk factors, can have fertility issues.
- Older parents may also be less aware of modern concerns, such as around the internet and social media.
Once upon a time, we all started our families in our teens or early twenties. Some still do, but nowadays most educated urban couples start their families later, perhaps even into their forties. Does that matter?
There doesn’t seem to be any one right time to start a family, but there are advantages and disadvantages to being a parent at every age. For instance, young parents have far more energy and a better chance of living to see their great grandchildren, while parents who start in their 30s struggle with all those sleepless nights.
But they’re also far better prepared to deal with the stresses of pregnancy and parenting. And have friends who can share their experiences and some of the burdens, a support group of same-aged and like-minded mothers and fathers.
They’re also more likely to be in a stable relationship, and are wiser, calmer and can provide much more support for their children. There are difficulties of course. Like women worry whether they’ll be able to return into their career effectively, or must consider changing direction while men struggle to balance work and family life.
Fertility issues
Parents who start in their 40s have higher chromosomal risk factors, can have fertility issues, and often struggle to keep up with an active toddler, but they’re also much more mature, experienced and financially stable, though they can be more distracted by work and are less likely to have support from their peers.
They’re also more likely to be the ‘sandwich generation’ within their extended family, responsible both for the care of newly elderly parents, as well as young children.
They’ll probably have less energy for getting up in the middle of the night, and first-time dads in their 40s and beyond can struggle with the physical and emotional demands of raising a baby, toddler, young children and turbulent teens.
Older parents may also be less aware of modern concerns, such as around the internet and social media. But older dads are often more willing to spend time with their children, and have the patience to answer a four-year-old’s seemingly endless list of questions! Though as children get older they may tend to view their father’s age as an embarrassment.
But the children of mature parents definitely benefit from their experience, patience, and understanding. They’re also more settled, and more accepting of life’s twists and turns, and this results in more confident children who often display better general knowledge, a wider vocabulary and stronger language skills. As a result, the children of older parents tend to mature faster, and become wiser than their years.
And whatever the pros and cons, the trend for older parents is here to stay. And even though the numbers are still relatively small, the number of women aged over 40 giving birth for the first time is rising fast, and so you see older parents collecting their children from school. Don’t be surprised if one day you’re one of them.
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