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What class are you based on the mumsnet theory of the age you had your first child?

109 replies

777holyandsinless · 08/12/2025 10:26

Just for fun.

40s= aristocracy
30s=middle class
20s=working class
10s=underclass

I always thought I was middle class until I discovered because I was 16 I am indeed underclass.

and I guess if you’re one of the few who became a mother in your 50s you are a queen

OP posts:
OttersMayHaveShifted · 08/12/2025 11:45

Middle. But obviously nobody thinks this is the only criterion which determines social class.

Hollowvoice · 08/12/2025 11:43

Middle
In reality I'm working class and happened to stumble into a middle class lifestyle!

FancyCatSlave · 08/12/2025 11:43

Aristocracy

Skint Middle class though IRL. Ex husband has posh ancestry though, his great-great someone was landed gentry and their wife was a lady in waiting.

ADogRocketShip · 08/12/2025 11:40

Working class - first child at 27 (university educated, post grad, had bought house at 24, married 25). I'm 36 now.

I'd say I'm more upper working/middle though. I'm a solicitor and earn well. DH is a teacher.

777holyandsinless · 08/12/2025 11:22

I have a much older half sibling making my mum underclass and my dad middle class. Don’t think trying to explain that to her would go down well 😂

unless it’s different for men because wouldn’t it make old perverts in their 70s having children with women half their age god tier?

OP posts:
zigazigaaaing · 08/12/2025 11:19

29, but solidly middle. At the time none of my friends had children

VikaOlson · 08/12/2025 11:15

Working class which I am!

ARoomSomewhere · 08/12/2025 11:13

39.5. Can I be an aristocrat, purleeeese? Grin

Floatlikeafeather2 · 08/12/2025 11:11

It's all nonsense, for various reasons but here's one - for those of us not having our first child now, it really doesn't apply because times have changed. I had my first child in 1984 at 27, very nearly 28. I was officially an "elderly primagravida", i.e. that's what it said in my notes. Most of my middle class friends were onto their second and third children by that age, having started in their early twenties. Anyone having a first child at or after 40 was regarded variously as a marvel or a freak, whatever class they were seen as. The very few truly posh women I knew then began their families in their very early twenties and went on for longer too.

Lakeofthecrow · 08/12/2025 11:09

Underclass, as had first dc aged 19, which is accurate as I raised him on benefits in a council flat. But I'm in my 40s now and have 7 figures in investments and have my younger dcs at private school and we live in a big London house. As it's not money that defines class however, it appears my class is unchanged.

tsmainsqueeze · 08/12/2025 11:05

Working class but upgraded to aristocracy by my 3rd 😀

HoneyParsnipSoup · 08/12/2025 11:02

Solidly working.

IRL I would say I’m middle class (lower end).

Money hasn’t really been an issue throughout my life but abuse/alcoholism/neglect has.

WildCherryBlossom · 08/12/2025 11:01

Totally agree with @BarnacleBeasleyby the OPs criteria I am Middle Class which is pretty accurate. Followed the sensible middle class path of university and then establishing a career before having children in my 30s. Some aristocratic people I know haven’t had to worry about establishing a career and getting on the housing ladder and so had children pretty young. It does vary though, not all aristos necessarily have much cash these days so behave more like the middle classes. People having children much later like the Ramsays or Naomi Campbell are possibly more likely to be self made successes who have devoted the early lives to achieving that success and having the funds to pay for whatever fertility support they may need.

weegiemum · 08/12/2025 10:59

working class according to your ages.

I was (before disability) a teacher and dh is a GP, so this is very wrong! I was 29 when I had dd1!

Didshejustsaythatoutloud · 08/12/2025 10:58

Nearly every day there is some mention of "class" on this site. In Scotland most of us could not care less about what others deem them to be.
It's a wee bit sad tbh and classless 😂

eqpi4t2hbsnktd · 08/12/2025 10:54

Middle class... babies in my 30's. But I think I am middle class ish...

Dontyoulooktired · 08/12/2025 10:53

I had one at 22, one at 34 and one at 41.

So by my first, working class, but maybe I worked my way up?

I didn’t. I was far more well off at 22 than I was with the other two.

BaronessEllarawrosaurus · 08/12/2025 10:52

Aristocracy at 40+ is way out. Typically female members of the aristocracy would have children at a younger age.

BarnacleBeasley · 08/12/2025 10:49

Surely this is one of the things where the aristocracy is the same as the working class, albeit for different reasons? Middle class professionals are more likely to wait until they have finished their education and established careers, but the nobility care more about succession so are more likely to prioritise children.

Poppolo · 08/12/2025 10:48

Underclass, but I am solid middle for what it is worth. Degrees and own home etc.

Raggededges · 08/12/2025 10:46

Middle which is incorrect. I'm from a working class family but was the youngest parent of my generation within the family to have a child at 35. My siblings/cousins were all 40+.
We were just too busy having fun to settle down! Whereas my boomer mother had completed her family at 24!
The MN theory is full of holes!

Calmingwinter · 08/12/2025 10:43

Prelim · 08/12/2025 10:38

Classic aristocrat here! I tick all the Mumsnet boxes, north London, post grad degrees, work full time, etc. But, I do answer the front door, so maybe not all the boxes!

How does working full time make you an aristocrat?

KnitFastDieWarm · 08/12/2025 10:41

According to this metric I’m working class, had DC at 28. I am very much middle class 😁dreadfully so, in fact.

Bushmillsbabe · 08/12/2025 10:40

Middle - which I think is correct based on MN class definitions - both DH and I have degrees work in professional roles at a mid level, own our own home (mortgage), children in state school with lots of extra curricular. However both of us grew up working class, and our parents as ?underclass.

TheNightingalesStarling · 08/12/2025 10:40

25 so working class.

The time was right. I'm now approaching 40 parenting teens not babies and I wonder how new mums in their 40s have the energy for it but they obviously do. And its their choice.