Question

In some countries around the world, men and women are laving children later in life. What are the reasons for this development? What are the effects on society and family life? Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.

Sample answer

Parenting may be as late as possible, but not later. Research shows that by the age of 30, a woman's chances of conceiving begin to dwindle. There are advantages to having children young, although these days life is rarely that simple. The argument is that, if people want children at all, it is better to start as early as possible for the development of the family and the country.

Good or bad, late parenting is a new fashion. Despite cases related to unwanted teenage pregnancies, many people choose to become parents later in life. This social mainstream is particularly obvious among people of the middle class in most developed countries. It is clear enough that many women are putting off babies for career and financial reasons. Besides, if people are planning a one-child or two-child family, there is indeed no such a hurry to be "in the family way" like those old-fashioned women a couple of generations ago. No wonder that people prefer to wait until they think they are 'ready' to become parents, no matter how late it might be or what could happen as a result.

Relatively, the consequences are more negative than positive, not just for the family but also for the country. Generally speaking, late parenthood would mean a surplus of old people and not enough workers. This is likely to stymie the country's economy. In contrast, more teenage mothers would mean a population—economic—boom. Based on this presumption, women should finish having their families when they are younger (than 30) and then have more years of employment ahead of them. As expected, their children would also sooner come into the labor force and add to the national economic growth.

In sum, there seem to be alarm bells on late parenting because this could benefit neither the development of the family nor the society in the economic context. While the decision to become parents later in life is personal, even realistic; the time for a woman to get pregnant is certainly not 'forever'. In parenting, it is one thing that modern people do not desire having one too many, but it is quite another to be too late to become parents for at least once. 

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