To discuss the societal impacts of older parents?

Op talks about having children at 30. That's hardly a "barely grown adult" . Or it shouldn't be.
I had mine at 28 and 30.

I had travelled widely, lived in various UK cities, had two degrees and a post grad qualification and was well established in my career by then.

It's just baffling reading people on here imply that a 30 year old is barely out of infancy.

As the world is overpopulated I'd say the fewer kids we have the better. And yes I know we need people to wipe the elderly's bottoms but you can't trash the climate (even more) for that reason.

@ThePiglet I was being facetious but was blaming the parents of this so called selfish generation. The young have been completely stitched up by the distorted housing market.

I will be a few months shy of 33 when ds is born. Dh had his vasectomy even though I could pop another one out biologically even if I struggled with fertility (unprotected sex for 9 years but only 1 pregnancy).

But it really helps dh's mental health to know for sure we are one and done. People in the supermarket have more interest in my baby than their grandparents on both sides (my mil wanted me to give birth in another country so i could attend her daughter's wedding and the poor girl doesn't even have the funds for a wedding yet hence why she is still engaged), it's truly just the 3 of us against the world. I can't change our parents, I can only make my own decisions that hopefully ensure we can cope.

The one thing we can be sure of is ever increasing taxes!

Maybe they'd prefer to go travelling and enjoy their early retirement while they still have their health,

And there's so much over planning and over thought into every minutiae of planning a family. It's utter overkill

I don't think it is. Having a child is massive. It should be carefully considered. We have contraception these days, we don't just breed like rabbits (though apparently they need to at the moment as they are being attacked by a new disease).

I don't agree that having kids in your 30s is old though. Over 40 is old(er).

My great-grandmother died two months before I was born. All my cousins overlapped with her lifetime, but I was the youngest (until my uncle remarried and had another two kids).

I think people think being an only child is really bad and is not that big of a deal in my opinion.

Im an only child too, and I don’t know any different, so it’s no big deal to me.

I think in terms of grandparents it works out better? They’ll be in early retirement at least so they’ll have way more free time to help.

You do realise that "own home" has become out of reach for many under 35s don't you?

The issue isn't parents having dc in their 40s, it's the fact people are having less dc and more are choosing to not having any.

Potentially:

More nuclear families, older parents who got together later are more likely to stay together for the duration of childhood and potentially adulthood

Higher education levels, wealthier families are more likely to enter higher education

More support for children in vulnerable teenage years, older parents tend to have more flexibility in their roles to enable being home more and give more emotional support

More socialising, parents of only children are keen to foster friendships and more likely to enrol their children in local sports, music, activity clubs

Less burden on the state, older parents are generally wealthier, and therefore will potentially claim fewer benefits

Creating strong role models for women and showing men how normal it is for women to have successful careers as more older mothers are likely to work full time and have a higher income

We can all list potential outcomes of a slight shift to older parents, but I think in general, there won’t be any noticeable difference. Instead of being pessimistic about a possible future you have no control over or certainty of the outcome, it’s surely better to look at the positives of any situation and view the next generation with hope.

Sure but we don't see much discussion of what it's like from a child's point of view, and I think that's very important. We see a lot of discussion of women in their 40s who for a myriad of reasons and circumstances faces a decision now on having a baby and the effect on her life - but not a lot of personal anecdotes from kids who have been there with parents that age. And I'm incredibly lucky - we've been spared some caring duties because we can afford to pay for assistance and they've stayed in relatively good health until the past 15 years - and life expectancy is increasing all the time. But my mother cried real sincere tears the day of my university graduation as she didn't believe she would live to see that - just by virtue of her age (nothing to do with health). I think we should take personal anecdotes into account as that is real lived experience and it helps to form an understanding of a perspective many people have not experienced

Teenage pregnancy is dropping like a stone, though. It declined by something like 68% between 2007 and 2021. And everyone recognises that it’s a disaster, that it’s associated with far poorer outcomes for both parent and child, in terms of poverty, MH, educational attainment etc. Older parenting is indubitably better all round. Fewer children will know their grandparents, but set that against the significant health and social problems of babies born to teenage mothers.

I’m talking about the impact on wider society in 30/40 years.

The impact of an aging population is already on us though?

I knew 3 of mine, and my DC knew 3 of theirs! My parents are of an age/state of health that if my oldest (early 20s) has DC in the next 10 years, they'll probably still be around.

Do you think there are any advantages to society from having some older parents in the mix, op?

@AlertCat google seems inconclusive, more premature babies surviving but far more screening hence why a lot less dc being born with down's syndrome.

Earlier inheritance and increased security for retirement and grandchildren though

We had our first baby at 26 and I will be 37 when I have my last baby this year.
Ive never actually given my age much thought. We have no help from family at all as our parents are all in their late 50’s and still working, and my mum started her family a lot younger than I did.
I probably had a lot more energy with my younger pregnancies but then I’m better set up now in terms of work, our house, finances etc. I work a lot less hours than I did with my older kids.

My mum is 71 and all her life she complained about having an older mother. She was 42 when she had her. She said she felt embarrassed as all the other parents were a lot younger. She was also an only child due to age her mother got married and had her. So it’s not a new thing, though yes is more common now to have older parents. My brother & SIL had their son at 42 and 47. It wasn’t my brother’s first child but siblings are 20 plus years older. Won’t be anymore siblings as SIL is 45 now.

I don’t know, OP, but it’s not the first time I’ve seen a younger parent raise ‘concern’ about older parents on mumsnet. It’s weird- reminds me of all the SAHM threads where they worry working mums look down on them. You do you. I had mine at 35 and 37 and don’t really relate to your concern.

It’s a good list and by extension I feel like the consequences will be more immigration (to account for the drop in birth rate and rise of only children)

We need this anyway, we already have more over 65s than under 15s...