Age/Kids

[Ian]

I was 32 and my wife 29 when our first DD was born. 36/33 when DS was born and I was (gulp) 40 when my twins were born.

What I find interesting, though, is how many of DD's friends parents are the same age as we are, if not older. When I was young most parents seemed like they had kids a lot younger.

[Katzateer]

I got married when I was 20, had our first daughter when I was 35 and our second when I was 40. We were older than most of the preschool parents but we made a lot of great friends and the age difference really doesn't matter when you are adults with young children.

The only regret I have with being an older parent, our girls missed out on a lot of family that has passed away-family members they never really got to know well.

I took our oldest to WDW when she was around 3or 4 with relatives. My husband had no desire to go. Once our second daughter was born, I insisted he go and now he won't miss a year without a trip to Disney. Our youngest had her first trip at about 18 months old. And our youngest Stephanie has been to WDW over 20 times!!

[DonLefNY]

I was 39 and my wife was 33 for our first. And yes, later on I was mistaken quite often as my kids grandfather when I volunteered at their elementary school.

Sorry, forgot the second part of the question. Our kids were 2 and 3 for their first trip to WDW back in 1995.

[AgentC]

I was 38 when my son was born and 40 when my daughter was born. So far the worst part of being an older parent was that all my ob paperwork listed me as having "advanced maternal age".

Even though my community tends to have a lot of younger mothers, I have not had a problem at school. My daughter's preschool class has a good mix of parent ages. My son's kindergarten class seems to have more parents on the older side- 30's-40's.

Both of mine went to Disney between 6 and 8 months for the first time, but we live close by. If we lived further away and didn't make as many trips I may have held off until they were 2 or 3.

[Belle of the Ball 051411]

Thanks for your responses everyone. I was more curious than anything. It seems there is a good mix of parent ages.

A lot of people I went to high school with have 2-3 kids already so I was feeling a bit behind. DH and I definitely got married later in life than most people we know. We both went to school, and then developed ourselves professionally, lived the single life, then we met and dated 2.5 years, got engaged and then got married last year. The nice thing about having kids later in life is that we both got to really "live" during our 20's, and feel pretty comfortable financially. We don't plan to spoil our kids rotten or anything but feel we can provide for them the way we want to.

It's funny, when we went to DH's 20 year high school reunion, some of his classmates had children who were getting ready to go to college! We were joking that at his next reunion we'd have young kids and some of his classmates would be grandparents.

Hopefully within the next year or so, I'll have good baby news to share with all of you!

[stephicakes]

I love reading everyone's stories! Everyone is so different and that is what makes the world so great

I was very young when I had my DD - I was only 19! Since I was a single mom from the time I was pregnant, working and putting myself through college, we were BROKE, BROKE, BROKE so no big vacations to Disney for us! Needless to say I was always the youngest parent compared to her classmate's parents! But it has its advantages too - we more less grew up together and are very close When I met my DH about 5 years ago, he was already a HUGE Disney fan and got us hooked! The first time he took us to Disney was SO special - I think that is when we really realized we were all meant to be together! I have a very sweet picture of my DD and DH holding hands for the first time walking around the resort together So Disney is a very special place for us!

I think no matter WHAT age you become a parent - it is so special and you do your best because you love your kids so much! Good luck expanding your family and you will do great!!


steph

[Jeri]

I was almost 28 when my 1st DS was born, and I was almost 34 when the second DS was born. And then I was 41 when our surprise DD was born!!

We are done!!! No more. I too am one of the older mom's at my 2nd sons school and for sure when my DD starts school ( she's only 15 months).

We took our 1st to Disney when he was 2 and the 2nd one went the 1st time at 15 months, but DD will be 2 1/2 when we go again.

I will say it is hard having them spaced out so far, but that wasn't a choice we had. I had been told I couldn't have kids, but they couldn't figure out why. Needless to say I can and did, without any intervention.

[Kenny1113]

I was 22 with I had first DS DH was 30 (brought him home on DH 31 bay) and 25 w second DS.
While I am significantly younger than most of the parents in first DSs class. Like a previous poster said it really doesn't matter.

DS10 was 6 months old the first time he went. And DS8 was also around 6 months old (for some reason I don't remember the trip, but I have pictures of it )

[January-2007]

DH and I were both 24 when I got pregnant and 25 when DS made his grand entrance into this world. His first trip to Walt Disney World was when he was 7 months old and it was fabulous. He's since been to Disneyland and Walt Disney World for a second time and he's only 2 and a half. I am sooo looking forward to making him a big brother!!!

[diz_girl]

Another old mom here. I'm 42 now and I was 37 (2 wks shy of 38) when DS4 was born and I was 41 when DS1 was born. DH is 50 and was 45 (almost 46) when DS4 was born and 49 when DS1 was born. We were married for 11 years before our eldest was born. A unique challenge at having a child at 41 is that I need reading glasses in order to clip my youngest's nails.

My sister was 37 and 39 (her husband 43 and 45) with her two and a close friend of my sister and I was 39 and 41 with her two. When all the kids get together they have a blast.

Another close friend just had her first child a month ago, right after she turned 40.

We took our eldest on his first trip to WDW when he was 16 months old (back in December 2008) and our youngest when he was 10 months old (this past November).

[Georgesgirl1]

I was 28 and DH was 29 when ODS was born. We were 30 and 31 when YDS was born. We seem to be around the same age as most of the other parents in our kids' preschool classes although there are parents who are much younger and much older as well.

ODS went to WDW for the first time when he was 6 months old and YDS was 11 months old. We believe in taking them young and often!

[missouridisney]

We were married 5 years before we had children (husband was in Air Force, wanted to be home to start family) I was 25 when 1st son was born and 27 with 1st daughter THEN!!! 10 years later at the ripe old age of 37 we were blessed with our 2nd daughter (graduated from college this past week. We were the oldest parents with everything, my "friend" said I would be the only one in the delivery room with gray hair. Thankfully we had friends who had children the same age as our younger 2 and also had a child later, so we were able to share all the school events with our same friends.

[Aurora]

I was 33 when I had my first child, 35 for second, 41 for third. I thought I would be much older than the moms of children in my youngest son's class, but I've found that many of us are in the general vicinity, and a few are only one or two years younger than me.

As others have said, it doesn't seem to make much difference, except for one thing: I've found I tend to be more mellow about kids' behaviors and activities than some of the younger moms. I just don't freak out about some of the smaller stuff, and that sometimes causes problems with people who think I should be more judgmental.

Oldest daughter was 1 for her first WDW trip, but that was because DH was staying at the Dolphin for a conference. Next trip was a Memorial Day weekend with DD 3 and DS 1.

[DisneyDog]

DH and I were married for 8 years before we had our DS. I had just turned 32 when he was born, and DH was 34. We lived in FL at the time, so we took DS to WDW for the first time when he was 2 months old.

As far as age, my SIL was in her late 40s when they adopted their baby from China. You are going to find first-time moms and dads of all ages.

[Georgesgirl1]

As others have said, it doesn't seem to make much difference, except for one thing: I've found I tend to be more mellow about kids' behaviors and activities than some of the younger moms. I just don't freak out about some of the smaller stuff, and that sometimes causes problems with people who think I should be more judgmental.

That's interesting because my experiences as a teacher have been that the parents who waited until much later are more uptight about things and the younger parents are pretty easy going.

[Aurora]

That's interesting because my experiences as a teacher have been that the parents who waited until much later are more uptight about things and the younger parents are pretty easy going.

That IS interesting. Maybe it's regional.

[Mousefever]

I was 2 hours and 54 minutes away from my 27th birthday when my son was born. Hubby was 44. Hard to believe that DS will be 14 this month!!!

Jacob was 6 the first time we went to DW. He was a bit timid when it came to rides and such. I remember telling him to be as brave as he possibly could, because this was probably our only trip to Disney World! Of course, by the time our return flight landed in Denver I was already planning our next trip!

Amy

[Tink#64]

Another "older mom" here! I was 32 when 1st DS was born & 33 when the second was born, they are 18 months apart. I was older & I wanted my kids close together, my brothers & I are all 6 years apart! For me, being a mature (uh hmm ) parent, for "me" was awesome! I had had my fun & many wonderful experiences &I was so happy & ready to focus on my DS's when they were born! For me, the timing was perfect & I can't imagine my life any differently!

I'm definitely not alone, of the 82 girls in my Senior year of my Catholic School class, 9 of us had 8th graders (oldest DS) in their Catholic school class together! How awesome is that? I don't think there's any right or wrong age, it's just whatever works/happens for you! God works in many wonderful & mysterious ways!

We made our very first (1st trip for DH & myself also!) when DS's were 4 & 6! I planned that trip from the time that my younest DS was born! I knew that I wanted to wait until the boys were past the diaper, nap & stroller stage! It was a most magical trip! As have been every trip since!