Young / average / old motherhood

[Lacatrina]

What would you consider is young to have a child, average to have a child and old to have a child.

Genuinely just interested. I would say 31 and under is quite young. 32-38 very average. 39+ starting to get into older category. But I'm SW London so aware these figures are totally unrepresentative of the whole picture

What’s a freedom pass?

I had my first at 25. While I was younger than average (especially for university graduates) I don't think I was a "young mum". Young mum implies immaturity and not being ready.

Similar with the term geriatric. It implies the person is too old to be pregnant or caring fir a baby.

Personally I would hate to be pregnant now at 39... but that's due to a knee issue from an old injury from my 20s. It wouldbe very painful having to play on the floor all day. But without that... 39 having a baby would ge fine. Not sur id want to be doing the tern stuff in my 50s however... thats tiring in a completely different way.

Young mum is an opinion and geriatric is a medical term so they are a bit different, the medical term doesn’t suggest anything about wether or not the person should be parenting

People see both as an insult and they are used by some as an insult.

The term geriatric on my medical notes were nothing to do with my ability to care for a child.

It was a medical term based solely on my age.
I didn’t find factual information insulting.

Even if you see geriatric as an insult it’s literally a medical term… young mum is just an insult if that’s how you choose to take it. They are still different

My only issue with the term geriatric is that it's an existing word that we associate with people who are, say, 60+. So I'm not offended by it (I'm not yet 35 but expect I will have at least one 35+ pregnancy in future) but I just find the word odd. I don't have any reaction to advanced/older maternal age etc. I'm not a young mum and find it strange to be treated as one.

I don't think "young mum" implies immaturity unless it's clearly intended as an insult. Young mum is descriptive; I was very young when I became a mum therefore I was a young mum. Teen mum is commonly used as an insult but it's also just descriptive; I was a teenager when I had a baby.

Geriatric mother / pregnancy is the same; it can be said offensively but it can also just be descriptive from a medical perspective. Older mother is just descriptive but could be said offensively, but in and of itself it isn't inherently offensive.

I agree with you there. I would not be remotely offended by being described as a young mum
I just would find it an objectively wrong description form someone having a baby aged 30+ .

I had my first at 18 and i would say that was young, i had my last at 32 and i would say that was mid, 38+ i would say is older xx

DS is at a private school in north London. I was 31 when I had him, most mums were much older- a couple were 45, lots 40-45 then few 35-40. They think I’m young!

The dads are similar.

In SW London where we live, I'd say 33-38 is the "norm". I had DD at 29 and was considered young, even though factually speaking I don't think this was the case (relative to national average etc).

A free bus pass for over 60s