You Should Have Your Kids Young! Here are 7 reasons why.
This is a guest post from Payton Foeller at ahopefulhappenstance.com and was originally posted here! Payton writes about Christian motherhood and is a blogger friend of mine! Check out her about page here for more about Payton!
Our culture says wait. Wait to 
get married. Wait to have kids. Wait to buy a house. Wait to settle down. Put off everything you can think of so you have plenty of time to 'live.' You need to party it up while you still can, they say. Go out while you're not 'tied down.' Sleep around and drink everything you can stomach before you have to be responsible.I don't know when this attitude surfaced but it's deeply affecting our culture, it's breaking down the already shaky ground our country is standing on. 'Tied down,' 'while you still can,' 'live now.' All these short and innocent phrases are being embedded in our young minds and making us grow in distaste for marriage and families and commitment. When in reality these are all wonderful things! Commitment isn't debilitating. Commitment frees us the same way that the Bible frees us. We are free within the cover of salvation not bound and held captive by rules.
If we cease to value marriage and family as a culture we will dwindle to nothing! And the beautiful picture God created in a marriage and a family will no longer exist to display the relationship of Christ and the Church, or of a loving God to His children.
get married. Wait to have kids. Wait to buy a house. Wait to settle down. Put off everything you can think of so you have plenty of time to 'live.' You need to party it up while you still can, they say. Go out while you're not 'tied down.' Sleep around and drink everything you can stomach before you have to be responsible.I don't know when this attitude surfaced but it's deeply affecting our culture, it's breaking down the already shaky ground our country is standing on. 'Tied down,' 'while you still can,' 'live now.' All these short and innocent phrases are being embedded in our young minds and making us grow in distaste for marriage and families and commitment. When in reality these are all wonderful things! Commitment isn't debilitating. Commitment frees us the same way that the Bible frees us. We are free within the cover of salvation not bound and held captive by rules.If we cease to value marriage and family as a culture we will dwindle to nothing! And the beautiful picture God created in a marriage and a family will no longer exist to display the relationship of Christ and the Church, or of a loving God to His children.In contrast to all the reasons people tell you to wait, there's a large number of reasons to jump on the family train sooner rather than later.
1. You can keep up with them
It's no secret kids require energy. They need constant attention and take up all your extra sleep time. Say goodbye to sleeping in because they think you can run on 4 hours or less! Hello 5 am! Being younger when you have kids means you have your youth to keep you going! If I feel like I'm falling apart now. I can't imagine being much older and being able to keep up as well. Not that it can't be or isn't done but I'm guessing it's much harder.
2. You can space out kiddos
You have the time to wait to have more kids if you want. Don't think you can handle two under two? Well, neither can I. And you don't have to. You have the luxury of time and the great gift of options! Having a child young means I'm not staring at the ticking 'biological clock' trying to make a decision before time runs out.
3. You'll recover faster
Being young means you heal faster. As we get older each time we get sick it gets rougher and rougher. We handle illness worse and worse as we age. Aging is literally just dying really really slowly. . . sorry for the downer. Here's the upside - sorta. Birth is traumatic! BUT the younger and healthier the faster the recovery!
4. You'll be young empty-nesters
I never understood why people push young adults to go 'explore the world' or 'live while we're young.' I had no money to explore the world. I had no funds to go to Europe for 8 weeks and see the sights. So why not get a job, get married, have a family, and enjoy the simple life. Then my kids will be grown and I'll be Middle Aged! Anddddd hopefully I'll have acquired some savings by then to go 'see the world.' I'm not trying to say, 'get having kids out of the way,' but having them early means that when you finally do have funds for anything other than essentials you'll have a bit of youth and health left to use those funds on whatever you like!
5. Risk in pregnancy is significantly lower
Everyone knows the older you get the riskier pregnancy is and the rate of birth complications rise. For this reason doctors encourage older pregnant women to have aminos to screen for illnesses in the baby. I'm not saying AT ALL that having babies when you're older is bad! Please don't hear that at all. It's just different. And if your given the choice, it is another reason to have children when you're younger.
6. Grandparents can be more involved, maybe even great grandparents
This is one of my favorite perks! Like I said in #4 when our kids are grown we'll be middle-aged! Well, our parents had the same idea and are currently middle-aged with grand kids! They still have energy and health and time to pour into my baby girl who loves them all so much! Lord willing they will get to see her start school, grow up, and maybe have babies themselves. We love that she has great grandparents to spoil her too. It's a huge blessing and likely wouldn't have been possible had we AND our parents AND our grandparents not realized the benefit of starting a family while we're young.
7. You'll have more time to watch your kiddos grow up
Yes this ties into #4 and #6 but it still deserves its own slot! You'll likely get to see your great grand kids! That's a crazy thought but it's possible! Again, Lord willing you will see your kids graduate college and live awesome lives! The younger you have children the
more years with them you'll get. You'll get to raise them to be amazing human being THEN you get to watch them benefit from all the sleepless night, tears, joy, love, and heartache you poured into their lives.Okay, so I didn't realize that this topic would bring so many morbid thoughts about health and death and aging. Sorry about that! Still yet, I love being a young mom and there are so many perks that will last far beyond our mandated 18 years of parenthood!
more years with them you'll get. You'll get to raise them to be amazing human being THEN you get to watch them benefit from all the sleepless night, tears, joy, love, and heartache you poured into their lives.Okay, so I didn't realize that this topic would bring so many morbid thoughts about health and death and aging. Sorry about that! Still yet, I love being a young mom and there are so many perks that will last far beyond our mandated 18 years of parenthood!Thanks for the article, Payton! I love your posts! <3
What do you think?
What a fun and relevant article from Payton Foeller at A Hopeful Happenstance!Do you wish you would have waited to have kids? Maybe you wish you could have had kids sooner? Do you agree that commitment isn't debilitating?