Thitirat Pongprajuc

November 18, 2022

Family & Human Studies (FHS) 2400: Marriage and Family Relationships
Essay
Question

Becoming a Parent: Research indicates that couples are choosing to have children later in life than in
previous generations.  What do you see as the advantages and/or disadvantages of this choice?  When
do you think is the “ideal” time to have children, whether biologically or by adoption? 

Answer
In the past, people had children at younger ages. It might be because people got married when
they were young, and the role of women in the olden day was a stay-at-home wife. Therefore, they
possibly preferred having children soon after they got married. However, people nowadays defer the
time to bear the first child to later in life. This could be due to the change of lifestyle that women are
working and wanting to pursue their occupational and financial goals before getting married or having
children.
It has been said that there are risks of being pregnant at an older age that could result in
negative health effects for both mother and baby. Some risks are “hypertension, fatal mortality,
miscarriage, and cesarean section deliveries” (Strong & Cohen, 2021, p. 400). Additionally, babies
conceived by an old mother are likely to have autism. Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia reports that the
chance of having a child with down syndrome increases when a mother conceives at an older age (The
Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, 2014, para.2).
Besides all the disadvantages related to the health of the mother and baby, having children at
an older age provide some benefits. According to the textbook, women who start families when they are
35 and older have more happiness in life and have a longer lifespan than other women (Strong & Cohen,
2021, p. 400). Moreover, they tend to have more stability, which could improve their children's quality
of life than those born to younger parents. The textbook also emphasizes on academic performance of
the children of older mothers that “children’s test scores improve along with a delayed entry to
motherhood” (Strong & Cohen, 2021, p. 400).
In my opinion, even though having children in old age has health risks for both mothers and
babies, the benefits of this decision outweigh the risks. I say this because we have technology that can
check and prevent any undesirable outcomes for having babies later in life. This does not mean that I
support having babies at any age. Age 40 or older is probably too old. The age 32-39 is the ideal age for
having babies because, in this age range, both mother and father are more stable in many aspects than
they are in their 20s. They possibly have better education and have enough income to raise and provide
a good environment for their children.
Conceiving a baby at an older age is a little bit harder than at a young age, but there is an
assisted reproductive technology (ART) that aids women who have a hard time naturally conceiving.
There are various types of ART, such as IVF, that a couple can try. In the case of a single woman who is in
her 30s and wants to have her biological baby, but she has not found the one yet. She could try egg-
freezing technology in which eggs are harvested and frozen at a younger age for future use. The con of
using assisted pregnancy methods is that they are costly. Suppose a couple cannot afford pregnancy
assistance technology. They could use another option for having children when women pass the fertile
age range is adoption. Adoption not only benefits infertile couples but also benefits children who need
permanent homes. Some couples may choose to be child-free at this point because they do not want to
raise someone who is not biologically related to them. Some couples may not want to go through all the
options for trying to have a human baby, so they decide to have a fur baby instead.

Reference

Strong, B., & Cohen, T. F. (2021). The marriage and family experience: Intimate relationships in a
changing society (14th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.

The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. (2014, August 24). Pregnancy over age 30. Children's
Hospital of Philadelphia. Retrieved November 18, 2022, from https://www.chop.edu/conditions-
diseases/pregnancy-over-age-30

Word count: 596