Is
it just me or do the young folks of today seem to be
starting their families a lot later in life? I was
married at twenty-one and we had our first child a
couple of years later.
Looks
to me as if families are getting started when the
parents are in their late thirties or even their
forties. My oldest son and his wife have been married
for sixteen years and are starting off with their
first child as of next March. Since he is forty, this
means he’ll be close to my current age when his kid
gets into college. I cannot imagine having a newborn
at forty. T-ball and Little League at fifty? High
school proms and driving lessons at close to sixty?
That’s if this one is boy. If it’s a girl, then he has
to put up with the rigors of who she dates when he
gets to my current age. Not something I’d want to do.
My heart would give out. Babies are a lot of work and
require youth, stamina and lots of patience and
determination. These are not traits generally found in
older folks. We’ve been there and done that and most
of us don’t want to do it again. We don’t need no
stinking tee shirt.
My
wife and I are looking forward to a new grandchild.
You get all of the good and none of the bad and then
can send them home after you’ve spoiled them rotten.
You are spared the terrors of homework and peer
pressure but allowed to have the joys of seeing these
little humans grow up and become stars in your
universe. My son and daughter in law think their lives
are not really going to change that much after the
baby is born.
Do I
have news for them.
Think
back to the days before you had kids, no better than
that look at all of the movies having love stories
located in Paris or Rome…. do they have little kids in
them? Not hardly. You couldn’t carry that much stuff
around with you. You’d need a truck or minivan… which
is why I suppose we see so many of them out on the
road today. For kids these days, you need strollers,
diaper bags, bottle warmers, thousands of diapers, car
seats, things for them to sit in when you are in some
restaurant, clothing changes, toys, bottles…. and lord
knows what else that I’ve forgotten. When we had our
babies, you needed some diapers and a bottle…. not
much else. Life was somewhat easier.
My
youngest son just bought a puppy…first one he’s ever
had of his own as an adult. Ask him if responsibility
has changed his life. He is gaining a greater respect
for my wife and I each day that passes. He says his
life is now in three-hour segments. The dog is really
calm and very good despite being so young, but she
needs to be fed, walked and fooled with nearly every
hour of the day. We have broken down and taken her off
his hands on a couple of occasions just to give him a
break. His eyes thank us for this. We tell him that
dogs are easier than kids since you can put them in
the kennel from time to time and go off on a trip….
you can’t do that with your kids, the vet won’t take
them.
Kids
are a challenge for anyone. Just ask someone who has
had some. Just because they grow up doesn’t mean they
go away. Not that you’d want them to do so even if you
had the choice. No, my kids will do fine with their
new baby. They’ll listen to me tell them what to do
and then they’ll do what they want to no matter what I
say. They have to learn how to raise their own one
experience at a time. I can’t do it for them any more
than my parents could do it for me.
We
all wish we could save our kids some grief by the
value of our experiences, but the reality is they have
to learn on their own no matter what we have to say
about it.
The
circle of life just keeps on turning.
