How old are you, and how long do you propose delaying? There may be some good reasons to delay having children until late 20s or maybe even early 30s (especially if your economic or social-support structures are likely to improve). But also pretty strong evidence that earlier is better (especially the mother’s age matters statistically for success of pregnancy and health of the child).
Generally, if you’re in a position to consider “definitely want kids, unsure whether now or later”, the answer is “now”.
Children now aren’t necessarily mutually exclusive with children in the future. You’re not creating disutility by starting now and then “upping your game” when technology is more accessible!
I am not sure that “earlier is better”. It’s true that the biology favours early parenthood. But the sociology goes the other way: it’s better to have children when you’re high-income and worldly-wise. So there might be a trade-off between e.g. health and wealth.
There’s a big literature on this, you could start with e.g. Powell, B., Steelman, L.C. and Carini, R.M., 2006. Advancing age, advantaged youth: Parental age and the transmission of resources to children. Social Forces, 84(3), pp.1359-1390; or for health, Myrskylä, M. and Fenelon, A., 2012. Maternal age and offspring adult health: evidence from the health and retirement study. Demography, 49(4), pp.1231-1257, which finds a U-shaped relationship. Be aware of possible confounds (e.g. educated people have kids later, but you deciding to have kids later won’t make you more educated per se).
Update: at a very quick glance the following looks useful: Mikko Myrskylä, Karri Silventoinen, Per Tynelius, Finn Rasmussen, Is Later Better or Worse? Association of Advanced Parental Age With Offspring Cognitive Ability Among Half a Million Young Swedish Men, American Journal of Epidemiology, Volume 177, Issue 7, 1 April 2013, Pages 649–655, https://doi.org/10.1093/aje/kws237
I suspect “it depends” is going to dominate here. I’d argue that for many people, parental health (including sleep resiliency) is most important for young kids, and income/wisdom is more important for tween/teen kids.
I’m also very unwilling to have opinions generally about “earlier” or “later” without reference points—specifics matter. For people in the Western Intellectual class (for whom a university degree and a white-collar job is the default), I’d recommend that 23-27 is a good target, with delays of up to 5 years being quite reasonable, but not first-best for most).
Please do discount my opinion—my wife and I chose not to have kids. This is based on observations and discussions with quite a few people in my extended friends circle, some who had kids “early” (only one at 19, but lots in early 20s), and a lot who had kids “late” (29-35, and one at 43!). Each has specific joys and frustrations and on balance I hear minimal “I wish I’d...” from the earlier crowd.
Also, and importantly, there are almost always overriding factors that make the optimization of parent’s age at birth to be at best a secondary concern. When you find to and agree with your partner and have a stable/trusted situation such that you feel ABLE to commit to having kids is far more important than statistical benefits of age band. Thus, my advice: “when you’ve decided to have kids with this person, my recommendation is not to delay much”.
How old are you, and how long do you propose delaying? There may be some good reasons to delay having children until late 20s or maybe even early 30s (especially if your economic or social-support structures are likely to improve). But also pretty strong evidence that earlier is better (especially the mother’s age matters statistically for success of pregnancy and health of the child).
Generally, if you’re in a position to consider “definitely want kids, unsure whether now or later”, the answer is “now”.
Children now aren’t necessarily mutually exclusive with children in the future. You’re not creating disutility by starting now and then “upping your game” when technology is more accessible!
Right, good point, not necessarily, but also we’re working with finite resources_
I am not sure that “earlier is better”. It’s true that the biology favours early parenthood. But the sociology goes the other way: it’s better to have children when you’re high-income and worldly-wise. So there might be a trade-off between e.g. health and wealth.
There’s a big literature on this, you could start with e.g. Powell, B., Steelman, L.C. and Carini, R.M., 2006. Advancing age, advantaged youth: Parental age and the transmission of resources to children. Social Forces, 84(3), pp.1359-1390; or for health, Myrskylä, M. and Fenelon, A., 2012. Maternal age and offspring adult health: evidence from the health and retirement study. Demography, 49(4), pp.1231-1257, which finds a U-shaped relationship. Be aware of possible confounds (e.g. educated people have kids later, but you deciding to have kids later won’t make you more educated per se).
Update: at a very quick glance the following looks useful: Mikko Myrskylä, Karri Silventoinen, Per Tynelius, Finn Rasmussen, Is Later Better or Worse? Association of Advanced Parental Age With Offspring Cognitive Ability Among Half a Million Young Swedish Men, American Journal of Epidemiology, Volume 177, Issue 7, 1 April 2013, Pages 649–655, https://doi.org/10.1093/aje/kws237
I suspect “it depends” is going to dominate here. I’d argue that for many people, parental health (including sleep resiliency) is most important for young kids, and income/wisdom is more important for tween/teen kids.
I’m also very unwilling to have opinions generally about “earlier” or “later” without reference points—specifics matter. For people in the Western Intellectual class (for whom a university degree and a white-collar job is the default), I’d recommend that 23-27 is a good target, with delays of up to 5 years being quite reasonable, but not first-best for most).
Please do discount my opinion—my wife and I chose not to have kids. This is based on observations and discussions with quite a few people in my extended friends circle, some who had kids “early” (only one at 19, but lots in early 20s), and a lot who had kids “late” (29-35, and one at 43!). Each has specific joys and frustrations and on balance I hear minimal “I wish I’d...” from the earlier crowd.
Also, and importantly, there are almost always overriding factors that make the optimization of parent’s age at birth to be at best a secondary concern. When you find to and agree with your partner and have a stable/trusted situation such that you feel ABLE to commit to having kids is far more important than statistical benefits of age band. Thus, my advice: “when you’ve decided to have kids with this person, my recommendation is not to delay much”.
i didnt put my age because i was asking the question from everyone’s point of view, but am 31 years old; thanks for your input!
Good point! (Although the parents don’t have to use their own gametes or wombs)