older parenting Archives - Mothering in the Middle

Older Parenting

by Marc Parsont

Becoming an older parent, while gratifying, is downright scary. We married when I turned 45 years old, and she was not. Like any G-d fearing, country-loving man, I married a younger woman – an intelligent, loving woman who wanted children, with me no less.

We were fortunate. While having children wasn’t easy, it wasn’t impossible. We faced difficulties, tragedies that tested our love, and had two lovely children thirteen months apart.

I do not write of our success to make you feel jealous, unhappy or sad or awful. I am writing to tell you of the fear I have right now about being an older parent, while writing to you from the emergency room of our local hospital. […]

How Important are Age and Energy in Parenting

by Susan Newman, Ph.D.

“She’s an older mother!” The obstetrician bellowed to the attending staff and everyone else in earshot as I was rolled in the operating room to deliver my son.

“Do you have to announce that to the entire hospital?” I cringed.

Even as more women wait until their mid-thirties and early forties to become parents, most physicians consider them to be of “advanced maternal age” and high risk simply because they’re older. In one way, the extra attention paid to each advanced maternal aged patient is reassuring. […]