Spin off: How old is or would your mother be?

[Doran]

As a girl, I was very aware that my parents were older than most of my friends' parents. And, little wonder -- I have a brother who is ten years my senior! After their first child was born, my parents did not have another child for eight years, another boy. Then they had me and stopped making babies after that. ;)

 

So, I am now almost 46, and my mother is 80. What about you?

 

 

I like to see "us" represented graphically, which is why polls are interesting to me in some cases. If you were adopted and don't know your bio-mother's age, I've put in the option for an "other" in the poll.

[Penelope]

So your mother was 34 when you were born. Is that still considered "older" these days?

 

Things might be different now. Most mothers I know these days had their first child around 30, and I don't know many that started in their early 20's. I know that is probably just my circle of acquaintances, but I also know the age of having the first child is about 5 years older now than it was 30-40 years ago.

[Patricia in WA]

My mom is 57 (I think). She had me when she was 24 (I think). She has never been competely honest about her age. She was always younger than my friends' moms or at least looked younger. My grandmother had her first child at 23. I had my first child at 21. I am now 33 and I can not imagine starting now.

 

I take my hat off to those of you that do/did. I would have been a mess. I also wanted my mother and my grandmother to enjoy my children. Until a few years ago my great grandmother was alive and my daughter got to speak to her. She lived in Ecuador and by the time we could afford to go she had already passed. I do have many foond memories of her and my daughter now has many fond memories of her great grandmother and grandmother. My grandmother has talked to her about life back when she was a little girl. She showed her pictures of herself when she was a little girl. We went back to the area she was born and my mother was born. Although it has changed greatly my kids were able to see it through her eyes.

 

[TN Mama]

51 and will be 52 in a few days. Dh's mom will be 80 this summer. Dh has siblings that are older than my parents, but he is only 6 years older than I am.

 

:lol: That sounds like the beginnings of a convoluted math word problem.

[Dawn E]

I am 34 and my mother is 53. Since I was in high school people have asked if we were sisters. They still ask. I am just waiting until someone mistakes me for her mother. :001_smile:

[nmoira]

More than 80. My mother was almost 40 when I was adopted.

[gardenschooler]

My mom was born in 1943. My dad was born in 1923! Our birth years are:

 

1967

1969 - me

1979

1980

[Whisperlily]

I also have a brother 10 years my senior. I never thought about my mother's age in relation to my friends' mothers... She was 34 when I was born.

 

I, on the other hand, was 20 when my first DD was born, and 28 when my 4th was born. I fall into the category of a young mother, and my kids like it that way... although so many of the mothers of their friends are older, so the Moms I relate to about 10 years older than I am. Moms my age don't really know what it's like to have older kids, so it's hard to socialize and make plans that include both my younger children, and my older kids.

[Caroline]

I am 38, and my parents are both 68. I have a sister two years older than me, and one four years younger. Our friends loved coming to our house because we had stable parents. If our friends needed a ride or a place to stay, they called our parents. Now that our parents are retired and living in Florida, our friends still stop by. We grew up in Maryland.

[*anj*]

I am 42 and my mom just turned 62.

Dh is 70 and he is 43.

 

My mom was really young when she had me. When I was a kid it always shocked me that some people's mothers were in their 40's when mine was only 30 or so. My dad is 6 years older than she is though.

[Doran]

So your mother was 34 when you were born. Is that still considered "older" these days?

 

Things might be different now. Most mothers I know these days had their first child around 30, and I don't know many that started in their early 20's. I know that is probably just my circle of acquaintances, but I also know the age of having the first child is about 5 years older now than it was 30-40 years ago.

 

 

 

From a CDC report put out in 2005:

 

 

Another useful measure in interpreting childbearing patterns is the mean age at first birth. The mean is the arithmetic average of the age of mothers at the time of birth and is computed directly from the frequency of first births by age of mother. The mean age of first-time mothers was slightly higher in 2002, 25.1 years, compared with 25.0 years in 2001. This is an all-time high for the United States and attests to the continuing tendency of women to postpone childbearing (22). Since 1970, the mean age at first birth has risen 3.7 years (from 21.4 years) (data not shown). Mean age at first birth varies considerably by race and Hispanic origin. In 2002 Japanese women had the highest mean age at first birth, 31.0 years, whereas American Indian women have the lowest, 21.8 years (figure 5). From 1990 to 2002, the mean age at first birth increased (on average 1 year) for nearly all race and Hispanic origin groups.

 

 

 

 

So, yes, mothers are definitely older now than they were a decade or more ago. :)

[Doran]

I'm realizing that I overlapped the beginning and ending ages, which means that people could vote in two catagories if their mother happens to fall on the decade mark. I might be able to fix it, but it would goof up some of the replies. So, maybe you can vote according to whether your mother is closer to the younger five years than the older five. In other words, in the case of my mother, she was 80 in December, so I would have put her in the younger five. If she'd been more than six months past her birthday, I would have put her in the older set. Make sense? Not a big deal either way.

 

Cut me some slack. I'm not a statistician for a good reason. :D

[Kari C in SC]

My mom was 32 when she had me and my aunts told her she was "too old". It would be good to note that I was not at all planned and what else was she going to do? LOL! I had my first child when dh and I were 16 and 17. We were just shy of turning 17 and 18. So, we are36 and 37 years old with a 19 year old ds. Nobody ever believes he is my son. We waited 10 years to have our next child - I was 26 and we had out last when I was 32 (my mom's age when she had me). In our great group of homeschool friends in Florida - I was the youngest mom of the bunch. I also had the oldest child and youngest child in the group. I have no idea where I fit! LOL!

[Jenny in Atl]

I'm just a few weeks from 43 and mom had me at 23... so she will be turning 66 in July. My dad is six years older than she.. his 72. I had Mac at 30 and Fi just after I turned 35. I would have liked to have started earlier but could not swing the $$.

[Quiver0f10]

Im not sure how old my mom is, but she had 5 of us all a little over ayear apart and I am the baby, so I think she was @ 26 or so when she had me. So I am guessing she is 65(ish).

[LizzyBee]

My mom is 77 and my dad would be 90 this month. My mom was having babies from the time she was 18 until 35. When I was born, mom was 33 and dad was 45. They were so much older than my friends' parents; my dad was even older than some of my friends grandfathers. But things have changed! When our last one was born, I was 37 and dh was 44, and we know lots of people who were still having kids around those same ages.

[crazycoffeechic]

My mom was 28 when she had me, I was an oopsie baby:D

[Pam Wilhelm]

As a girl, I was very aware that my parents were older than most of my friends' parents. And, little wonder -- I have a brother who is ten years my senior! After their first child was born, my parents did not have another child for eight years, another boy. Then they had me and stopped making babies after that. ;)

 

So, I am now almost 46, and my mother is 80. What about you?

 

 

I like to see "us" represented graphically, which is why polls are interesting to me in some cases. If you were adopted and don't know your bio-mother's age, I've put in the option for an "other" in the poll.

 

 

Dood!!! I'm 46 and my Mom is 80 and I have a brother that is 10 years older then me, too!! (It's a small world after all.... It's a small world after all.... ) :lol: I have a bunch of sisters and other brothers also... but the oldest is 10 years my senior.

 

My kids are 7,8 and 10.... that's different. :D

[PinkInTheBlue]

I am about to turn 36 and my mother will turn 52 Tuesday. Yes, she was 16(!) when she had me. She grew up in a highly abusive house, got married at 15 to get out and had me 1 year and 4 days later.

 

Occasionally, for kicks, I imagine if I were her I'd have a daughter XX age, doing XX. I can't imagine! She was so young! I was almost 14 when she turned 30. I remember it very well. She was only 34 when I graduated high school.

[Doran]

I am about to turn 36 and my mother will turn 52 Tuesday. Yes, she was 16(!) when she had me. She grew up in a highly abusive house, got married at 15 to get out and had me 1 year and 4 days later.

 

Occasionally, for kicks, I imagine if I were her I'd have a daughter XX age, doing XX. I can't imagine! She was so young! I was almost 14 when she turned 30. I remember it very well. She was only 34 when I graduated high school.

 

 

That's an amazing story. I'm sorry about her past, but I sense no hint of anger in your post. Did you parents manage to stay together? Was your mother the favorite high school mom seeing as how she was so young? Weird questions, I guess. I'm just curious. If I'm getting too personal, just tell me to go jump off a bridge.

[Jennifer on Earth]

I'm 38 and my mother is 58. She was 19 when she had me. My grandmother is 78 and she was 19 when she had my mother. A story my mother and grandmother like to recall is how my mother's OB/GYN was hitting on my grandmother when I was born. She was only 39 at the time. I don't know how much "hitting on" there was or wasn't going on, but my grandmother likes to tell the story nonetheless. :)

[Liza Q]

I am 42 and my mother is 65 - so she was 23 at the time.

 

She had her first at 21 and I had my first at 25 - I wonder when my daughters will have their first children???

[Crissy]

My mother is 58. She had four children before her 23rd birthday.

She gave birth to my older sister two months before her 18th birthday, and had my brother just after her 19th birthday. I was born two months before she turned 21, and my younger sister arrived six months before mom turned 23.

[Doran]

Dood!!! I'm 46 and my Mom is 80 and I have a brother that is 10 years older then me, too!! (It's a small world after all.... It's a small world after all.... ) :lol: I have a bunch of sisters and other brothers also... but the oldest is 10 years my senior.

 

My kids are 7,8 and 10.... that's different. :D

 

 

 

Pretty cool, Pam! :001_smile: Looks like I got started on the kid making a little ahead of you, but we were both "late" in comparison to the average, and in comparison to many here. Just out of curiosity, how old were you when you married? I was 28.

[Doran]

Isn't this fun?! :D

[Mrs Mungo]

I said it in the other thread but I'm 35 and my mom is 55. She looks younger than that as do I. We were out to dinner with a guy from hubby's work and his wife the other day and the wife was like "You cannot *possibly* have a 12 year old!"

[lynn]

My mom was married at 17 and had 5 children by the time she was 28:001_huh: I only had 2 by that age and thought my quiver was full. I had my children first at 25 my last at 38.

[Lakeside]

I am 34 and my mom would be 53. I was born a week after her 19th birthday. I was 27 when ds was born.

[mommylaw]

:001_smile:

[Rose in BC]

My mom had 7 children. I am the sixth. I have a sister two years younger than me and then there's a space of 8 years between me and my next sister. The span between me and my oldest brother is 15 years. 17 between my youngest sister and oldest brother.

[LizzyBee]

My mom had 7 children. I am the sixth.

 

17 between my youngest sister and oldest brother.

 

I am also next to last, #5 of 6 living, or #7 of 8 if we count the premature twins that didn't make it.

 

17 years is also the span in my family from youngest to oldest. But the longest span between any two consecutive kids was just under 5 years. :)

[Luanne]

and my mother is 70 ... my father is 72. I am the youngest of four though and my sister is 48 (she is the oldest). My great-grandmother had my grandmother when she was 20. My grandmother had my mother when she was 20. My mother was 21 when she had my sister. My sister never had any children (just dogs).

[mcconnellboys]

My parents will both be 73 this year.

[Happy]

My mom married at sixteen and had lil ole me fifty one years ago today when she was seventeen. :D My dad was twenty one when I was born.

 

You'd think with such young parents, I'd still have them. Nope, Dad died and was buried on his 47th birthday. He would be 71 if he were still here today.

 

My mom died at 55. She would be 68 if she were alive.

 

Cancer is an ugly thing.

 

I really miss them on my birthday. Wait, I miss them all the time, but especially on my birthday.

[Angel]

I just turned 36 this month and my mom is 58. My Dad will turn 67 in two weeks. I'm their one and only. I was 22 when I had my first and 28 with my second.

[sassenach]

I am 28, my mom is 49 (for 2 more months). I had our oldest the day after my 17th bday, so we're all really young! I would have rather started later, but I'm really happy that we're done having babies young. Our youngest was born when I was 24, so no matter how you stack them, we're young parents. I love it!

[Christy B]

My adoptive mom just turned 70. She was 33 when she adopted me; my folks had tried for quite a while and then waited a year on the adoption list.

 

My bio mom would only be about 52, she was 16 or so when I was born.

[Just a Jen in Mississippi]

I'm 34 about to be 35 and my mom is 54, about to be 55, so we're right near 20 years apart.

[OnTheBrink]

I'm 41 and my mother just turned 63. She was 21 when I was born; my dad was 23. There are 9 years between me and my younger brother.

[Sasharowan]

51 and will be 52 in a few days. Dh's mom will be 80 this summer. Dh has siblings that are older than my parents, but he is only 6 years older than I am.

 

:lol: That sounds like the beginnings of a convoluted math word problem.

 

Are you married into my dh's family? He is only 4 yrs. older than me, but has three older 1/2 sisters that are older than my parents. His dad was 10 yrs older than my grandparents. His youngest sister is my age. :001_huh: He is also one of 12.

[LibraryLover]

Never mind. I think my mother would have a fit if I told. lol

[Pam Wilhelm]

Pretty cool, Pam! :001_smile: Looks like I got started on the kid making a little ahead of you, but we were both "late" in comparison to the average, and in comparison to many here. Just out of curiosity, how old were you when you married? I was 28.

 

The first time I was 20.

 

The second time I was 24.

 

The third (and last!) time I was 27. :thumbup:

 

It was around 8 years of trying (which isn't exactly a bad thing... wink, wink, nudge, nudge) before having our first child. Then the kids came very quickly... 3 kids in 3 years! :eek:

 

My husband is 7 years older then me and has been asked if the kids are his grandchildren. :smilielol5:

[PinkInTheBlue]

That's an amazing story. I'm sorry about her past, but I sense no hint of anger in your post. Did you parents manage to stay together? Was your mother the favorite high school mom seeing as how she was so young? Weird questions, I guess. I'm just curious. If I'm getting too personal, just tell me to go jump off a bridge.

 

My parents didn't manage to stay together, unfortunately, but without that I wouldn't have my Daddy (step-father). I'm so very much closer to him than my Dad could ever be. :) I'm fine with it...most days. ;)

 

Actually, in the small southern town she lived in you couldn't continue to attend school if you got married. This was 1971. She got her GED at night and went to college at night. They moved away after about 5 years to get further away from the situation.

 

I'll always be so grateful they did that. I promise I'm not being judgmental but I suspect I can't say this without it sounding that way but I look at my extended family and imagine I might have been the same way. My cousins all sleep around, drink, drugs, abuse most of their kids, etc. My uncle's wife has had affairs with ALL of my aunts husbands. My cousin's wife was previously married to my other cousin before their affair, so my cousin's kids are grandchildren to two of my aunts.

 

Oh! I just reread what you asked and got it. Yes! She was a favorite mom in my high school group. She was very involved, very pretty, very young and quite cool. :) I remember someone telling my sister had brought my purse to the office since I had forgotten it at home. I knew that again someone had thought my mom was my sister. :)

[Bells]

I am almost 50 and my mother is 74. My husband is 53 and his mother is 86. My father was 22 when I was born. My huband's father was 47...

[SABE]

I am 30 and my mom is 61.

[Robin in Tx]

My mom would be 89 this year. And she was late 40's when I was born (my siblings are 15, 13 and 8 years older than me - I'm a change of life baby, and my mom's neighbors all gave her a baby shower when I was born because she had gotten rid of everything :))

[Julie Herbster]

I'm 34--->35; Mom is 62.

 

Had a good friend in high school whose mom was almost 60; I think the mom was 42 when my friend was born. (Friend was the youngest of several children separated by many years.)

[lovemywhirlygirls]

My mom was 42 when I was born. I am 41 now. I have 3 siblings who are 18, 20 and 23 years older than I am. I have a nephew who is older than I am by 18 months.

 

Both of my parents are dead. My dad died when I was 15 and my mom died 20 years and 5 days after him (2002). Why do I remember this? Because she was miserable for 20 years and 5 days.

 

I had my girls at 30, 33 and 36.

[Amy loves Bud]

Mom was 44 when I was born. My youngest brother is 10 years older than me, my oldest brother is 24 years older. There are seven of us all together.

 

My mom would have been 85 last month. She died from lung cancer in 2000. My dad would have been 90 in December, but he died from complications of multiple strokes in 2001.

 

It surprises me how many people I come across with the big age span we have!

[Doran]

Mom was 44 when I was born. My youngest brother is 10 years older than me, my oldest brother is 24 years older. There are seven of us all together.

 

My mom would have been 85 last month. She died from lung cancer in 2000. My dad would have been 90 in December, but he died from complications of multiple strokes in 2001.

 

It surprises me how many people I come across with the big age span we have!

 

 

 

That's a long time being fertile, isn't it? :D I imagine your parents were amazing people, Amy.

 

So, how would you describe the relationship between you and your siblings? Are you able to spend time together and do you feel close? I never really knew my oldest brother because...well, let's face it, he was 16 when I was 6! That's a pretty significant gap. But, some of the distance was due to my brother's personality. I think that being an "only" for eight years, specifically with my parents' style of parenting... Suffice it to say, he was never the most family oriented of the three of us. Now that he's older (56), he's really changing. We're closer now than we've ever been, although we still only communicate once in a while.