Starting all over again when eldest children are leaving primary. All the school plays again, school runs again etc when freedom is so near!!

I know lots of women like this and saw them at the school gates.....kids reaching their teens and then another on the way. Not for me. My Dc are now 15/18...i am loving life and so happy to have found some freedom at last. The idea of doing the primary school run again, soft play, and all that stuff would hurl me into a nervous breakdown.

Thank you. This thread has been bothering me.
I have a 10 year gap. It didn't feel like I was starting again. I was aware I was doing it all again, with the ups and downs, but it was very, very happy and felt very blessed to have a second child.

Agree. That situation is unenviable to say the least.

DD is in primary 7 about to go up to secondary (Scotland), her friend has a sibling in P1 and their mum is expecting another so when current P1 sibling is ready for secondary the oldest will be leaving school altogether and new baby will just be starting primary. Wish them all the happiness in the world but it's a no thanks from me!

Wow you'd think that's quite manageable.
Nice ages

Nice!
I have a 13 year age gap and people think I must have a few in-between and want to know why I left it too long
Erm life?

I have a 16 year old and a 3 year old and due to have another any day now.
It's been a weird few years but finally my eldest is doing her gcses and she's starting college in September.
So, I did need to parent two kids at completely different stages.
She was a bit lonely growing up so this time I wanted 2 close together.
Anyway, absolutely loving doing it all again, I can't even remember my daughter's early years lol
And I'm nearly 40 now and it's given me a new reason to keep active and well.

I rarely did the school run for my DC - from quite a young age they walked to and from school on their own. However, as a grandmother I did the school run twice a week for over fifteen years. We still do it occasionally as the fifteen year old likes to come for dinner.

I was just about to say, congratulations...until I read the full, slightly veiled post. It just gets worse when you assume most people go "again" purely for gender purposes. Its probably "normal" most people think this way. But not everyone keeps their thoughts to themselves.

"only have boys" fucking hell 😵‍💫 because nothing NOTHING could be worse than only having boys. Appreciate you're only repeating what's been said to you @Knightshine but what a Muppet your friend is.

Five years ago, my neighbours had a 6 and 5 year old, then a surprise baby, a year later another baby and we're pretty certain they've just had a fifth. Not quite the big gaps described up thread but I'm a bit mystified at the choice to keep going with almost a second younger family within the family. The older pair of kids at points look quite neglected, which isn't really surprising as their parents must be busy with three under-5s.

Having another baby after the last has left primary school is not starting again!

I have nearly 19 years bbetween my first and second. The eldest had left sixth form, before the second was born!

That really is starting again.

I know that a 19 year age gap isn't that uncommon - but it's more unusual when there are none between.

I know people who have done this with various combinations of children. Wasn’t for me.

No thanks! I’m 36 so I could but youngest of my two, is at the end of her primary school years. I just couldn’t. I’ve got all of those teenage years to come.

I had a 5.5 year age gap between DS2 and DS3. I wasn't trying for a girl and the gap was only as big as it was because I always wanted 3 and I have fertility issues.

While it was quite tricky when DS3 was young it also made me realise how much I missed certain things when DS1 and DS2 moved on from them and I appreciated it more still having DS3. Now that my older two are completely independent I like the fact that DS3 still wants to hang out with me.

I have a very deliberate under 2 year age gap and my youngest is about to leave primary. I understand this and I don't. I would love another one because I'm sure I'd be a better parent with the experience I have now and I'd love to have more kids. But I know that, for me, is selfish and what overrules that is that my kids are becoming an age that is amazing and it's also expensive and going to get more so. I absolutely want to be able to invest everything in them and helping them fly. We had them young so it is something that's in the back of my mind.

My sister has a 37-year-old 17-year-old twins and a 12-year-old daughter. She is 54 years old and her life is absolutely hectic. I am happy I stopped at One as I get to live my life now.

That’s a 20 year period, not 25. Still very long though.

I was late 30s having my first child and I now have two teens (a two year gap between them).

Because I repeated the exact same routine for toddler, montessori and then primary, two years apart, I was very, very glad to finish that chapter as it felt endless. I would not like to start it all over again. My hat goes off to those who had to do it for three or four kids.

One of the reasons I had my dcs so close in age was to avoid years of the school run
A friend of mine found out she was pregnant just before her youngest child finished primary school . She was upset because she had been excited at the thought of her freedom

I had 5 dc in 8 years. I wouldn't plan a big age gap although I know you can't really decide these things. My younger 2 have significant SN so I'm not going to have the freedom that other parents of dc my youngest's age have.

I had my first at 16 my second at 18.

How old were you when you had your children if you don't mind me asking? Just wondering as I had my eldest relatively young at 24 and my second at 25. I am now 44 and they are not planning on moving out any time soon.

13 years between my eldest and youngest! And a few in between 😅 I had eldest young though so was 35 having youngest - not too old for another if I was so inclined (which I’m not!).
I don’t know if it’s because I’m older and wiser, or because I’m very very practised at mumming by now, but I think I’ve done a better job of each child the more I’ve had. Probably a bit of both - as I’ve got older and more confident in myself, I take the kids’ bad bits far less personally; and as I’ve had each child, I remember over again how fast it goes which has allowed me to enjoy each one more knowing it’s so finite. My youngest two have definitely got the best of me. I don’t want to do it again though - I adore being a toddler mum and the knowledge that in a few years it’ll be over forever hurts my heart, even though my youngest is still a baby. But equally I want there to be a time at some point when I can do something other than raising babies. Im looking forward to having some time again to just be me, and to doing stuff with the older children without toddler wrangling at the same time.

Mine are currently year 3 and year 5 and I hope this is what our near future looks like!

Also would not go back to the baby stage at this point. There's only 22 months between mine and they've always been close and at similar stages. I want to prioritise and enjoy the moment we're in now (and look to the future), rather than going backwards.

Mine are 13, 7 and 2. I was 25 when I had my first and I felt young as my friends had no kids then. They all started having children when I had DC2 so we all have children of similar ages but I have the teenager. I’ve been doing school run for 9 years with no end in sight. I try not to think about it. I always said I’ll only have 2 children but DC3 was meant to be. He’s such a joy