Like my cousin, who, at 40, is a grandmother of at least one (two years old, if I'm not mistaken), has 6-7 children (I honestly lost rack of the amount, which is frightening in and of itself), and just got married for *thinks* the third time?
I acutally was bored one day, and it is possible (unlikely, but possible) to become a grandmother at 24, assuming both you and your daughter start menstruating at 11 and have get pregnant after the first or second cycle.
That's my age. I'm not ready to be a mother yet, much less a grandmother.
I was 29 when my first was born, having waited to finish college, find a job and obtain health insurance (he was still unplanned though not unwanted). I lived in a college town and it was quite the norm for parents to be in their 30's before having their first child.
I remarried at age 40 and got a wonderful wedding present in the form of my youngest (I had her at age 41).
Where I live now, (this backwoods backwater), girls start popping them out at age 17 and it is not uncommon to see a 20 year old with several children. Their moms were the same age when they had babies, so on and so forth.
I remember taking my youngest to pre-school and one of her little friends asking me if I was her grandmother. No wonder, his grandma was younger than me.
My middle child worked at the research center where I do this past summer, to save up for college. One of the locals, who work on the field crew, asked me her age. I said 18. They said, I kid you not, "And she ain't got no babies? Girl her age ought t' be able to get a man."
Yes, it will take more than sex ed in schools to curb teen pregnancy, at least in this Florida backwater.
A couple of years ago, I was checking with a sheriff's department in the middle of nowhere West Virginia because we'd heard toxicology reports had come back on the body of a 38-year-old woman who had died in a fire. While chatting with the sheriff, I casually asked if the info I had was right, that the woman had been a mother of 3 and grandmother of 8, including a 12-year-old. The sheriff said that the info was correct and, if she had lived, she'd be a great-grandmother by then. The sheriff and I then started talking about teen mothers. It is apparently pretty common for young girls to have babies in that part of W.Va. because they have "nothing else to do." He told me about a 24-year-old who lived near the sheriff's office that he had seen with a baby. It wasn't until the baby started walking that he talked to the woman about her daughter. The woman informed him that the baby was her granddaughter and that she was proud her daughter waited an extra year longer than she did to have a baby. I still can't shake that.
At nearly 28, I want kids, but I know I couldn't do it right now. Let alone have grandkids. EEK.
no subject
Date: 2008-10-17 04:16 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-10-17 05:29 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-10-17 04:27 am (UTC)Then again, my ex's grandmother is the same age as my mom, and my ex is only 3 years younger than me. That always kinda blew my mind.
no subject
Date: 2008-10-17 04:34 am (UTC)That's my age. I'm not ready to be a mother yet, much less a grandmother.
no subject
Date: 2008-10-17 09:50 am (UTC)I remarried at age 40 and got a wonderful wedding present in the form of my youngest (I had her at age 41).
Where I live now, (this backwoods backwater), girls start popping them out at age 17 and it is not uncommon to see a 20 year old with several children. Their moms were the same age when they had babies, so on and so forth.
I remember taking my youngest to pre-school and one of her little friends asking me if I was her grandmother. No wonder, his grandma was younger than me.
My middle child worked at the research center where I do this past summer, to save up for college. One of the locals, who work on the field crew, asked me her age. I said 18. They said, I kid you not, "And she ain't got no babies? Girl her age ought t' be able to get a man."
Yes, it will take more than sex ed in schools to curb teen pregnancy, at least in this Florida backwater.
no subject
Date: 2008-10-17 12:49 pm (UTC)The sheriff and I then started talking about teen mothers. It is apparently pretty common for young girls to have babies in that part of W.Va. because they have "nothing else to do." He told me about a 24-year-old who lived near the sheriff's office that he had seen with a baby. It wasn't until the baby started walking that he talked to the woman about her daughter. The woman informed him that the baby was her granddaughter and that she was proud her daughter waited an extra year longer than she did to have a baby.
I still can't shake that.
At nearly 28, I want kids, but I know I couldn't do it right now. Let alone have grandkids. EEK.
no subject
Date: 2008-10-17 10:48 pm (UTC)