When people are deciding what age to have
children at, you’ll often hear them say that before they have kids there are a lot
of things they want to get done first. Maybe travel the world, maybe concentrate
on a career, or at least just wait until the twenties are out of the way. On the flip side, some people will tell you
that they want to have children at a young enough age so that they can actively play
sports with their children when the kids are in their teens, adding that they don’t want
to be ageing parents because they fear they won’t have the energy required, say, in
their 50s, to still be dealing with kids. Today we’ll talk about all the pros and
cons, in this episode of the Infographics Show, Is it better to be born to younger or
older parents? As we just pointed out, there are many reasons
why people choose to be younger or older parents. Sometimes kids just happen of course, but
often parenting is meticulously planned. So, let’s say you were born to older parents. What does older mean? Well, for women having a kid over the age
of 35 could be said to qualify the woman as being an older parent. As for men, they can keep on giving well into
old age, but that doesn’t mean they should do that. Before we talk about the kids, we should say
that science doesn’t seem to disagree that the longer a woman waits there could be more
birth complications for her and the kid. The U.S. National Institutes of Health tells
us in older age women are more at risk of having a stillbirth, miscarriage, or ectopic
pregnancy. That means the baby being in an abnormal position. The woman also has more chance of having high
blood pressure during pregnancy, higher cholesterol, developing diabetes, and according to the
American Stroke Association, if women are over 40 after getting pregnant, they are more
at risk of having a stroke or heart attack. There are more risks, and they are well-documented. It seems if a woman gives birth at a later
age, perhaps over 35 or 40, there is more chance of the baby being born with Down syndrome. We are also told that there is risk of other
congenital anomalies when women have kids at a later age. Other studies tell us the kids also have more
chance of developing neuropsychiatric disorders such as autism or even schizophrenia. This all sounds grim, but the American Journal
of Epidemiology said that this has more to do with the health of the woman, her lifestyle,
than it does with age alone. Many critics will tell you that there is a
bit of scaremongering going on, to compel women not to wait too long. Now for some good news for older mothers. As you can imagine, having a teenage parent
might not always be the best thing in the world. Often the woman has not matured enough in
life to be an able parent, while there is always the risk of the mother, and perhaps
father if he is young too, just not being ready. There is also money to consider, as a younger
mother and father might not be financially prepared to have a child. There are many other benefits of having children
at a later age. One Danish study that seems to be cited a
lot found that kids born to older parents had fewer emotional and behavioral problems
than kids born to young parents. But these were kids studied at age seven and
eleven. It seemed at age fifteen things levelled out. It gets better for older parents. Another study undertaken in the UK and U.S.
found that kids born to older mothers and fathers on average had a higher IQ than kids
born to younger parents. That study found the kids had more success
in education, especially when it came to subjects that fall into the STEM category, meaning
Science, Technology, Engineering and Math. Another study called “The Relationship Between
Maternal Education and Children’s Academic Outcomes,” found that kids born to older
parents have more chance at developing good vocabularies, being able to articulate themselves
better, which has nothing to do with biology but the fact that often older parents often
have a richer vocabulary, and this is passed onto the kids. In fact, as Psychology Today tells us, older
parents are on average more educated than younger parents, whether formally or informally,
and this affects how well the kids will do in school. The kids of older parents in general outshone
other kids in education. But you can add to this the fact that in general
the kids of older parents spent more meaningful time with their parents since those parents
had more time to give. Younger parents to some extent are still either
working very hard or perhaps haven’t grown up enough to dedicate all their time to their
kids. Another bonus, according to a study in the
Menopause Journal anyway, is mothers who had kids later in life had more chance of living
to a very old age. It seems because older mothers had waited
until the ideal time, they were able to take better care of themselves prior to having
kids. It didn’t seem to affect how much longer
men lived, or at least the study didn’t mention that. One doctor also noted, “This does not mean
women should wait to have children at older ages in order to improve their own chances
of living longer.” The advantages of being an older parent are
listed in many other studies. That Danish study we mentioned also said that
older parents are less likely to lose their cool and start shouting and screaming at their
kids, which is good if you are an older parent but also good for the child’s well-being. A 2012 study published in the British Medical
Journal said that young kids they looked at born to older parents had lots of advantages. Some of these were a better body mass index
(BMI), advanced language capabilities, advanced social development, and these kids were even
less likely to be admitted to hospital. It seems older parents were more adept than
younger parents at keeping their kids away from actions that resulted in injuries. Again, there are lots of studies out there
that will tell you that older parents have more risk of producing a child that has birth
defects, physical or psychological, and this is solely related to chromosomal abnormalities. But as we pointed out, there seems to be lots
of benefits for the parent and child if the parent is older. We must also remember that many other factors
will affect the child’s development, such as being born with one or two parents or how
financially well-off the parents are. Not all young kids are born to struggling
parents. Kids might be born to older parents that leave
them with a nanny all the time and spoil them rotten at other times, which isn’t necessarily
good for the child. Ok, so now let’s look at some of the benefits
of being a younger parent, for both parent and child. Unfortunately, there seems to be less scientific
research on this than there is anecdotal reportage. Those benefits include young parents not having
to deal with a tricky transition later in life. Older parents might have gotten a little bit
too used to their lifestyle. Some reports suggest that younger parents
might be able to relate better to their kids. They might understand their teenage culture,
and so in times of difficulties be able to offer more sound advice. They will likely still have a lot of energy,
too, which means being able to do more things with kids, including dads going to the park
and playing sports, at least with vigor. But perhaps one of the biggest reasons to
have kids early in life is to free some time up in later age. This is how one parent put it, “While other
parents who decided to have kids later in life will be busy chasing toddlers or managing
the mood swings of preteens, I'll be busy rekindling my dreams, pursuing my passions
and traveling.” There might also be active grandparents around
who are still young enough to get in on the act of bringing up the kids, while kids with
older parents might miss out on hanging out with the old folks. Live Science cited a study involving lots
of parents, although the study, conducted by the University of California, unfortunately
only included parents that had good incomes and were white. It wanted to know what the ideal age was to
have kids. From that study it was revealed that being
an older parent was better in various ways, but the main reason was that the parents seemed
to be more emotionally prepared for the task of parenting. Older parents in general had more freedom
from work, more money, and more time for their kids. Saying that, many women in the study also
said they would have ideally had kids earlier in life if they had had the money. They basically didn’t have kids at a young
age because they didn’t feel financially prepared. Moreover, a third of the women in the study
and a quarter of the men, who had all had kids late, said they felt they didn’t have
the right amount of energy for their kids. It’s complicated, though, and some studies
suggest that there is a sweet spot in age to have children. The U.S. National Institutes of Health wrote
this in 2012, “We find that offspring born to mothers younger than age 25 or older than
35 have worse outcomes with respect to mortality, self-rated health, height, obesity, and the
number of diagnosed conditions than those born to mothers aged 25–34.” Perhaps, as we said, younger mothers and fathers
might not be the best prepared, and perhaps if mothers are over 35, as this study says,
there might be more chance of birth defects related to what it calls the mothers’ ‘fecundity”
or lack thereof. There are so many studies out there, and not
all are equal. You may have seen the British tabloid headline
saying older dads made uglier kids, if the dads were over 40. But if you look closely at that study it’s
hardly science-based. In fact, it’s not reliable at all. The debate is ongoing, regarding if it’s
better to have kids at a younger or older age, both for the child and the parent. What do you think? Were you born to younger or older parents? Do you think their age mattered in regard
to your development? Tell us in the comments. Also, be sure to check out our other show
These Are The Signs That You Are Going Through Puberty. Thanks for watching, and as always, don’t
forget to like, share and subscribe. See you next time.
