Thursday Thoughts: How old were you when you started your family?

Living in London, I have always felt like a young mum. I was 24 when Easton was born. I was the youngest mum in my antenatal class and the youngest of all my new mum friends. Even at 32, when Marlow was born, I remained one of the youngest mums in any of the children’s classes or activities we attended.

I have always been quite maternal so I never thought twice about starting a family at 24. It was really only when Easton started school (I was 28) that I became more aware of my age compared to other mothers in the class, many of whom were in their 40s.

Women in London tend to wait longer to start having a family. It seems that the majority of women I know in London put focus on their careers first, and then started having babies in their mid to late thirties. Some of my friends even waited until their forties to start a family. A good friend of mine in London just had her fourth baby at age 45!

A recent study in the UK found that Londoners find the ideal age to have children is 37. This is mostly financially motivated as the cost of living in London is so high. I read a separate article recently that said that, for the first time, more women in the UK are having babies after the age of 35 than the number of women having babies under the age of 25. The average age of first-time mothers is getting older and older over time.

But that is London.

When we arrived to Sydney a couple months ago, I was struck by how much younger mums are. Unlike in London, I saw loads and loads of 20-something mums pushing buggies on the streets. For the first time ever, I became conscious of my age, aware that I was not a young mum in this city.

I mentioned this to Esther and Emilie and they told me that when they were in LA for our ShopUp event, they were struck by how young all the mums were there. It appeared to them that many women started having babies in their mid twenties so that by the time they were in their 30s, they already had several children. This was a noticeable contrast to their home cities, Amsterdam and Paris, where, like in London, women tend to wait until their mid to late 30s to start their families.

So now I’m curious. I’d love to hear where you live and at what age you started your family? Did you feel young or old compared to your peers? Do you think there is an ideal age? Or is it all relative? I would love to hear your thoughts.

Courtney x

p.s. I searched in my photo archives for a pregnancy photo and found this one from 2012. I was 8 months pregnant with Marlow – look how little Quin and Ivy look!

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