Myth: Women who delay are selfish about their careers
istockphoto.com
One study in the July 2011 Journal of Population Economics found that college-educated women gain 12 percent in long-term earnings per year of delay. That means a woman who starts her family at 30 makes about twice as much in the long term as she would if she had started her family at 22, and so on with each additional year of delay. The average female college grad (of any race) starts her family at 30 and many wait longer, according to the CDC.
Also, this article makes way too many general assumptions.
People I know who're waiting to have children have already made clear that they're in "neither the time nor the place" to do it, indicating the condition of the American educational system as well as the cost of living are the two biggest factors (for them).
For me? I wouldn't have a child in America at this moment, period. Canada, maybe. Europe, more likely. But this is not the world I'd leave to my children or, more importantly, leave my children to.
My father died before I was two, and we were very poor. My mom was so worn out from working and taking care of young kids in her fifties that I never really had a hands-on mom. And she never got a chance to enjoy her golden years.
In school, everyone thought my mom was my grandmother. She was by far the oldest mother of all my peers.
Having older parents sucks. It's not fair to the parents or to the child.
So...by the time I turned 21 & got married I said "been there, done that" as far as having babies right away goes. I waited 14 years before having my first child at age 36 and my second at age 39. Before I had kids I finished college and got a good-paying job that I knew I could take maternity leave from & still have it when I got back. My husband & I saved up & bought a new home, traveled to Europe and did the things my parents couldn't because they were saddled with 6 kids. When I had my kids, I was ready and we both wanted them. I was lucky enough to get pregnant within 3 months of trying for both kids. We've enjoyed being parents and having the means to provide things my husband & I never had as kids - our kids did dance, hockey, music, etc. We've had wonderful family vacations. We can afford steak once or twice a week. Our kids were able to BE kids, without the difficult responsibilities I had. I truly think I've had more fun being a mom than my poor mother did.
The only regret is that I am older & if my kids wait as long as I did, then yes, I'll be a really old grandma. My husband's mom had him (the youngest of 7 kids) when she was 42. She lived long enough for my kids to know & love her, but when she came to "help me" after the birth of my daughter, it was more work for me having her around since she was 82 (of course I never let her know that).
All in all, I wish more people would take the time to be prepared to be parents - get schooling done, get decent jobs, save up some money, do stuff together as a couple first, THEN have kids. By then you'll be ready to be the parents all kids need (and so many lower-income kids don't have).