If you have a minute~~~~

[Linda]

Go here and read....really interesting!!
pediatrics.about.com/library/quiz/blcalc_pntg_mlstns.htm

[finnmom]

Linda, that was great, thank´s

I was 24 when ds was born, I´ve always comforted myself that I´ll be still "young" when they´ll leave home

[Linda]

I was 18 when my first son was born....so you KNOW how happy I was ;D ;D ;D

[mothercat]

The flip side is that by waiting ...we had time to mature and sort out issues of our own before having children..thus saving time on things like divorce and child support. We got partying out of the way while we were still young enough to not look like we were going thru a second child hood, we got all the " newly married" spats out of the way while not having to put small children thru the stress, and we financially waited till we could actually put food on the table ( I remember being very poor at times early on) while we may not have much now... we have a roof over our heads and the kids arent going hungry. We also took time to live with and give to each other and both being very headstrong and stubborn that took longer than usual.

We are also the only ones on either side of the family that stayed married.
While getting it over with while we were young would've been nice...I didn't consider childrearing something that one gets it over with....do they ever really leave home? (my mom will swear they dont!) ;D

[Linda]

Good Points M/C...I happen to be very lucky to be married to the same guy I was a kid raising kids but they turned out great....probably because I had the energy to keep up with them ;D ;D ;D

[kstquilter]

i'm glad i got most of my kid stuff out of my system before i had my kids. my husband was also the last of four children and his mom was 40 when she had him, his dad was 2 years older than that. he always said he wanted to be younger than that when we had our kids.
i was almost 27 when i had brittany and 30 when i had Chris. ed is 2 years older than i am.
sometimes i wish i'd had more energy but do we ever have enough energy? even now, there are days i'm absolutely exhausted but i had plenty of those when i was much younger as well.
i don't think i had the maturity to be able to give up all the things we give up in order to take care of our kids without resentment. we've all put off buying a new car or taking a vacation so our kids can go to camp or do whatever is important to them. i don't even think about it and never have. it's just the way it is.
i'm sure it's based on the sort of person you are and you make the situation you're in, work.
karen

[finnmom]

kstquilter said:

it's just the way it is.
i'm sure it's based on the sort of person you are and you make the situation you're in, work.

I agree, it´s not so much about the age, but about the person you are. I know some people who are never adult enough to have kid´s, and I kow some who are really good parent´s even thou they are at their 20´s...

[mothercat]

I babysat from the time I was 12 and then worked full time from the time I was 16..Bobo still played gigs on top of working full time the first few years together..We also moved 9 times in those years...twice across country. We did our share of partying during the first couple of years but then we also took on his neice when I was in my early twenties and having a baby while trying to raise a junkie teen wouldnt 've really been good. I wasn't really saying we were always immature...or all we ever did was party...but we had to grow as a couple and find our own inner strength before subjecting a babyof our own to our lives. Settling down was a big part of it all and we couldn't settle without growing together and we just didn't think the stress of it would be a good atmosphere for kids. We probably dealt with more adult issues back then than now. As for energy....I am the ever ready bunny OLD mom....thank god . ( I have seen more lazy non energetic young mothers today sitting around becoming huge lumps than one could imagine. ) You are right ...it has nothing to do with age...maybe more of a common sense thing. People used to have babies at the age of 15 and were already married...it is getting back to that due to lack of good parenting in the first place but that is another issue. It's not the age..its common sense and the readiness.....just watch the kids on Mauri who have six and seven guys tested to see who the father of their three or four kids are.

[Linda]

I don't watch Mauri anymore for that very reason....It is too discusting

This thread reminds me of one time I was at a conference for one of my boys. A parent I didn't even know looked at me and said....It is better to be a middle age parent than to be a very young one...SLAP SLAP!!!The nerve of that person!! Well I was just as feisty then as I am now....I just looked at her and said....My kid is on the honor roll...what about yours? ;D ;D

[finnmom]

Mauri?? I dont know that show (although it´s an oldfashioned finnish men´s name; Mauri )

M/C, you´re right, it´s the common sence and the readiness that count´s

[kstquilter]

i also don't watch mauri for that very reason! of course i don't really watch any of those trashy shows. i can't imagine how you can sleep with so many men in that specific a period of time to not know who the father is. alot of them are kids too.
i think it's about maturity and common sense. i also know plenty of people who are never going to be mature enough to have kids.
karen

[Linda]

kstquilter said:

i think it's about maturity and common sense. i also know plenty of people who are never going to be mature enough to have kids.
karen

I agree karen and there are also people that should never have kids PERIOD.