Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion Parental "advanced age" and...

My grandmother did a similar trick by having my uncle and my mother 20 years apart.

I have absolutely no idea why she did it although she used the same husband both times.

I'm not really sure why people have children at any age. I always believed that once you are married and as long as you are willing to love, children are gifts and I was never taught family planning or anything like that. I am actually amazed that so many people actually chose when and how far apart to have children. I have two. That is how Many I have been gifted. I might be given another before I decide I am physically not fit to make a healthy baby. I'm not religeous. I just wanted to throw another way of life out there.

#1 at 37
#2 at 39 (less than a month shy of 40)

Would take more too.

Both DDs were born when DH & I were in our 20s, and both have been identified as gifted. DD#1 was born when I was in grad school, and while I probably wouldn't do that again (prelims & morning sickness were a bad combination), I'm glad we had them early.

I had my son (DYS) at 24...so can't say advanced age had anything to do with his gifted levels. I had our twins at 27 and they are bright as well (age 5), but haven't been tested as we finally saved to afford for our oldest to test this past summer.

My DH is exceptionally bright and his mother and father were 17 when he was born...

I agree with several posters who said that its likely more children whose parents are in the advanced ages are identified as gifted because they tend to be more educated, with better paying jobs, leading to be able to afford testing and search out more than those with less education.

Hubby and I got married young. I was just 18 and he was 20. We decided not to have any children and just spent time traveling and working.

When my grandma died when I was 34, I realized (late, I know) that one day I would be the "old lady" with no husband (statistically), and no children. My grandma relied heavily on my mom to watch out for her best interest, and I had an epiphany that to be childless could be a bad idea. I know this sounds entirely selfish, but it's the truth of why my husband and I began to try to conceive at 35 and 37 years respectively.

Our son was born five months past my 40th birthday. I didn't want to risk having another that may have health problems, so we went the surgical route for contraception.

I'm 45 and DH is 47 today. We have a son that I wouldn't trade for anything and many days I'm sorry I was so selfish and didn't have more.

Thanks everyone for weighing in on this topic. It struck me as being one similar to the whole "nature/nuture" thing.

I'll remember this the next time I hear my children discuss what they are going to do with my money after I'm dead.

Kids. They can be so darn cute!

Dd13 was born 4 months before I started grad school and dd11 my last semester. I agree that I wouldn't have necessarily planned it that way (especially b/c dh worked in a different state from where dds and I lived during school), but I wouldn't change it either.

I generally think that the age at which I had dd13 was ideal b/c, had I been any younger I wouldn't have had the patience to deal with her constant screaming and, had I been any older I never would have survived two years of no sleep since she slept in 30 minute intervals for the first two years and didn't sleep through the night until a bit after two.

My DS8 was born when I was 35 and in my 2nd year of law school. DH was 28. We made a decision to try at that time because I did not want to start trying to have babies at 37 after I got out of law school and started a new career. It was good timing because I never felt like having another.

And kids with higher IQs are less likely to have mothers who are single parents. Again, causation or correlation? Does being raised by a single parent lower your IQ OR are mothers with higher IQs (thinking nature instead of nurture)more likely to wait until they are in a stable relationship to become pregnant. And on that thought, tying in with the first part on education, more likely to wait until they are finished with their education and established in a career before beginning a family.

In any event, DD was born when I was 26.. about 1.5 years after graduating from my second BSc and 1 year after getting married. DS was born when I was 32.. 1 year after I started my Masters. If he ends up being GT, I will squarely chalk that up to the fact that he started Masters level classes at the young age of 13 days old. :-)