In thinking this is the smuggest article I have ever had the misfortune to read

[mrsshackleton]

"We are so bloody marvellous and everyone else is wrong"

I've never read such a load of judgemental codswallop

Branded Winnie the Poo equipment - OMG!!

God, this is what passes for feature writing at Times HQ?

I pity his kids. One day they'll let him know where he went wrong, though I only have tiny DCs myself (and am somewhere in the middle as regards age, started at 34) but I'm aware enough to realize that it's a bit early to pat myself on the back for my awesome parenting skills. It will get MUCH harder later ...

A baby mother is a ghetto term in the US for someone who bears a child and is no longer involved with the child's father. The woman is no longer anything but a 'baby mama'. There was a controversy during the US presidential election when Michelle Obama was described as Barack Obama's baby mama..

Habbibu -

winnie the pooh

oh god yes, at him sizing up all the younger women he knew as a single man in his forties, and deciding they were lacking in emotional maturity. PMSL

He is a smug, judgemental tosser.

My best friend had her daughter as a single parent when she was 18 and is absolutely the best mother (and person) I know. I had DS at 31 and only hope I can do as good a job.

". . to sacrifice themselves on the altar of the next generation."

???

What year is this? 1895? There is something so Victorian about this man's assumptions, his diction, his male entitlement that you almost expect him to be sporting mutton chop sideburns and collar studs.

Ugh.

I felt like puking after reading that. How judgemental! It seems like women can't do anything right when it comes to motherhood.

YANBU. Ugh, Ugh, Ugh. I am in my twenties and have an Oxbridge degree and a career, and am very relaxed about my baby so bugger off Andrew Billen.

Branded wtp 'equipment'. How! Utterly! Ghastly! Tosser.

If you think that article was bad (and apologies if someone has already linked it). Next to this article was another one about older dads.

www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/article7144003.ece

The last sentence actually turned my stomach (and that very rarely happens). I thought it came across as really mean, and I do hope the 'friend' in the article isnt a rl friend. If he is, I hope he never talks to the journalist again!

cuppa - with you completely. He gets sexism and ageism all in one unpleasant bundle.

I've seen more articles like this recently than those slagging off older Mums (apart from those 60+). I know that there is a social assumption that being an older mum is not ideal in terms of health/birth defects etc. but I seem to see so many articles these days saying how great older mums are compared to younger mums.

Some mums take to parenting easily. Some mums don't. Some mums are financially secure at 25 and some aren't at 45.

I hopw his mother can't read this. I would be devastated if I were her but then again as I'm going to have DC3 just after my 29th birthday they probably all will be saying that.

what a tool.
yes, life experience and maturity is a positive factor in being a mother, but there are a lot of women out there who are make EXCELLENT mothers in their twenties [the seemed hated age group]
there are great mums in their 20s, and great mums in their 40's. just like there are crap mums at any age.

the media thinks if you are a young mum, you are irresponsible, draining the system, will be draining benefits/partner, spends all money on designer gear, and would rather be partying...
if you are an older mum, you are selfish for waiting and therefore it will be more stressful for the child when you die sooner ratehr than later, you are work obsessed, you are a drain on the IVF system....

cannot, bloody. win.

I knew exactly what article OP meant as soon as I read the title.

It was poorly written too.

Oh how pathetic
He sounds a right prat as everyone has said.
I'm in my 20s quite relaxed with my kids as are many people I know,and the 40+ mums I know seem to worry a bit more, the opposite than what he said, but both my age and 40s that I know are great mums so what's the problem?
He must just be a bit thick,he does not understand that there can be more than one way to live life.

Nobber.

I'm actually quite lost for words on this.

What a twat.

I think he doth protest too much, the bitter old git.

What on earth is wrong with the men who work at the times. The second wasn't as bad until the last sentence, implying he his a better man and dad because he obviously produced a son.

Well I certainly won't be buying the times anytime soon seeing as my family had been insulted twice in the last hour, I'm a 'young' mum and DH is an 'old' dad.
We will put the money saved towards some Winnie the Pooh gear.

It puts his wife in a really bad light as she was obviously sad enough to come home and have a bitch about someone else in her antenatal group buying Winnie the Pooh stuff.

That is one of the saddest things I've ever heard anybody bitch about.

He will be shagging a 21-year-old in three years' time.

And she will be on here:

"OMG I thought DH was perfect sob sob sob"

Mistletoe: at that article.

We had DD (our 3rd) 2 weeks before DH's 40th birthday. DH was adamant that he didn't want a child after 40 as he didn't want to be an "old dad". If only he'd known about all of the gadgets...

And I think his attitude to his dd's table manners sucks. But hey, he sounds sooo cool and sooo chilled. Actually he doesn't, he sounds like a rigid, anal fuckwit.

What a KNOB!! He will be looking round for a younger model in no time at all.

obviously it makes you a better parent not to care whether your daughter has eaten or not...

yah, if only i could have been that chilled on those days when DD refused not only lunch, but also dinner....(a situation now resolved, she eats every last bit. But it wasn't fun when the problem was there, and ignoring the issue wasn't an acceptable solution)

Oh yes, lets write yet another article slamming younger mothers. Nothing like an easy target is there?

You can't get this motherhood thing right EVER, can you? If you're young then you're irresponsible, not mature enough and wasting your life. If you're slightly older then you were obviously more concerned about your career and Doing Your Own Thing.

What an utter fuckwit.