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I was 22, married and in my first year of grad school. Which I ended up having to leave.
It was great to be young with a toddler. I wasn't ever too tired to play with her or take her to the park, etc. I do regret having to drop out of school but I went back and finished my masters, instead of doctorate.
I look very young for my age so it sort of sucked being pregnant and getting the "teen mother" comments while being married and 22 yo. But now she is in college, I am 40 and really enjoying the empty nest.
But it is a bit odd to have most of my friends having kids under the age of 10.
I also looked very young for my age. One woman went off on my mom in the mall for being such a horrible parent since her pregnant daughter "can't be more than 15 years old". I flashed my ring at her and said "I am 25, a college graduate, have been married for 3 years, and own my own house." She looked sheepish and said "I am sorry. I had no idea." My response was "It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt." before I stormed away. I had had a long day and was exhausted. I was also tired of those comments all through my pregnancy. I probably could have handled it better, but I am going to blame exhaustion.
The answer to the OP is I was 25 and my husband was 32. I feel like that was the perfect time for us. Especially since just a couple of months before I was told that getting pregnant without some help would probably be impossible. There are times I wish we would have waited so we could have a couple more years of freedom when we were young, but that is mostly when we haven't had a date in a while.
Overall, I wouldn't change a thing.
First child at 28 (H was 31), we had been married 5 years, had been working at the same place for 8, and already bought a house so I was more than ready. California, USA.
My son was born a week before my 23rd birthday, and my daughter was born when I was 25. Looking back, waiting a few years would have probably been beneficial; we'd have been a bit more settled and I'd probably have been a bit more patient. I'm turning 35 in a couple of months, and I can't even fathom the thought of starting over now. I don't think I'd have the energy for it!
American; married at 22 but just weren't ready until a couple of years before our first. Now I look at my parents and am thankful that my kids have great relationships with them, but realize that my kids will lose their grandparents while they are relatively young. And I look ahead and realize that most likely we will be older grandparents too; very elderly if my kids wait as long to have children. But I don't think we were ready to have kids any (or much) younger. My friends same age friends who married when we did had their children earlier than we did by 4-7 years (so they were about 29-30 at the time of their first child's birth).
I'll speak for my parents. My mom was 31 and my dad was 30 when they had me. However, they had only been together for a few months before she got pregnant then they had a "shot gun wedding". My father thinks they were the perfect age while my mother wishes she'd waited until she was 35 or so. She thinks she was still too young at thirty-one.
Honestly, I think my parents had me too late and wish they had me about five years younger, especially because my Grandparents (mom's parents) passed away when I was still relatively young and I was their only grandchild. It was a lot of stress on my mother when she had to take care of her own mother and raise me at the same time.
They lived Florida and still do.
My fiancee and I are both 19 years old and we'll be getting married sometimes in early 2014. So we'll most likely be starting a family within the next 3-5 years. I think it's good that we'll be young parents.
American; married at 22 but just weren't ready until a couple of years before our first. Now I look at my parents and am thankful that my kids have great relationships with them, but realize that my kids will lose their grandparents while they are relatively young. And I look ahead and realize that most likely we will be older grandparents too; very elderly if my kids wait as long to have children. But I don't think we were ready to have kids any (or much) younger. My friends same age friends who married when we did had their children earlier than we did by 4-7 years (so they were about 29-30 at the time of their first child's birth).
I was 18 when I had my first, and yes it was way to young would have liked to wait until later, but can't change what happened so now I will just look forward to my time when my kids are all adults.
American; married at 22 but just weren't ready until a couple of years before our first. Now I look at my parents and am thankful that my kids have great relationships with them, but realize that my kids will lose their grandparents while they are relatively young. And I look ahead and realize that most likely we will be older grandparents too; very elderly if my kids wait as long to have children. But I don't think we were ready to have kids any (or much) younger. My friends same age friends who married when we did had their children earlier than we did by 4-7 years (so they were about 29-30 at the time of their first child's birth).
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Very elderly? Sixty-eight isnt that old.
No, 68 isn't *that* old. But that would be when the grandchild was born. 78 when the child is 10...and so on. My parents travel extensively with my kids, and I hope we will be physically able to enjoy our potential grandchildren as they have.
When I refer to my potential age when/if grandchildren come, that is what I am referring to. And as a comparison, my last living grandparent died when she was 87 and I was 41. That won't happen with my kids and their grandparents, and if the trend continues it won't happen when we are grandparents either. That is the perspective I'm coming from.
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